DOJ ASKS SCOTUS (AKA Kennedy) TO RULE ON TRAVEL BAN 2.0 | Biggie Smalls Gets A Supreme Court Shoutout
June 2, 2017
RIGHT DOWN TO THE WIRE, EVEN THROUGH THE FIRE
|Well folks, it finally happened: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court last night to overrule the Fourth Circuit ruling putting a hold on the revised travel ban that would keep people from six majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States. Should the Supreme Court choose to take up the case, it would be the first test of PRESIDENT TRUMP’S travel ban at the nation’s highest court following multiple rebukes of his national security justifications for the ban.
HOEDOWN THROWDOWN
|Adam Liptak with The New York Times says White House’s move last night “sets the stage for a constitutional showdown over the president’s authority to make national security judgments in the name of protecting Americans from terrorism.”
DON'T MAKE ME WAIT
|“Give us the travel ban now, rule on it later.” That’s essentially what this request from the Trump administration is asking of the Supreme Court, according to Dara Lind with Vox. “The DOJ also asked the Supreme Court to go much further — and intervene in a separate lawsuit that’s still pending before the Ninth Circuit — in order to allow the federal government to put the ban in place before the end of June, when the Supreme Court embarks on its summer recess. It’s more likely that the Supreme Court will side with the federal government on the travel ban than the “very liberal” Ninth Circuit (the preferred epithet of Trump and other administration officials). But the weirdness of the request — which is almost certainly an attempt to speed up the process before the Supreme Court adjourns for the summer — may not sit well with the procedure-minded justices.”
BUT I WANT IT NOW DADDY
|You may have thought the DOJ was asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on the Trump administration’s travel ban, but really the request is a direct plea to the one and only ANTHONY KENNEDY. Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern explains, “As usual, the outcome appears to rest on Justice Anthony Kennedy’s shoulders, and it is possible to say with certainty which way he’ll swing.”
TODAY IN HISTORY
|On this day in 1924, PRESIDENT CALVIN COOLIDGE signed into law the Indian Citizenship Act, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States. POLITICO’s Andrew Glass reports that although the 14th Amendment had defined citizens as any person born in the United States, it covered only persons “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” and the U.S. Supreme Court had interpreted that clause as excluding indigenous peoples.
JUST FOR FUN – NEVER GET HIGH ON YOUR OWN SUPPLY
|The Mississippi Supreme Court handed down a ruling yesterday in which it cited a lyric from BIGGIE SMALLS’ 1997 song, “Ten Crack Commandments.” This is real, y’all — not #FakeNews. Justice James Shea wrote the majority opinion in which he very seriously pointed out, “‘Don’t get high on your own supply’ is a long-established rule of the drug trade specifically because such conduct is inconsistent with the criminal objective of distributing drugs for profit. To that rule, we now add the legal caveat: ‘Don’t get high on your own supply, ’cause double jeopardy don’t apply.'” Ed Krayewski with Reason brings us this story that truly makes me feel like it’s all a dream.
OTHER NEWS
Here are 4 Ways the Supreme Court Might Handle Trump's Travel Ban
New York MagazineThere are four courses of action SCOTUS may choose to take on the travel ban case: 1. Do nothing, 2. Agree to hear the case without providing Trump any relief from lower-court rulings, 3. Agree to hear the case and give the administration total relief from the lower-court rulings, or 4. Provide limited injunctive relief and send the administration back to the drawing board to create a long-term plan.
Lesbian Challenges Court Ruling That She's Not Legal Parent
The Associated Press“A lesbian is asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to recognize her as a legal parent of a child born during her marriage to a woman. Chris Strickland filed an appeal Thursday, arguing a lower court was wrong to rule in her 2016 divorce that only her ex-wife is the legal parent of the child. Strickland’s ex-wife, now named Kimberly Day, gave birth to a son conceived with sperm from an anonymous donor.”
How the Supreme Court Could Interfere With Mueller's Mandate
The National Law Journal“In the next few weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court could issue a decision that puts a crimp in the investigation schedule of special counsel and former FBI director Robert Mueller III.”
Religious Liberty Battle Still Rages Over Gay Marriage
USA Today“It’s been nearly two years since the Supreme Court said gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry. What it didn’t say was whether bakers, florists, printers and photographers could be forced to participate. Now, it seems, the court may be tied in knots over the more mundane aspects of tying the knot.”