JUDICIARY CAN’T HIDE FROM #MeToo | Kochs Expand Portfolio Into Judicial Fights | Ginsburg v. Gorsuch
January 29, 2018
FEBRUARY FEELS
|The Supreme Court is on a bit of a break for the next couple weeks, not hearing arguments until February 20. And then they are back. in. action. The last three days of next month are going to be jam-packed. Five cases will be heard in those three days, two of which are some of the court’s most high profile of the term. Read the rundown on what we have to look forward to from Constitution Daily.
#METOO AND THE JUDICIARY
|“The abuse women have suffered in the nation’s courthouses has been a largely untold story. And its system for complaints — where judges police fellow judges — is a world so closely controlled and cloaked in secrecy that it defies public scrutiny.” Joan Biskupic with CNN shares her investigation into how sexual misconduct by judges is kept under wraps, and perpetuated and protected by the judiciary itself.
PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS
|Michelle Ye Hee Lee with The Washington Post reports the Koch network is expanding its portfolio into the judicial branch. The Kochs plan to mobilize around the next Supreme Court vacancy and push for more conservative judges to be confirmed to vacancies in lower courts across the country.
A DRESS CODE FOR DEMOCRACY
|If you vote in Minnesota, you have to give some serious thought to your outfit choice for the polls. Adam Liptak with The New York Times reports the reason for this is to “create a safe space for democracy.” However, some say the law that bans political t-shirts, hats and buttons at polling places violates the First Amendment. Or as a group challenging the law has said: “A T-shirt will not destroy democracy.” It’s a conundrum the Supreme Court will grapple with next month.
PODCAST DU JOUR
|Speaking of the First Amendment, it’s the subject of the latest episode of the podcast, “Constitutional,” presented by The Washington Post. On the pod, the focus is on the story of Jehovah’s Witnesses and their fight to shape, define, and ultimately transform the First Amendment.
AT BAT
|“The nation’s most powerful employee unions stand to lose membership, money and political muscle at the hands of the Supreme Court this year.” That’s Richard Wolf with USA Today reporting on the upcoming case which will likely deal a major blow to public sector unions. Wolf writes, “On the court’s docket next month are fees paid in 22 states by police, firefighters, teachers and other government workers who decline to join unions that must represent them anyway. But much more is at stake in a nation with declining union membership and growing economic inequality. The only question appears to be how much.”
HBD BAN
|“The case against President Trump’s travel ban, like a lingering illness, seems to have been with us forever, but is just celebrating its first birthday. Now that the Supreme Court has accepted one of the two challenges to the order, the end is in sight.” Garrett Epps with The Atlantic previews Trump v. Hawaii, the Supreme Court case which he says will force the justices to make a historic choice regarding presidential power.
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|The Editorial Board of The New York Times covers the latest move from Republicans to gut Roe v. Wade. SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL has paved the way for a procedural vote this week on a bill that would ban abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy — violating the Supreme Court’s standard that abortion can be restricted only when a fetus is viable outside the womb.
A SUPREME SNUB
|Tomorrow the president will deliver his first State of the Union, and the RSVP list is missing one very high-profile attendee. JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG will not be in the audience for PRESIDENT TRUMP’S speech, having already scheduled herself for a speaking event in Rhode Island.
NOT GOING NOWHERE
|AP’s Mark Sherman and Jessica Gresko report the NOTORIOUS RBG, at the age of 84, has no plans of going anywhere anytime soon. Not slowing down and not ready to call it quits, the eldest justice is as busy as ever. Sherman and Gresko note, “The eldest Supreme Court justice has produced two of the court’s four signed opinions so far this term. Outside court, she’s the subject of a new documentary that includes video of her working out. And she’s hired law clerks to take her through June 2020, just four months before the next presidential election.”
OVER THE WEEKEND
|Yesterday was the anniversary of the successful nomination of LOUIS BRANDEIS to the Supreme Court. The staff over at Constitution Daily commemorates the occasion with a look back at how the lawyer — famous for coming up with the “Brandeis Brief” — became a Supreme Court justice.
NOW, NOW, PLAY NICE
|Kenneth Jost notes on his blog that JUSTICES RUTH BADER GINSBURG and NEIL GORSUCH don’t play well together. Last week, Gorsuch the Newbie went up against the eldest justice for a second time in his short tenure. Read about the latest kerfuffle in the budding feud.