ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, Gorsuch Will Get to SCOTUS
February 6, 2017
ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
|Vice President MIKE PENCE made a vow over the weekend: JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH will make it to the Supreme Court one way or the other. Speaking before the Federalist Society in Philadelphia, Pence said the Trump administration and Senate Republicans will prevent the Dems from blocking a vote on Gorsuch, reaffirming what his boss has previously said regarding the filibuster. Richard Wolf with USA Today reports.
I'M DIFFERENT, YEAH I'M DIFFERENT
|There are different kinds of conservative judges, but which kind is NEIL GORSUCH? NPR’s Nina Totenberg reports that while Gorsuch is a self-proclaimed originalist, his first mentor, BYRON WHITE, was a conservative pragmatist. It’s your classic Star Wars set-up, and only time will tell how strong the force is with this one.
CALL ME STUPID ONE MORE TIME
|Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and Neil S. Siegel argue that just because a decent conservative judge was nominated to the Supreme Court, doesn’t mean JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY is going to step down. “Anthony Kennedy is not stupid.” Here’s why: NEIL GORSUCH and Anthony Kennedy are on opposite sides of four very critical cases from recent history — Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), Lawrence v. Texas (2003), U.S. v. Windsor (2013), and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). “Movement conservatives have derided and insulted Kennedy for most of his time on the bench. Now they apparently believe him to be foolish enough to step aside because their pick for the court this time around isn’t the affront to the judicial branch that it could have been.”
START THE TIMER
|Senate Judiciary Chairman CHUCK GRASSLEY says we can expect JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH to be on the Supreme Court before the Senate’s Easter recess.
TAKING THE HIGH ROAD
|The junior senator from Oregon, JEFF MERKELEY, is still fired up and ready to go over what he’s calling the “theft” of a Supreme Court seat. On CNN’s “New Day,” Merkeley said, “The theft of a Supreme Court seat has never been done before. Never before has a majority refused to hold a conversation and a vote…Therefore we have an illegitimate status ready for this seat.” Still, he said he and his Dem friends will give JUDGE GORSUCH a hearing and allow a vote for his confirmation.
NOT SO FAST
|The Department of Homeland Security said Saturday that it had suspended “any and all actions” related to DONALD TRUMP’S executive order on immigration. A federal district judge in Washington state blocked enforcement of the EO, and Saturday night the Trump administration formally declared it plans to appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Then early Sunday, the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied a request to immediately reinstate Trump’s travel ban, asking both sides to file arguments by Monday.
TRUMP V. UNITED STATES
|Is it possible PRESIDENT TRUMP’S immigration ban is headed to the Supreme Court? All signs point to yes. Richard Wolf with USA Today reports.
TRUMP & COURTS – A LOVE AFFAIR
|Peter Baker with The New York Times reports that it’s early days for DONALD TRUMP to already be “barreling into a confrontation with the courts…foreshadowing years of legal battles as an administration determined to disrupt the existing order presses the boundaries of executive power.”
SCOTUS REVIEWS
Trump's reckless shot at a federal judge
The Washington Post“When a president tweets insults at a Hollywood star, the dignity of his office is tarnished. When a commander in chief uses Twitter to attack a loyal military ally, America’s friends across the globe become unsettled. But when a president uses social media to question the legitimacy of a federal judge following an inconvenient (and temporary) outcome, that is simply unacceptable.”