CHIEF JUSTICE BREAKS THE LAW, KAGAN LIES ABOUT HER WEIGHT & KENNEDY IS HAVING NONE OF IT
April 27, 2017
HERE WE GO, HERE WE GO
|Last week JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO spoke at the Third Circuit Judicial Conference, and as reported by Jess Bravin in The Wall Street Journal, he spoke rather frankly about how times have changed at SCOTUS now that the bench has been fully restored to nine. He said, “Having eight was unusual and awkward…That probably required having a lot more discussion of some things and more compromise and maybe narrower opinions than we would have issued otherwise, but as of this Monday, we were back to an odd number.” Linda Greenhouse with The New York Times notes, “That’s a bold statement that hardly needs translation, but here’s mine anyway: We’ve got our mojo back. Consensus? That was so 2016. And the Roberts court in 2017? Now it begins.”
WHOA THERE CHIEF
|“Some time ago, outside the statute of limitations, I drove 60 miles an hour in a 55-mile-an-hour-zone,” and didn’t get caught. That was CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS confessing to a criminal offense during oral argument yesterday. He was responding to a line of argument that asserted folks seeking American citizenship must disclose that they’d committed a criminal offense, even if there was no arrest. The Chief Justice wondered, “If I answer that question no, 20 years after I was naturalized as a citizen, you can knock on my door and say, ‘Guess what, you’re not an American citizen after all?'” When the Justice Department lawyer said it had to be disclosed, Chief Justice Roberts replied, “Oh, come on.”
THE PRICELESS VALUE OF CITIZENSHIP
|The Chief Justice’s confession wasn’t the only tantalizing moment at SCOTUS yesterday, during arguments of that same case — Maslenjak v. United States — several justices were taken aback by the government’s position that citizenships can be revoked for Americans who made even the most trivial misstatements in their naturalization proceedings. The issue in the case is whether the government must prove that a naturalized citizen’s falsehoods during an immigration hearing were material to the granting of naturalization. Courts right now are split on whether that is necessary, or whether simply proving that a person lied is enough. But it seems the justices weren’t so split yesterday. JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN said she was a “little bit horrified to know that every time I lie about my weight it has those kinds of consequences.” And JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY added, “Your argument is demeaning the priceless value of citizenship.”
ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT BREAK IT UP
|Following another blow to his immigration policy, and a promise to take the latest ruling against his ban all the way to SCOTUS, PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP said yesterday that he has “absolutely” considered proposals that would break up the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|The Editorial Board for the San Francisco Chronicle responds to Trump’s crackdown on sanctuary cities declaring, “PRESIDENT TRUMP’S anti-immigrant losing streak is getting longer…The White House should see the pattern. A crackdown on undocumented immigrants that sold so well on the campaign trail doesn’t cut it in the courtrooms or the scores of cities protecting their residents.”
DEAR SCOTUS
|Fix the Court sent a letter to the clerk of the Supreme Court, Scott Harris, calling on the court to resume a pro-transparency practice halted more than 100 years ago in which the justices would publicly explain their recusals. The justices nowadays collectively recuse themselves close to 200 times per term. For the past two years, FTC has researched these recusals — the vast majority come in the cert. stage — and has listed the reasoning behind them on FixTheCourt.com. Some are easy to discern, as annual financial disclosures indicate stock ownership, and several justices have well-known family members in the law. Others leave significant guesswork.
KEEPING SCORE
|The staff over at Constitution Daily takes a look at the Supreme Court scorecard from the current term, sharing a quick update of the major cases heard at SCOTUS since October.
OTHER NEWS
Trump Administration Position on Supreme Court Case Suggests Melania Trump Could Be Deported
Slate“What’s particularly interesting about the Trump administration supporting such an argument is that Melania Trump appears to have committed just such an omission on her own naturalization paperwork.”
Explaining Why All Federal Courts Are Not The Same
Constitution Daily“President Donald Trump created some confusion on Wednesday with his Twitter criticism of the ‘Ninth Circuit’ for ruling against his sanctuary cities policies, when a lower court system judge handed down a decision.”
Oklahoma AG Says State Moving Forward With Execution Plans
The Associated Press“Oklahoma is moving forward with new protocols for executing death row inmates, despite a unanimous recommendation from a bipartisan study group that a moratorium on the death penalty remain in place, the state’s new attorney general said Wednesday.”