THE FINAL COUNTDOWN | Trump Narrows His List To Three, Maybe Two, Maybe One
July 5, 2018
THREE'S COMPANY
|Before the big holiday, PRESIDENT TRUMP spoke with three more potential Supreme Court picks to fill the seat left empty by retiring JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY. The White House confirmed the meetings but did not name names. These took place after Trump had also interviewed SENATOR MIKE LEE from Utah for the role. Lee is thought to be a long-shot, but Trump has referred to him as an “outstanding talent” and remarked on Air Force One this week, “I actually saw him on television last night, where he said he would love the job. You know, usually, they don’t say that.”
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
|Peter Nicholas and Louise Radnofsky report for The Wall Street Journal that the president has narrowed his focus on three picks for SCOTUS: BRETT KAVANAUGH of Maryland, of the D.C. Circuit; RAYMOND KETHLEDGE of Michigan, of the Sixth Circuit; and AMY CONEY BARRETT of Indiana, of the Seventh Circuit. Trump spent his Fourth of July on the golf course (duh) and “has been taking advice from lawmakers and trusted confidants as he settles on a nominee who could set a new direction for a high court split between conservative and liberal factions that have dueled for years.”
TEA FOR TWO, AND TWO FOR TEA
|Adam Liptak with The New York Times says two of the judges on DONALD TRUMP’S shortlist exemplify the kind of choice the president is facing when choosing a Supreme Court justice. “One is a creature of Washington with two Yale degrees, a ticket-punching résumé that includes stints in the Justice Department, the Bush White House and a federal appeals court, where he has written some 300 opinions. The other, a former law professor, has been a judge for less than a year but could become the first woman named to the Supreme Court by a Republican president since 1981.” The folks he’s referring to are JUDGES BRETT KAVANAUGH and AMY CONEY BARRETT.
TOP-ED – HOW WILL I KNOW
|How will we ever know what a Supreme Court nominee really thinks? That’s the question NYT’s Linda Greenhouse tackles in her latest.
OH IT'S ON
|Michael Scherer with The Washington Post reports on the war liberal political strategists are waging over the empty Supreme Court seat. He says the bulk of the efforts are geared towards two Republican senators — LISA MURKOWSKI and SUSAN COLLINS. Demand Justice plans to launch a $5 million campaign today with ads in both senators’ states focused on the possibility that the next justice will provide the majority vote to allow states to ban abortion. Meanwhile, NARAL Pro-Choice America announced plans Tuesday to take out full-page ads in four Maine newspapers similarly highlighting the issue.
ALL WE DO IS WIN WIN WIN NO MATTER WHAT
|Jessica Contrera with The Washington Post takes us inside the “Christian legal powerhouse” that keeps winning at SCOTUS. “Though far from a household name, the results of ADF’s work are well known. Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission was just one of ADF’s cases at the Supreme Court this term. The organization has had nine successful cases before the court in the past seven years.”
SCOTUS VIEWS
Calm Down. Roe V. Wade Isn't Going Anywhere
The Washington Post“That is to say, no one should try to predict how a justice — or the court — will rule. For now, lamentations about abortion’s end are wasted on what is mostly a red herring deployed for political expediency. But it will have served its purpose, which is to separate voters from their dollars, get the bases ripe and ready for Election Day, and give politicos and pundits something to knit and fret about.”
Anthony Kennedy's Supreme Court Retirement Threatens Abortion Rights Even If Roe Survives
USA Today“The new appointment likely will lead to draconian restrictions affecting millions of women completely apart from what decisions the Supreme Court may render in the next few years. That is because a new justice will shift the court to the right, causing seismic effects on actors from individual women up through lower courts even before the Supreme Court agrees to hear a case.”
With Brett Kavanaugh, America Will Have A Bold, Brilliant Supreme Court Justice
The Hill“One person on the list, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, is unique. I worked closely with him for the first four years of President George W. Bush’s administration, and I saw his character, philosophy and temperament. I and many colleagues often sought his counsel. Kavanaugh is someone you can trust and someone you want assistance from when decisions need to be made and the issues are complicated.”
The Trump Supreme Court Pick Who’d Pose The Biggest Danger To Abortion Rights
The Washington Post“Maybe a Justice Barrett would be more cautious than Notre Dame Law School Professor Barrett sounds. Maybe the chief justice would be reluctant to pull the trigger on Roe with just five votes. But this is already a court that has proved its willingness to overrule inconvenient precedents by a single vote. Adding Barrett would pose a clear and present danger to abortion rights.”
OTHER NEWS
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Receives Lifetime Award In Israel
The Associated Press“U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg received a lifetime achievement award Wednesday from a prominent Jewish organization in Israel. Ginsburg cited Holocaust diarist Anne Frank among others in a speech at a ceremony in Tel Aviv that touched on her fight for women’s rights and quoted from Jewish traditions and history.”