THE SURVIVAL OF SCOTUS, What Obama Leaves Behind and Why He’s Publishing in Harvard Law Review

January 6, 2017

Vox’s Dylan Matthews notes that although DONALD TRUMP will likely undo much of PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S legacy, there’s a chance some of Obama’s most crowning achievements will still survive. Not surprising to any of us, Barry O.’s Supreme Court appointments made the list, along with his over 300 appointments at the district and circuit levels. Matthews: “By appointing SONIA SOTOMAYOR and ELENA KAGAN to the Supreme Court, Obama not only kept two important seats in liberal hands for decades to come but also built the majority that made same-sex marriage the law of the land…The Court also struck down severe abortion restrictions in Texas and freed 46,000 prisoners in California.”

From Noah Feldman for Bloomberg comes today’s top-ed, “The Incredible Shrinking Supreme Court.” In it, Feldman considers what will happen next in the fight for JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA’S seat at SCOTUS and how the Supreme Court confirmation process may be forever changed. He concludes, “Some version of winner-take-all confirmation politics may already be with us.”

“Someone in the Democratic Party should remind SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER of the axiom that ‘revenge is a dish best served cold,’ because their Senate leader is preparing a piping hot bowl of it in his veiled threat to block consideration of any of DONALD TRUMP’S Supreme Court nominees indefinitely.” CNN’s Paul Callan responds to the escalating war for SCOTUS and considers how far Schumer will go in this crusade.

In the Harvard Law Review, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA published an article titled, “The President’s Role in Advancing Criminal Justice Reform.” In his Introduction Obama writes, “It would be a mistake to treat criminal justice reform as an agenda limited to certain communities. All Americans have an interest in living in safe and vibrant neighborhoods, in raising their children in a country of equal treatment and second chances, and in entrusting their liberty to a justice system that remains true to our highest ideals.”

Will Baude with The Washington Post thinks it’s all well and dandy that PRESIDENT OBAMA published in the Harvard Law Review, but now Baude wants to know why. Why is the president of the United States publishing a 56-page article in a law review? Who is it for and why should we care?

A justice on the Texas Supreme Court and listed as one of DONALD TRUMP’S potential Supreme Court picks, DON WILLETT in The Wall Street Journal shares what his life is like on any given week. He kicks off his piece by noting, “Justice never sleeps if you’re on the Texas Supreme Court.”