THE HIGH, HIGH STAKES OF SCOTUS | Flake Ridiculed In Town Hall Over Gorsuch | Federal Courts Modernize, Where’s SCOTUS?
April 14, 2017
BLOOD
|Thursday, SENATOR JEFF FLAKE held a town hall in his home state, only to find that his constituents were out for blood. One attendee asked him, “When are you doing to choose your country over your party?” And when he defended his support for the GOP invoking the nuclear option to confirm JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH, Flake said the nominee was faced with unprecedented obstructionism from Democrats. A defense one of his constituents deemed unacceptable. “What happened to MERRICK GARLAND’S vote?!”
YAH
|“We need to deescalate Supreme Court fights. The most obvious way to do that is to limit terms.” Editor-in-Chief of Vox, Ezra Klein, considers the ways in which the Supreme Court can be fixed, acknowledging that the process for selecting justices is badly broken. He notes, “The core problem here is the stakes of Supreme Court nominations: They’re too damn high. Candidates serve for life — which, given modern life spans and youthful nominees, can now mean 40 years of decisions — and no one knows when the next seat will open.”
FEEL
|On this day in 1970, HARRY BLACKMUN was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON. Blackmun was unanimously confirmed just a month later following the two failed nominations of Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell.
LOYALTY
|“It’s time for the Justice Department to disown Texas’s discriminatory voting law.” That’s the Editorial Board of The Washington Post opining how “embarrassing” it is that the Trump Justice Department no longer contends that Texas’s voter law is purposefully discriminatory. WaPo says there’s no question the law is discriminatory, and it’s time for the Trump administration to get on board.
PRIDE
|Federal circuit courts are now considering implementing real-time access for audio of arguments, as well as judicial wellness policies to promote cognitive health in aging justices. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court recently denied a same-day audio request from Fix the Court for the hotly anticipated Trinity Lutheran case scheduled for argument next week.
HUMBLE
|“For the past few weeks I have been teasing progressive nonoriginalists about how, if they really want something to worry about, they should be worried about conservatives accepting living constitutionalism—that is, the very same type of political updating that progressives favor but towards the right instead of the left.” That’s Randy Barnett writing for The Washington Post and asking his liberal friends to stay humble, and consider what they’re really advocating for.
LUST
|“It’s really not about sex. It’s about power.” Amber Phillips with The Washington Post introduces us to the lawyer, JACK SHARMAN, who helped bring down Alabama’s “Love Gov,” MR. ROBERT BENTLEY. Sharman: “Reasonable minds can differ about Gov. Bentley having a relationship with Rebekah Mason. And even an inappropriate relationship by itself is not going to be a constitutional ground for impeachment. In fact, that’s exactly the kind of thing that the voters could properly turn somebody out of office for. On the other hand, the misuse of power is not something that voters can get at readily.”
FEAR
|There’s a new threat rising to voting rights in America. In the four years since SCOTUS gutted the Voting Rights Act, legislation in the states has undercut the justices’ rationale for doing so. CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS declared in 2013 in his majority opinion of Shelby County v. Holder, “Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.” Turns out, Roberts’ vision of the country doesn’t quite add up.
GOD
|Anotha one from WaPo’s Amber Phillips explains that antiabortion advocates are on something of a roll, with very little standing in their way for continued success. She reports, “With the winds shifting in Washington in favor of conservatives, some antiabortion advocates are banking that the ultimate prize — ending legal abortion — could be within reach.”
OTHER NEWS
Arkansas Wants to Execute Seven Inmates Before Their Drugs Expire
The Atlantic“Even by the degraded standards of American public life in 2017, what will shortly happen in Arkansas stands out for its brutality and lawlessness.”
North Carolina's New Anti-Gay Marriage Bill Is DOA, House Speaker Confirms
The Huffington Post“North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore is pumping the brakes on a controversial bill aimed at reinstating the state’s prior ban on same-sex marriage.”
Mississippi High Court: Execution Plans Can Be Kept Secret
The Associated Press“Mississippi’s Supreme Court says the state doesn’t have to publicly disclose details of how it carries out executions. Thursday’s 7-2 decision dismisses a lawsuit that sought the release of Mississippi’s plans for executions and acquiring lethal drugs.”