Bridgegate Case At SCOTUS Tomorrow | Bernie Sanders Suggests He’s Open To Sharing A Supreme Court Shortlist
January 13, 2020
THE VALUE OF TEXT MESSAGES
|Today the Supreme Court said it won’t be taking up an appeal from MICHELLE CARTER who was the subject of a recent HBO documentary, “I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth V. Michelle Carter.” She was sentenced to 15 months in jail for encouraging her boyfriend over text to kill himself. SCOTUS declined to decide whether her involuntary manslaughter conviction violated the First Amendment guarantee of free speech because it was based solely on words that she texted or spoke.
FREE THE NIPPLE
|Justices today also announced that they declined to hear an appeal from three women involved in the Free the Nipple movement who were challenging a law that bars women from going topless in public. The women were arrested for violating a Laconia, N.H., ordinance, but they’ve argued the law violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause because it applies to women but not men.
AIN'T WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE
|The Supreme Court this week will hear oral arguments in a case involving the notorious Bridgegate scandal and the convictions of a former aide to then GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE and a Port Authority official for their role in a scheme to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge to create traffic problems for a political rival of Christie. Harper Neidig with The Hill reports on the history of the case that will be heard at the high court on Tuesday.
A BRIDGE TOO FAR
|Richard Wolf with USA Today also reports on the Bridgegate case which he says may test the Supreme Court’s history of “admonishing prosecutors for stretching laws to win convictions.” Wolf writes, “On Tuesday, the high court will shed some light on whether its forgiveness extends to shutting down access lanes to the George Washington Bridge – the busiest bridge in the world – for political retribution.”
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|“Political thuggery isn’t a crime, but many prosecutors want to make it one. On Tuesday the Supreme Court will consider in U.S. v. Kelly whether public officials commit fraud when they misuse their authority or government funds for political purposes. Let’s hope not because too many political differences are already criminalized.” That’s the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal weighing in on the high court’s Bridgegate hearing.
SLOW YOUR ROLL
|Robert Barnes with The Washington Post reports that the Trump administration is more than okay with the Supreme Court taking their time with ruling on the latest Obamacare challenge. The administration and a coalition of conservative states said “the court should not grant a motion by the House of Representatives and Democratic-led states to expedite review of a decision by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit last month.”
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
|Democratic presidential candidate SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS told the Editorial Board of The New York Times that he is open to releasing a shortlist of his potential Supreme Court nominees. To use his own words, Sanders said it was “not a bad idea.” But he tempered his response by highlighting that such questions are a bit premature given voters still haven’t begun casting their votes in the Democratic primary. He said, “Got to kind of win the nomination first.”
A MISLEADING IMAGE
|Pete Williams with NBC News reports on the role CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS will have to play in the impeachment trial of PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP. Williams writes, “It won’t take Roberts more than a few minutes to get to the U.S. Capitol, directly across the street from the Supreme Court, leaving the court that he seeks to run in a nonpartisan manner and entering the highly charged political atmosphere of the Senate. But the televised image of him seated in the presiding officer’s chair will be a misleading one: He’ll actually have little control over what goes on. Roberts’ role will be more master of ceremonies than trial judge.”