ANOTHER VICTIM OF DO-NOTHING SENATE | The Don Becomes Numero 45
December 20, 2016
IT'S OFFISH
|The 45th President of the United States is DONALD J. TRUMP. The Electoral College yesterday gave him the 270+ votes he needed, with little evidence of an attempted revolt amongst electors to change votes and put HILLARY CLINTON in office.
ICYMI
|Yesterday, CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS rejected a New Mexico lawyer’s Hail Mary appeal to force the Senate to vote on JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND’S nomination to the Supreme Court. Which means, as we hear the faint sound of a fat lady singing in the background, it’s all over folks.
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
|Ed Kilgore with New York Magazine notes that MERRICK GARLAND has officially become yet another victim of the Do-Nothing Senate writing, “Sometimes there’s just no justice in American politics.”
BACK TO WORK WORK WORK WORK WORK
|Starting January 18, JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND will return to work as the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit where he has served for nearly 20 years. At least his original lifetime appointment is still good.
TOP-ED
|Sometimes, things can never go back to the way they were. That’s Noah Feldman’s take on Supreme Court nominations, a process that might never be the same following the tragic story of JUDGE GARLAND’S failed nomination to the high court this year. Feldman: “The Garland refusal marks the next era-defining change in the nomination process. Now it isn’t even about the nominee – just the president’s party.”
OTHER NEWS
Where to Sue: The Hot Business Topic Facing SCOTUS This Term
New York Law Journal“The U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigating arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, appears a bit single-minded these days. The main page of the center’s website features five cases in which it recently filed amicus curiae briefs. Every one of them involves constitutional disputes over personal jurisdiction, a crucial area of the law that is getting a lot of attention.”
The 2016 Elite Trial Lawyers
The National Law JournalFor the NLJ’s third annual Elite Trial Lawyers report, 35 firms are highlighted for doing some of the most creative and significant work on the plaintiffs’ side over the past three to five years.