SUPREME HAZING FOR THE NEWB | Markey Wants To Bring It Back | Remembering Civility
April 11, 2017
JUDGE BECOMES JUSTICE
|In case you missed it, NEIL GORSUCH was sworn in yesterday as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. At long last, he will fill the seat left vacant by JUSTICEANTONIN SCALIA. NPR’s Nina Totenberg looks ahead at Justice Gorsuch’s first term at SCOTUS.
IT AIN'T OVER YET
|Gorsuch may have missed most of this term’s cases, but he can still play an important role in shaping the current docket. Matt Ford with The Atlantic considers what’s next for JUSTICE GORSUCH and the rest of OT16.
SUPREME HAZING
|“How do you keep a new Supreme Court justice’s head from getting too big? Start by making him take notes and answer the door at the justices’ private meetings. Then, remind him he speaks last at those discussions. Finally, assign him the job of listening to gripes about the food at the court’s cafeteria. That’s what awaits NEIL GORSUCH, who joined the Supreme Court on Monday as the ‘junior justice,’ the freshman of the nine-member court. The menial duties for the newest justice are a part of tradition, but not a bad deal for a job that comes with lifetime tenure and the prestige of a high court seat.”
BRING IT BACK
|Yesterday on MSNBC, SENATOR ED MARKEY predicted that when Democrats regain control of the Senate, they will bring back the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. “We will ensure that for the Supreme Court that there is that special margin that any candidate has to reach because that is essential to ensuring that our country has a confidence in those people that are nominated rather than just someone who passes a litmus test.”
DON'T DO IT, NAH DON'T DO IT
|“Sometimes when you get to the end of a tough political fight — particularly one you lose — it is hard to change the talking points to reflect new realities. That would be the charitable interpretation of Massachusetts SENATOR EDWARD MARKEY’S statement that Democrats would bring back the SCOTUS filibuster as a first order of business when they regain control of the Senate.” That’s Ed Kilgore with New York Magazine responding to the senator’s comments yesterday suggesting that Democrats would one day restore the 60-vote margin for SCOTUS nominees. A suggestion that Kilgore thinks is nothing short of crazy talk. Kilgore: “So bringing back the SCOTUS filibuster would involve taking a legislative tool the GOP had disabled, weaponizing it again, and handing it back to the party that specializes in obstruction. Why on earth would they want to do that?”
ON A MISSION TO CIVILIZE
|Civility — that which seems so horribly lost in today’s politics — got a moment in the sun yesterday. JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG and the late JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA were awarded by Allegheny College with its Prize for Civility in Public Life, honoring their friendship that endured despite their stark ideological differences.
SCOTUS VIEWS
Gorsuch's Swearing-In Ceremony Was Designed to Coax Justice Kennedy Off the Bench
Slate“The speech was an indication that the conservatives who masterminded Gorsuch’s nomination—mostly Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society men who have cast their lot with Trump—are not done. Gorsuch once clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, and conservatives likely floated him specifically for this reason. They hope, rather transparently, that Kennedy will now feel comfortable stepping down and entrusting Trump to select his own successor.”
Supreme Court, Back at 9, Endures as Centrist
Bloomberg“With the swearing-in Monday of Justice Neil Gorsuch, the U.S. Supreme Court’s configuration shifts to … a 4-4 balance with a single centrist justice as the swing vote. If that sounds familiar, it should. It’s been the normal state of affairs since 1986, when Justice Antonin Scalia joined, and on some issues all the way back to Richard Nixon’s administration.”
OTHER NEWS
Federal Judge Says Texas Voter ID Law Intentionally Discriminates
The New York Times“A federal judge ruled on Monday that the voter identification law the Texas Legislature passed in 2011 was enacted with the intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters, raising the possibility that the state’s election procedures could be put back under federal oversight.”
Gorsuch's Dark-Money Benefactor Attended His White House Swearing-In Ceremony
Slate“Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court was made possible in part by the Judicial Crisis Network, which spent $17 million lobbying to keep Merrick Garland off the bench—and to get Gorsuch on it. Where did all that money come from? We don’t know, because it was almost entirely dark money, funneled through a Koch-allied conduit that keeps its donors secret. But the JCN isn’t entirely anonymous: It has a public face in Carrie Severino, the group’s chief counsel and policy director.”