KAVANAUGH’S CONSTITUTION DAY SPEECH | Fix The Court Battles Over Withheld Records On Nominee | Democrats’ Long-Term Lesson
July 16, 2018
SEPTEMBER SONG
|Last September, PRESIDENT TRUMP’S Supreme Court nominee, JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH, gave a Constitution Day speech in which he celebrated his first judicial hero, the late CHIEFJUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST. The now-nominee applauded the chief justice for his dissent in Roe v. Wade and his rejection of the separation of church and state. Brett Kavanaugh remarked Rehnquist was “not successful in convincing a majority of the justices in the context of abortion.” Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow with The Washington Post report on the speech, which they say underscores how different Kavanaugh would be from the man he’s been nominated to replace. Ed Kilgore also recently wrote about Kavanaugh’s Constitution Day speech in New York Magazine where he said the content of the speech is likely to become “a flash point” in the debate over the nominee’s confirmation.
DOUBLE TAKE
|To catch you up anything you may have missed so far in the fight to confirm BRETT KAVANAUGH, The New Yorker compiled some of their past coverage of the Supreme Court to provide you with context for how we got to where we are today. Articles include a look at JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR’S “high-profile début” + JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG’S status as the reigning SCOTUS heavyweight champion + the need for justices to finally abide a code of conduct.
NO I WON'T BACK DOWN
|A fight is underway to compel the prompt release of tens of thousands of pages of records from the nominee’s previous federal service, and Fix the Court’s Executive Director GABE ROTHis leading the charge. He’s working with American Oversight to get these documents before the Senate votes on the confirmation of Kavanaugh.
SMOOTH SAILING
|Unlike the early days of JUSTICE NEIL M. GORSUCH on the Supreme Court bench, Jess Bravin and Brent Kendall report for The Wall Street Journal that it’s likely BRETT KAVANAUGH would transition onto the high court quite smoothly. The pair writes, “The next justice’s demeanor could calm an institution no longer entirely immune to the discord that now defines Washington.”
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, MUST BE FUNNY
|“As politics increasingly defines judicial nominations, confirmation battles for major judgeships are looking more and more like political campaigns, with shadowy groups pouring cash into national advertising and lobbying initiatives while keeping their donors and spending decisions opaque. This deprives Americans of information about who is backing nominees to some of the most powerful seats in the land, and it increases the likelihood that judges and politicians will feel pressure to make decisions that partisan spending networks demand.” That’s the Editorial Board of The Washington Post digging into the dark money behind modern day Supreme Court nominations. WaPo urges Congress to close loopholes that allow big-money, partisan organizations to operate in secrecy and put judges on the federal bench.
I'M THE KING OF THE CASTLE, YOU'RE THE DIRTY RASCAL
|The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal also weighed in on the current fight over JUDGE KAVANAUGH’S confirmation arguing Democrats are way off base to suggest the nominee has a “monarchical view of presidential power.” The Ed Board notes, “Far from imposing a monarchy, Judge Kavanaugh’s legal record suggests he will be more skeptical of executive regulatory power than most liberal judges are today.”
COULDA SHOULDA WOULDA
|In The New York Times, Carl Hulse considers whether Democrats should have saved their filibuster for the present Supreme Court fight. Hulse notes that although Dems had tried to stop Republicans from blowing up the filibuster over SCOTUS appointments, they weren’t able to make it happen and are now SOL with BRETT KAVANAUGH. Hulse: “Had Democrats retained the power to block President Trump’s choice of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, he might have been forced to find a more consensus candidate. With the Republicans’ Senate majority smaller than it was in 2017, SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, might not have found it as easy now to corral the votes to overrule a filibuster. The entire political atmosphere around the nomination would be transformed.”
WHAT WE'VE BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG
|“Democrats may be focused on sinking BRETT KAVANAUGH’S Supreme Court nomination in the short term, but many note that the fight also offers its own long-term lesson: The party desperately needs to educate voters about the importance of the Supreme Court.” Yes, yes, YAS. Li Zhou writes for Vox about the Democrats’ need to educate their voters and catch up with Republicans who long ago figured out the role SCOTUS can play when it comes to winning elections.
SCOTUS VIEWS
Does Brett Kavanaugh Spell The End Of Voting Rights?
The New York Times“The threat of voter disenfranchisement will get worse if Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed to the court. His opinion in the South Carolina case and his record in civil rights matters suggests that he will join with the court’s conservative justices to further roll back voting rights protections and other civil rights laws. If Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed, Chief Justice John Roberts will become the new swing voter. That’s terrible news for voting rights.”
The Supreme Court Could Use A Few Good Politicians
Bloomberg“For much of its history, the court drew benefits from having members with practical political experience. Now the focus is solely on judicial heavyweights. The last justice who was a politician was Sandra Day O’Connor, a former Republican leader of the Arizona senate who was tapped by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and stepped down in 2006. In the past dozen years, she could have taught her colleagues about the real world of politics on issues like campaign financing, redistricting and voting rights.”
Will Kavanaugh Curb Sloppy White House Deregulation?
The New York Times“If the justices heed Judge Kavanaugh’s analysis as a lower court judge, it is reasonable to conclude he will have a significant influence when he’s sitting across the conference table. This is even more likely to be true given the absence of Justice Antonin Scalia, the last conservative justice to have genuine expertise in administrative law. In Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump may not have found a justice to ‘deconstruct the administrative state’ — in Steve Bannon’s formulation — but he has found one who will help bring it to heel.”
Don't Let Donald Trump Pick A Supreme Court Justice Unless And Until Mueller Clears Him
USA Today“Why should a candidate or campaign that may have accepted and-or benefited from Russian money and help escape penalties? And even more importantly, why should such a candidate, as president, be given the ultimate, sacred opportunity to define the U.S. Supreme Court in his image for generations?”
OTHER NEWS
Guns To Marriage To The Environment: What A New Supreme Court Could Mean To California
San Francisco Chronicle“Imagine civilians legally packing pistols as they stroll the streets of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Or health care that is harder for Californians to obtain or even afford. Or air in the Central Valley with higher concentrations of methane gas, or county jails across the state that have no recourse but to allow federal agents inside for an immigration search. None of these changes is guaranteed. But they’re all potential effects of a rightward shift in the U.S. Supreme Court, with the addition of President Trump’s newest nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge in Washington, D.C.”
Even Never Trump Evangelicals Might Be Swayed By The Supreme Court
The Atlantic“Many white Christians voted for Donald Trump because they believed he would appoint conservative justices who would protect religious liberty and advance the pro-life cause. Now, ostensibly, they’ve been vindicated. With less than two years in office, Trump will very possibly see the confirmation of his second Supreme Court nominee, another handpicked choice of the conservative legal establishment.”
Comments By Former Clerks May Backfire On Trump's High Court Pick
Reuters“When it became clear that President Donald Trump was seriously considering nominating Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, the conservative judge’s former law clerks swung into action as among his most energetic public cheerleaders. But in making the case for him in the media on issues including his stance toward abortion, healthcare and an expansive view of religious liberty, they may have opened up lines of attack on Kavanaugh by Democrats and liberal advocacy groups seeking to derail his nomination in the U.S. Senate.”