SHOULD TRUMP PREPARE FOR DISAPPOINTMENT AT SCOTUS? | The Illegitimacy Of Supreme Court Legitimacy Concerns | The Court Cases That Changed LGBTQ Rights In America
June 19, 2019
WHERE IS THE LOVE
|For Reuters, Andrew Chung and Lawrence Hurley report that PRESIDENT TRUMP’S fondness for SCOTUS is likely to be tested by a number of legal disputes that involve him personally and could be decided by the justices. The president has always thought of the Supreme Court as “friendly territory.” Should legal fights over his taxes, the 2016 election and his business dealings come to 1 First, Trump may need to prepare himself for some disappointment.
TOP-ED
|In The Washington Post, Leah Litman, Joshua Matz and Steve Vladeck argue concerns over the Supreme Court’s legitimacy are hypocritical and, well, illegitimate. They write, “Calls to be mindful of judicial legitimacy are passe; conservatives demand activism of the court they believe they have captured. No matter that many of those same conservatives bulldozed every relevant norm on the way (especially when they defended the Senate’s refusal to hold a hearing on MERRICK GARLAND’S nomination). Or that they weakened the court’s credibility in doing so.” But they say some issues can sincerely strike at the core of the court’s legitimacy — and the ask to put a citizenship question on the census is their primary example. “Irrational, prejudicial efforts to subvert the census weaken the legitimacy of our constitutional system because they distort the representative nature of our democracy. Upholding such chicanery on grounds that are obviously fictional — and flagrantly at odds with the conservative justices’ stated principles — would raise painful questions about the court as an institution that extend far beyond this case.”
HOLDING OUT HOPE
|“With 20 remaining opinions on the Supreme Court’s docket, conservatives will soon learn whether BRETT KAVANAUGH is the justice they hoped he might be.” That’s Ariane de Vogue with CNN noting conservatives are keeping a close eye on the latest addition to the high court’s bench and how he’ll handle some big cases that carry even bigger political consequences for the country.
A HISTORY OF CHANGE
|For The New York Times, Chris Geidner takes a look at the court cases that have forever changed LGBTQ communities. He writes, “Beginning before Stonewall and continuing in the 50 years since, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have regularly turned to the courts for protection against mistreatment or to overturn laws that targeted them. From H.I.V.-based discrimination to the fight for marriage equality to President Trump’s attempt to ban transgender people from the military, courts across the country have played a key role in the story of LGBTQ rights in America.”
ARE YOU OPEN TO OPENING UP SCOTUS
|As part of its “Meet the Candidates” series, The New York Times tracked down the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates and asked each of them the same 18 questions to better understand how their varying positions stack up. Question number 14: “Are you open to expanding the size of the Supreme Court?” See what the candidates said and how they’re all thinking about SCOTUS as part of their platform.