JUSTICES MULL DACA CASE | What’s Wrong With A SCOTUS Celebrity? | RBG, Jedi Master
February 16, 2018
DREAMED A DREAM OF TIME GONE BY
|Today the Supreme Court considers whether it will take up the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court ruling blocking the president’s order to end a program that shields hundreds of thousands of Dreamers from deportation. If the court doesn’t act today, it could do so on Tuesday after the Monday holiday. Lawrence Hurley with Reuters reports.
A GAME OF LEAPFROG
|David Savage with the Los Angeles Times notes that the high court is actually hearing two appeals from the Trump administration today, each taking an “unusually aggressive” strategy of trying to leapfrog over lower courts. One of the cases is of course about the fate of the Dreamers, and the other is about an abortion dispute involving young migrants.
A GOOD DAY FOR WOMEN
|Yesterday was the anniversary of the day PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES signed the law allowing women to be admitted to the Supreme Court bar. Thanks to this law—signed on February 15, 1879—women were allowed to submit and argue cases before the nation’s highest court.
DON'T LET 'EM HOLD YOU DOWN, REACH FOR THE STARS
|In the Los Angeles Times, Richard Hasen opines that we need to stop treating JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG like a celebrity. “There is something disconcerting about Supreme Court justices becoming political rock stars, particularly in this polarized era. We’ve divided the Supreme Court into teams. We have our justices, champions who push our side’s agenda. The other side has their justices, villains intent on destroying America.” And who’s to blame for this “excess” as Hasen calls is? None other than JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA.
HE SPEAKS!
|Ever the silent SCOTUS justice, CLARENCE THOMAS found his voice yesterday at the Law Library of Congress. There, he echoed Richard Hasen’s sentiments shared in the LA Times article above. Thomas said he regretted the “myth-making around the court and who we are” as justices and people, which he says has created a contrast between the “real world” of the Supreme Court and how it is portrayed outside the court. He added that justices “don’t have the time, energy, or ink to engage in the narrative battles” ascribed to them by some in the media. Andrew Hamm with SCOTUSblog shares the story.
JUSTICE GINSBURG, JEDI MASTER
|“Ginsburg is a Jedi master of the long pause; if you don’t surf those pauses with her, you inevitably risk missing all the good stuff. When she’s asked a question, she tends to power up—in the manner of an animatronic Disney creation—speak slowly and carefully, and then power down. Her clerks tell me she has been like this for decades. This isn’t her age; it’s how she processes.” That’s Dahlia Lithwick with Slate reviewing the interview JUSTICE GINSBURG gave this week with Jeffrey Rosen of the National Constitution Center. RBG spoke about her perspective on the #MeToo movement and Lithwick was alllll about it. “As she steps forward, at 84, to celebrate the fact #MeToo has transcended the statutes and rules she herself fought to put in place, let’s give it up for the Ruth Bader Ginsburg who prizes listening, cooperating, thinking before you speak, and giving powerful force to the pauses. She is showing us that one needn’t be a badass to be a warrior, and that the ability to think before you speak is a virtue that’s more prized than ever. The winning lies in showing up, in modeling dignity, and in supporting the fighters—particularly the young ones—simply by being in the room.”
HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY WEEKEND
|Wishing you and your families a happy long weekend to celebrate the venerable presidents that have led us through good times and bad. And while you reflect upon the leaders of Pennsylvania Ave., maybe stop and consider why there’s no day celebrating our Supreme Court justices. Just saying, feels like a nice idea…XOXO SCOTUSDaily