AN UNLIKELY ALLIANCE | Maverick Gorsuch Backs ACLU, Say What | Can Trump Really Reshape An Entire Branch Of Government
December 1, 2017
LET'S GET TOGETHER, YEAH YEAH YEAH
|Jeffrey Rosen writes in The Atlantic that Wednesday the justices heard “what could become the most important electronic-privacy case of the 21st century.” Although the content of the case is what gives it such high marks in the blockbuster category, the case is also notable for the rare alliance it seems to have forged between justices on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. Rosen notes, “It was encouraging to see two justices with very different perspectives—JUSTICES SONIA SOTOMAYOR AND NEIL GORSUCH—make passionate arguments for why allowing these kinds of mass searches of our digital effects would be as invasive and unreasonable as the hated general warrants that helped spark the American Revolution. It’s possible, therefore, that Carpenter v. United States may continue a welcome recent trend: Liberal and conservative justices on the court, by broad bipartisan margins, are insisting on translating the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution into the digital age.”
I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS
|SCOTUS newbie JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH continues to earn his keep as a maverick, spending time during Carpenter arguments Wednesday standing up in defense of the ACLU — who could have seen that coming? Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern reports Gorsuch appeared revved up and ready to apply originalist principles to contemporary technology, thereby shielding cell phone users from law enforcement overreach.
MORE THAN CAKE
|“In a legal case with profound implications for LGBT rights and religion’s place in public life, the opposing sides agree on this: It’s not about the cake. At its core, the case that goes before the U.S. Supreme Court for oral arguments on Dec. 5 is a showdown between a gay couple from Colorado and a Denver-area baker who in 2012 cited his Christian faith in refusing to make a cake for their wedding celebration.”
TAKE ME HIGHER
|Elliot Mincberg opines in HuffPost that the stakes in the upcoming cake case couldn’t be any higher. He takes a look at some of the amicus briefs filed on both sides of the clash, mining for clues as to how the high court — well let’s be honest, how JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY — will decide the case. Mincberg: “The lesson from many briefs filed in the case is clear: the court’s decision could have enormous consequences for laws that protect all Americans from discrimination.”
CAN HE DO THAT
|For today’s podcast du jour, give a listen to this week’s episode of “Can He Do That?” presented by The Washington Post. SCOTUS reporter ROBERT BARNES joins the pod to discuss his expertise about presidential influence on the federal courts system as pod hosts look to unpack the question of whether PRESIDENT TRUMP can reasonably reshape an entire branch of government — the judiciary.
OTHER NEWS
Investigating Gerrymandering And The Math Behind Partisan Maps
The New York Times“In this lesson, we help students uncover the mathematics behind these biased electoral maps. And, we help them apply their mathematical knowledge to identify and address the problem. In fact, the questions students will work through are similar to those the Supreme Court is now considering on whether gerrymandering can ever be declared unconstitutional.”
Wedding Cakes Can Be Stunning Creations. But Do They Qualify As Art?
The Washington Post“Anyone who’s spent any time around cake decorators or watched cake competitions on television knows the crazy amount of time, talent and detail that go into making some of these insanely creative confections. And the most spectacular are wedding cakes, the centerpiece of most bridal celebrations and the bread-and-butter, so to speak, of a thriving cake business.”