MICROSOFT BACKS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT | Unintended Consequences Of Gerrymandering Ruling | Not Going Nuclear Any Time Soon
April 4, 2018
LET IT GO ALREADY
|Yesterday, Microsoft backed the Justice Department’s request for the Supreme Court to dismiss a case pitting the two against each other over whether prosecutors can force technology companies to hand over data stored overseas after Congress passed a law that resolved that dispute. On March 22, PRESIDENT TRUMP signed legislation that says U.S. judges can issue warrants for such data while giving companies a way to object if the request conflicts with foreign law.
SHOW ME THE MONEY
|Justices released an unusual statement yesterday in which the court noted that it might lack the six-justice quorum needed to act in a case in which Tribune Co. creditors are hoping to get money back from the media company’s former shareholders. JUSTICES ANTHONY KENNEDY and CLARENCE THOMAS suggested that the lower courts revisit a ruling that had thrown the case out. It’s possible that the quorum problem might have to do with some of the justices owning stock in some of the many companies involved in the case.
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|The Editorial Board for USA Today thinks it’s high time that SCOTUS puts an end to partisan gerrymandering and allows voters to pick their politicians — not the other way around. The Ed Board writes, “Ideally, political maps would be drawn by bipartisan or non-partisan commissions, as they are in a handful of states. Districts should respect geographic borders and be consistent with voting rights laws.”
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
|HEAR NO EVIL
|Paul Kane explains in The Washington Post why Senate Republicans aren’t listening to PRESIDENT TRUMP’S pleas to “go nuclear” and eliminate the legislative filibuster. The problem, he says, is that Republicans are having too hard of a time getting just about anything done, so they need Democratic support on pretty much everything. “All of that makes the ‘nuclear option,’ as the heavily partisan way of changing Senate rules is known, pretty pointless.”
OTHER NEWS
Democrat Wins A Bitter, Costly Race For Wisconsin Supreme Court
The Washington Post“Wisconsin Democrats declared victory on Tuesday night after Milwaukee Judge Rebecca Dallet won a bitter race for a seat on the state’s Supreme Court. Dallet’s win over Judge Michael Screnock shrunk the conservative majority on the court to one vote, after a campaign that had become the latest test of Trump-era liberal activism and political spending.”
Baltimore Seeks US Supreme Court Review Of Abortion Ruling
The Associated Press“Attorneys in Baltimore are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that struck down as unconstitutional an ordinance requiring pregnancy centers notify patients if they don’t offer abortion or birth control services. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January that the ordinance unconstitutionally compelled speech by Christian-based Greater Baltimore Center for Pregnancy Concerns Inc., which opposes abortion.”