RBG RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL | “On The Basis Of Sex” Offers Little Sex And Lots Of Gender
December 26, 2018
ROAD TO RECOVERY
|Yesterday, JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG was released from the hospital after undergoing surgery to remove cancer on her lung. The Supreme Court’s PIO, Kathleen Arberg, said in an email to reporters today: “Justice Ginsburg was discharged from the hospital yesterday and is recuperating at home.”
YOU'RE STILL A MYSTERY
|On Sunday, CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS issued a temporary pause on an order holding an unnamed, foreign government-owned company in contempt for not complying with a subpoena which required it turn over its commercial activity in a criminal investigation. To a mystery case is related to ROBERT MUELLER’S investigation, much of which has been kept secret under seal while it makes its way through the federal court system. Sunday was the first time a known legal challenge related to the Mueller investigation came before SCOTUS, and Steve Vladeck notes that it’s also possibly the only time the high court has ever had a sealed argument before all nine justices.
A LITTLE SEX AND A LOT OF GENDER
|In The New York Times, A.O. Scott reviews the new film about RUTH BADER GINSBURG, “On the Basis of Sex.” He writes, “That the movie may leave you wanting more — more history, more personality, more complicated emotion, more ideological contention — doesn’t necessarily count against it. Historical narratives are best when they pique curiosity as well as satisfy it, and this one is too conscientious to proclaim its own comprehensiveness. It knows that it’s a piece of a larger story, one that is very much unfinished.”
MAKING HISTORY
|So how does one portray a historical giant like RUTH BADER GINSBURG? Amy Kaufman with the Los Angeles Times explains how RBG’s nephew helped FELICITY JONES get into character, and how a personal meeting with RBG gave her the confidence to get the job done.
PART OF THE PROBLEM
|Peter Canellos for POLITICO argues we should worry about the “Cult of RBG” because it could be adding to the problem of politicization of the Supreme Court. He says, “In the broader sweep of American history, this is an inopportune moment to present a current Supreme Court justice as a political hero.” Canellos even goes so far to say that the celebration of JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG isn’t really about her at all. He says, it’s merely a reaction to PRESIDENT TRUMP, ignoring the fact that she was crowned “Notorious RBG” years before DJT became president and making the age-old mistake of thinking the celebration of a woman must in someway be attributable to a man.
TIME FOR TERM LIMITS
|Referring to JUSTICE GINSBURG’S most recent health issues, Ezra Klein with Vox makes the case for 18-year terms for Supreme Court justices. He says the stakes for SCOTUS nominations are “too damn high” and the result isn’t merely an undemocratic branch of government but a randomly undemocratic branch of government.” Klein adds, “And that randomness, and the stakes of seeing it play out in your side’s favor, turn Supreme Court nominations into bloodsport.”
HARD TIMES
|Adam Liptak with The New York Times notes that CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS spent his first 13 years on SCOTUS trying to move the high court to the right. But now that he finally has the votes to make that happen, he’s focused on the legitimacy of the institution which “depends on the public perception that it is not a partisan institution.” Earlier this month he voted to deny review of efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, and as recently as Friday he joined his four liberal colleagues in rejecting a request from the Trump administration in a case that could have upended decades of asylum policy.
HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD
|For a little holiday fun, check out The Hollywood Reporter’s piece on eight memorable portrayals of Supreme Court justices in film and television. Alec Baldwin, Sidney Poitier, Jonathon Pryce and more have all helped give various justices in the high court’s history the Hollywood treatment.