How SCOTUS Reached Its 6-3 Decision On LGBTQ Workplace Rights | Trump Revises Lawsuit To Shield His Financial Records
July 28, 2020
YOUR SECOND SCOOP OF THE WEEK
|In Part 2 of Joan Biskupic’s four-part exclusive series on CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS and the Supreme Court this term, she explores how the court decided to extend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to gay and lesbian workers in this groundbreaking 6-3 ruling this term. It was as early as October that the “die was cast” for the ultimate decision that emerged in June. Biskupic with CNN reports, “What was not previously known in the LGBTQ disputes is that the justices voted first to affirm a lower court ruling that had favored a gay man fired from his job as a skydiving instructor in New York and to reverse a lower court decision against a gay man removed from his post as a county child-services coordinator in Georgia. But, according to the new details learned by CNN, when it came to the case involving a transgender woman, Aimee Stephens, who had challenged her firing at a Michigan funeral home, the justices were torn as they discussed the issue. Some justices thought sexual orientation and gender identity cases would most definitely be treated the same under the law. But others wondered about differences with the claims and even whether the Stephens case might be returned to a lower court for further hearings, essentially punting on the question of transgender rights. But once Roberts assigned the cases to Gorsuch and he, as expected, zeroed in on the text of Title VII’s ban on discrimination ‘because of … sex,’ the majority readily signed on to the opinion declaring that both sexual orientation and gender identity would be covered.”
NOT GIVING IN
|Erica Orden and Kara Scannell with CNN report PRESIDENT TRUMP has filed an amended complaint to argue the Manhattan DA’s subpoena for his financial records was issued with “bad faith” and is “wildly overbroad.” It’s his latest attempt to shield his financial records from the DA’s office following the Supreme Court’s ruling that said the president — or any president for that matter — does not have complete immunity from a state grand jury investigation.
GOODBYE TO YOU
|Today in POLITICO Huddle it’s noted that Washington said goodbye to REP. JOHN LEWIS who was lain in state under the Capitol Rotunda. He’s the first Black member ever given that honor. Hundreds came to pay their respects including Supreme Court JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR.
BACK TO YOU, IT ALWAYS COMES AROUND
|Marcia Coyle with The National Law Journal reports PRESIDENT TRUMP’S main legal authority for his order to exclude undocumented immigrants from the 2020 census comes from an argument made in a 1992 SCOTUS case by then U.S. principal deputy solicitor general JOHN ROBERTS JR.
SCOTUS VIEWS
There Is Nothing Conservative About What Trump Is Doing In Portland
The Atlantic“Twenty years ago, Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist—not generally thought of as a radical liberal—said: ‘We can think of no better example of the police power, which the Founders denied the National Government and reposed in the States, than the suppression of violent crime and vindication of its victims.’ Last week Attorney General William Barr went full interventionist, telling the press that he was deploying federal law-enforcement officers to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico (this coming after the previous week’s deployment to Portland), to combat ‘violent criminal activity.’ President Trump said much the same thing as he rattled off cities his administration was eyeing for future intervention—Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit—because of ‘gun violence’ and ‘drugs.’ How greatly have traditional conservative values of federalism and limited government been transformed.”
The Death Penalty Can Ensure ‘Justice Is Being Done’
The New York Times“The death penalty is a difficult issue for many Americans on moral, religious and policy grounds. But as a legal issue, it is straightforward. The United States Constitution expressly contemplates ‘capital’ crimes, and Congress has authorized the death penalty for serious federal offenses since President George Washington signed the Crimes Act of 1790. The American people have repeatedly ratified that decision, including through the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 signed by President Bill Clinton, the federal execution of Timothy McVeigh under President George W. Bush and the decision by President Barack Obama’s Justice Department to seek the death penalty against the Boston Marathon bomber and Dylann Roof.”
Trump’s Next Supreme Court List Could Be Really Extreme
Intelligencer“It is important to recognize that whatever list or vetting process Trump agrees to for a hypothetical second term in order to keep conservative Christians onboard and energized for November is a different matter than a SCOTUS vacancy this year. If one arises, the speed of confirmation may become more important than extensive vetting — particularly if it looks as if Trump is headed for defeat.”