THE SUPREME COURT’S LAW OF MOTION | DJT Winning At One Thing At Least | Chief Justice Unafraid of Criticism Against Judges
July 20, 2017
GOOD NEWS GRANDMA, YOU'RE BONA FIDE
|ICYMI, the Supreme Court weighed in yesterday to confirm that grandmas, grandpas and a whole list of other close relatives are allowed to enter the U.S. and circumvent DONALD TRUMP’S travel ban. In a brief, unsigned order, the justices let stand part of a ruling from a federal judge in Hawaii that narrowed the Trump administration’s efforts to limit travel from six predominantly Muslim countries, but they suspended a second part of that ruling that would now allow an estimated 24,000 refugees to resettle in the United States.
FAMILY IS FAMILY IN CHURCH OR IN PRISON
|In The New York Times, Mae Ngai points out that the latest legal battle over the definition of “family” points to a dark history of immigration policy setting. The battle over who is a “close family relation” highlights an uncomfortable truth about American immigration policy: It limits family unification in the service of restrictionist and, at times, discriminatory goals.”
TOP-ED
|“Ours is a common-law system, in which one case follows another and legal doctrine emerges from the crucible of decided cases. Accepting only about 65 cases a year, the Supreme Court sits on the top of a very big pyramid: thousands of cases pass through the system every year, and judges are tasked with finding and applying relevant Supreme Court precedents to new cases with facts that differ, slightly or quite a lot from those in the original case.” In The New York Times, Linda Greenhouse opines on the high court and the law of motion that shapes almost everything that comes down from it.
ONE HIT WONDER
|Ronald Klain opines in The Washington Post that there is one aspect of his job where PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP is actually winning. Klain notes, “For while President Trump is incompetent at countless aspects of his job, he is proving wildly successful in one respect: naming youthful conservative nominees to the federal bench in record-setting numbers.”
IN A LAND DOWN UNDER
|Yesterday, CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS said in a Q&A at the University of Melbourne’s law school that criticism of judges from politicians won’t dissuade judges from doing their jobs. He said, “We’re certainly not above criticism — it’s a free country…It certainly doesn’t affect how we go about our job.”
TODAY IN HISTORY
|On this day in 1990, JUSTICE WILLIAM BRENNAN — one of the Supreme Court’s most liberal voices — announced he was stepping down from the high court.