NEIL GORSUCH TO JOIN THE SUPREMES | 420 Days Later, We Now Have Nine
April 7, 2017
WE NOW HAVE NINE
|On this day, JUDGE NEIL M. GORSUCH was confirmed to join The Supremes and fill the seat left vacant by JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA last year, 420 days ago. Judge Gorsuch will be the nation’s 113th justice of the Supreme Court.
NOW WE'VE COME TO THE END OF THE ROAD
|The nominee-turned-justice will probably want to get sworn in quickly so that he can get right to work. Keep in mind that although OT16 is winding down, there’s still work to be done at 1 First. The Supreme Court is scheduled to meet Thursday for a private session to decide whether to accept or reject a long list of cases that would be heard next term. The last round of oral arguments will begin in just ten days on April 17.
THE POLITICS OF IT ALL
|David Weigel with The Washington Post reports that the end of the filibuster means a new era of partisanship and political gaming around the Supreme Court. He explains how Democrats and liberals are framing the Republicans’ decision to “go nuclear” and how this SCOTUS nomination was a political campaign that began long before NEIL GORSUCH was ever named as the president’s nominee.
THE DARK MARK
|“The fight over GORSUCH has underscored the intensity of both parties’ efforts to bend the court toward their views — a phenomenon CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS lamented just days before SCALIA died.” Greg Stohr with Bloomberg considers how the last year has left an unprecedented partisan mark on the Supreme Court.
TRUMP'S NOMINEES
|David Ingold for Bloomberg writes that on the Supreme Court, eighty is the new seventy. “Obviously, a justice could leave the Supreme Court at any time for any reason. But if the current justices serve until the projected retirement age, TRUMP could potentially make two more nominations this term. A second term could give Trump one more pick, potentially allowing Trump to choose four of the Supreme Court’s nine justices over his tenure—which would be the most by any president since Richard Nixon. A gap in ages among the current justices means another vacancy wouldn’t be expected until the 2030s, which could leave the next president without any potential nominations. For Democrats and Republicans hoping to shape the court to their liking, the stakes couldn’t be higher.” This just might be the story of the day. Sorry, Gorsuch.