SUPREME COURT YEAR IN REVIEW | Missing The #MeToo Memo | How 2018 And SCOTUS Defined Trump’s America
December 28, 2018
YEAR IN REVIEW
|The staff over at Constitution Daily takes a look at this memorable year at the Supreme Court, reflecting on some of the major cases decided by justices, the departure of JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY, and the controversial arrival of BRETT KAVANAUGH.
LEARNING NOTHING
|If 2018 has taught us anything, it’s that the judiciary didn’t seem to get the #MeToo memo. CNN’s Joan Biskupic points out that from beginning of this year to the bitter end, the judiciary is in the exact same place, showing little in the way of growth. “As 2018 began,” she writes, “US judicial officials were preparing to toss out a high-profile sexual harassment complaint against California-based appeals court JUDGE ALEX KOZINSKI. Now as the year closes, officials have dismissed 83 grievances lodged against Supreme Court JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH.” She says both of these instances put a spotlight on how the judiciary handles complaints about judges in a system where “jurists police themselves and an accurate assessment of the prevalence of misconduct remains elusive.”
EVERYTHING AND MORE
|Zoe Tillman with Buzzfeed reports that PRESIDENT TRUMP’S judicial appointees are everything conservatives hoped for, and also everything liberals had feared. These judges have lifetime appointments to “assert themselves on everything from gun rights and abortion to political speech and the power of federal agencies.”
DEFINING TRUMP'S AMERICA
|Jessica Levinson opines for NBC on what defined Trump’s America in 2018. In her mind, it was the Supreme Court’s decision on the administration’s travel ban in Trump v. Hawaii that really took the cake and changed the course of our history under DONALD TRUMP. “The Supreme Court’s decision ultimately upholding the ban was important for both legal and political reasons. Just as significantly, however, it set a clear societal precedent — telegraphing to Americans and the world where we are as a nation, and where we are going.”
INDISPENSABLE AUTHENTICITY
|The new film about JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG — “On the Basis of Sex” — took a village to make, and to make it right. Melena Ryzik with The New York Times explains how the RBG only her family truly knows was translated onto the big screen. “Having so many family members participate, and the approval of the justice herself — she even makes a cameo — gave the movie an air of indispensable authenticity, said Mimi Leder, the director. Ginsburg reviewed the script as if it were a contract. ‘Like any good lawyer, she doesn’t leave any detail untrammeled,’ said Felicity Jones, who plays her.”
SEE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR!
|SCOTUSDaily will return to you next week in the new year. Until then, let’s kiss 2018 goodbye, and celebrate the coming of 2019. Cheers!