JUSTICES SAY TA-TA FOR NOW & GIVE UP A PERFECT PITCH FOR TRUMP
January 23, 2017
TA-TA FOR NOW
|The Supreme Court this morning declined to hear an appeal from the state of Texas seeking to revive the state’s strict Republican-backed voter-identification requirements that a lower court found had a discriminatory effect on black and Hispanic populations. In a statement attached to the order, CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS said there was still more work for lower courts to do in assessing the law, and that Texas could return to the high court once that review is final.
THE PERFECT PITCH
|Lyle Denniston for Constitution Daily notes the Supreme Court just set the stage for a DONALD TRUMP turnover of voter ID laws. He writes that with today’s decision, SCOTUS “cleared the way for the new Trump Administration to switch the government’s position – if it wishes to do so – to allow states to enforce strict photo ID requirements for America’s voters.”
SISTER, SISTER
|SCOTUS today also declined to hear an appeal from the big-love family featured on the television show known as, “Sister Wives.” The appeal challenged Utah’s law banning polygamy, however the high court chose to leave in place a lower court ruling that says Kody Brown and his four wives cannot sue over the law because they weren’t charged under it. The Brown family had claimed that they should be able to challenge the law because the threat of prosecution forced them to flee for Nevada and still looms over them when they return to Utah.
ICYMI
|Over the weekend, it was reported that PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP will receive what is expected to be the first of many legal actions against the new administration from liberal advocacy organizations. The first suit – backed by several prominent constitutional scholars – alleges that Trump is violating the United States Constitution by allowing his hotels and other business operations to accept payments from foreign governments. Lawyers argue that the Emoluments Clause bans payments from foreign powers like those made to Mr. Trump’s companies.
COME AT ME, BRO
|On CNN’s “State of the Union” yesterday, Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER said some fighting words ahead of the imminent Supreme Court skirmish. Schumer promised that if a SCOTUS nominee from Trump isn’t “bipartisan and mainstream,” he and his comrades “absolutely will keep the seat open.”
OTHER NEWS
Trump's judicial picks will affect far more than the Supreme Court
Sacramento Bee“Forget for the moment, the sole Supreme Court vacancy that rivets so much political attention. Nationwide, an additional 113 federal judicial vacancies await immediate filing. these will be the judges who touch people’s lives, far more often than the justices on the highest court.”