FEDERAL JUDGE STAYS OUT OF CENSUS FIGHT | It’s On SCOTUS To Decide Fate Of Citizenship Question | Beto’s Modest Proposal For The Court, Congress, And Country
June 6, 2019
WON'T CROSS THE LINE
|A federal judge in New York yesterday refused to interfere in the “Supreme Court’s decision-making process” and said he won’t yet rule on new claims that the Trump administration mischaracterized the true motives behind adding the citizenship question to the 2020 Census. JUDGE JESSE FURMAN is one of three federal judges who previously blocked the question from being added, based mostly on the theory that Trump administration officials did not follow proper procedures or have a legitimate reason for making the addition. He said Wednesday, “I lack authority to do anything with respect to the merits of the case,” and added, “I don’t want to do anything that would cross the line or seem to cross the line.”
JUST ASKING
|Linda Greenhouse with The New York Times wonders in her latest who, other than CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS, cares about the Supreme Court’s perceived legitimacy. While we wait for SCOTUS to weigh in on the biggest case of the term, Greenhouse asks, “Why is it assumed on the right that Chief Justice Roberts is the only conservative on the court who has its welfare in view and who worries about the loss of public confidence if the justices come to be seen as mere politicians in robes?…Justice Samuel Alito? The new justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh? Shouldn’t we assume that they care too? And if not, why not? As the clock ticks toward the 2020 census, just asking.”
MAKING SAUSAGE
|Ariane de Vogue with CNN reports that justices have likely already taken a preliminary vote to decide the Census case, and by now, they’re probably already circulating drafts of the majority opinion and dissent. She notes that at oral arguments in April, they seemed divided along the usual ideological lines but that doesn’t necessarily predict the future. Read her report which outlines the process for how justices cast their votes internally — one she says is never “set in stone until the court releases its opinion in public.”
A MODEST PROPOSAL
|David Siders with POLITICO provides additional coverage of BETO O’ROURKE’S proposal for a constitutional amendment that would impose term limits on members of Congress and Supreme Court justices. The candidates’ proposal also looks at reducing the influence of money in politics and the expansion of voter turnout — including making Election Day a national holiday.
SCOTUS VIEWS
Justice Thomas On Abortion And Eugenics
The Wall Street Journal“Whether or not today’s abortion-rights advocates share the views of yesterday’s eugenicists, technology has made the elimination of fetuses with unwanted characteristics disturbingly commonplace. Abortion rates for babies diagnosed in utero with Down syndrome are close to 100% in some European countries. Sex-selective abortions in India have resulted in some 50 million more men than women in the country.”
Supreme Court Should Postpone Decision On Trump's Citizenship Census Question
The Hill“Three federal judges, it is worth noting, have ruled against the Trump Administration. In Maryland Judge George Hazel deemed the rationale for a citizenship question ‘woefully deficient’; in California, Judge Richard Seeborg decried ‘a cynical search’; and in New York, Judge Jesse Furman discounted ‘the acts and statements of officials with something to hide.’ SCOTUS should hit the pause button and review all the evidence.”