MARK YOUR CALENDARS | Nominee Will Be Announced Next Thursday, February 2
January 25, 2017
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
|Hide yo kids and hide yo wife because PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP announced in a tweet today that he will be “making” his Supreme Court nominee next Thursday, February 2. The date feels all too fitting given the déjà vu you might be feeling — it was around this time last year that we learned of JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA’S passing and PRESIDENT OBAMA subsequently nominated MERRICK GARLAND to the bench. Let’s see how far we’ve come…
FIRED UP, READY TO GO
|As they await the Supreme Court announcement now scheduled for next Thursday, Carl Hulse with The New York Times reports Democrats have only one judge’s name in mind: MERRICK B. GARLAND. Basically, the Dems are still pissed that Senate Republicans refused to even consider Judge Garland, who was considered to be a consensus candidate. Hulse: “All indications are that they see the forthcoming nomination as a chance to take a strong stand against the new president, since they still have the power to filibuster a Supreme Court choice — at least for now.”
THE THREE AMIGOS
|Word has it TRUMP has his SCOTUS short list down to a final three — NEIL GORSUCH (49), WILLIAM H. PRYOR (54), and THOMAS HARDIMAN (51). Gorsuch is reportedly topping the list, though NPR’s Nina Totenberg reports Dems are “very likely to oppose a Gorsuch nomination in large numbers” even though he is “seen as less of a lightning rod than Judge Pryor, who famously called Roe v. Wade…’the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history.'” Regardless of which of these three gets picked, the Supreme Court will remain a conservative court as it has been for decades.
HOW GORSUCH GOT THE NUMBER ONE SEED
|CNN’s Ariane de Vogue explains how NEIL GORSUCH, a judge on the federal appellate bench in Colorado, became the leading contender to be the next nominee to the Supreme Court. She reports, “His quick ascent is due to a combination of factors, including his track record, demeanor and the impression he has made on Trump and the small circle advising him on how to replace the late JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA. Another factor — one beyond Gorsuch’s control — is likely also in play: the fiery atmosphere on Capitol Hill as Democrats vow to make the Supreme Court hearings one of the biggest fights in the early days of the Trump presidency.”
SHAMELESS PLUG
|Did ya hear that? “One of the biggest fights in the early days of the Trump presidency.” The good news here is you’re already one step ahead of your fellow friends and colleagues because you are a subscriber to the only daily tipsheet designed to keep you updated with the top news and stories in and around 1 First Street. Well done, you.
OTHER NEWS
Supreme Court gives Alabama another pass on its unconstitutional death penalty
Los Angeles Times“It’s perplexing why the Supreme Court opted not to take the case and either shut down Alabama’s capital punishment system under its Hurst precedent, or explain why what seems to be a clear violation, in fact, is not. The best speculation: The court prefers to wait for a later case on the issue, when it has all nine seats filled.”