SO WHO’S IT GONNA BE | Trump To Announce SCOTUS Pick Tonight | The List That Launched A Thousand Debates
July 9, 2018
TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT
|The nomination of a Supreme Court justice to replace JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY is expected from the White House today — less than two weeks after Kennedy announced his retirement. But Christopher Cadelago with POLITICO reports the president may not have his mind made up yet, as his staff prepares for multiple scenarios, unsure of which name which actually be announced. “With the knowledge that PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP could change his mind at the last minute — and with the president’s obsession to keep his final decision tightly held — Trump aides and Republicans familiar with the planning told POLITICO they initially were prepping for two possible nominees. But as the president continued to talk through his decision over the long weekend at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, officials in Washington were poring over research and crafting media-ready soundbites for at least four potential picks.”
THE MOOD IS RIGHT
|NPR’s Brian Naylor and Nina Totenberg note the president’s announcement is scheduled for tonight at 6 PM EDT. They review the bios of the four potential picks who are said to be Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Raymond Kethledge and Thomas Hardiman. Hardiman was said to be the runner-up to succeed Antonin Scalia, the seat Neil Gorsuch eventually occupied after being confirmed in 2017.
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal defends against criticisms that BRETT KAVANAUGH might be too hard to confirm because “his paper trail is too long.” The Ed Board notes, “The lesson of the Gorsuch success is that the best nominee is one with the best legal and intellectual credentials and no personal skeletons for opponents to exploit. Mr. Trump’s supporters aren’t looking for a nice biography. They want a distinguished legal mind who will interpret the law as the Constitution intended.”
SHOW ME THE MONEY
|An empty Supreme Court seat can mean only one thing: time to spend some serious money. The Judicial Crisis Network will launch a full-scale ad campaign tonight following the president’s announcement to immediately begin pressuring Democratic senators in red states to back the president’s selection. The group will release $1.4 million in digital and cable ads targeting lawmakers in Alabama, Indiana, North Dakota and West Virginia, Jonathan Easley and Alexis Simendinger reported in The Hill’s Morning Report.
WHAT GOES AROUND
|Ken Levy opines in The Hill that if and when SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL follows through on his promise to schedule confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court pick before the midterm elections Democrats should do more than just whine. They should sue. Levy: “Senate Democrats should immediately file a federal lawsuit against him for violating the so-called ‘McConnell Rule.’ (According to this rule, as McConnell himself stated on Feb. 13, 2016, ‘The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice.’) The issue — whether the McConnell Rule is now binding precedent — would not be political (and therefore ‘nonjusticiable’) but rather fundamentally legal (and therefore ‘justiciable’).”
HAIL MARY
|“Narrowly outnumbered in the Senate, Democrats are embarking on a Hail Mary campaign to block PRESIDENT TRUMP’S pick for the U.S. Supreme Court. And they realize what a long shot it is.” That’s Sarah D. Wire in the Los Angeles Times reporting on Democrats’ strategies for maybe, just maybe, thwarting Trump’s SCOTUS pick.
THE GREATEST LIST OF ALL
|Joel Achenbach writes in The Washington Post about the little list that made big waves. It was DON MCGAHN in early 2016 who suggested DONALD TRUMP make public a list of potential Supreme Court nominees to reassure the GOP base and help propel the candidate toward the White House. Achenbach reports, “The gambit helped Trump win the White House, and McGahn, now serving as White House counsel, is leading an aggressive campaign to reshape not only the Supreme Court but the entire federal judiciary.”
SCOTUS VIEWS
Gay Marriage Is Here To Stay, Even With A Conservative Court
The Wall Street Journal“No matter who replaces Justice Anthony Kennedy, gay marriage isn’t going anywhere: The court won’t overturn Justice Kennedy’s 5-4 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). Don’t believe me? Let’s count eight reasons.”
The Supreme Court's Liberals Should Follow Conservative Justice Rehnquist's Lead — Dissent, Dissent, Dissent
Los Angeles Times“There is something else that can be done — something easy to implement and likely to pay dividends for years to come. Starting this October, the four progressive justices can be more strident, inventive and ambitious in their dissents.”
OTHER NEWS
This Might Be The Way To Prove Partisan Gerrymandering, According To The New Supreme Court Standard
The Washington Post“What is that new standard? Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. made it clear in his majority opinion in Gill that the plaintiffs have to show — in specific districts in which some of them live — that they will have a harder time electing their preferred official because of the way the district has been either ‘packed’ or ‘cracked.'”