THE HOT BENCH WITH DAVID SAVAGE | Are Dems Smart To Filibuster? | ROOM FOR DEBATE
March 24, 2017
THE HOT BENCH
|It was a busy, busy week for Supreme Court news, but that didn’t stop SCOTUSDaily from scoring an interview with one of the greats: DAVID SAVAGE with the Los Angeles Times. For our latest Hot Bench interview, we spoke with Savage about this week’s confirmation hearing and how he thinks JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH performed. We also discussed cameras in the courtroom, the changes he would like to see at SCOTUS, and why he’s glad he doesn’t have to cover the House or Senate. Catch our full interview here.
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
|David Savage with the Los Angeles Times had a packed day yesterday. After spending time speaking with SCOTUSDaily, he also managed to deliver a piece analyzing JUDGE GORSUCH’S hearing this week, noting of the same key takeaways we talked about in our interview. He notes that although Gorsuch seems to be a strict “textaulist” believing in following the exact words of a law, he may not be as much of an “originalist” as the late JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA.
AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN
|In case you missed it, Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER announced yesterday that Democrats will try to mount a filibuster against JUDGE GORSUCH and force Republicans to find a supermajority of 60 votes to advance the nomination to a confirmation vote. Zoe Tillman with Buzzfeed reports.
WHIP LIST
|The Hill is tracking where senators stand on the nomination of JUDGE GORSUCH, counting eight Democrats in opposition to his nomination and four undecided.
DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE
|“It seems like a perfect storm: Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee were pounding JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH for an opinion he wrote denying assistance to an autistic child, and while he was testifying, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected the standard Gorsuch relied on to do it.” Noah Feldman for Bloomberg says that although Judge Gorsuch caught some heat for using the “wrong” standard, he wasn’t actually wrong to do it. “It was the binding legal rule in the 10th Circuit, established in 1996, long before he joined the U.S. Court of Appeals.”
REALITY CHECK
|Laura McKenna with The Atlantic considers how the Endrew ruling will actually impact special education in America. “How this decision will play out on the school level, given the rising costs of special education and diminishing support from the federal government, is anyone’s guess. But, for now, those concerns are not dampening the celebrations of parents and special-needs advocates this week.”
ROOM FOR DEBATE
|The Slate Staff debates over “Slack Chat” whether or not Democrats are smart to pursue a filibuster strategy and oppose the nomination of JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH. Read the transcript of their online conversation here.
SCOTUS VIEWS
Do we really want an 'originalist' Supreme Court justice?
The Sacramento Bee“Originalism is usually endorsed as the alternative to a regime under which judges are free to rewrite the law in service to their personal vision of morality. This appears to be Gorsuch’s view. But the sensible alternative to originalism is not free-range activism, but pragmatism, a perspective that can accommodate a wide range of political views.”
End Supreme Court lotto
USA Today“The name of the game is Supreme Court Lotto. Under our system, dumb luck dictates whether a president gets none, one, two, three or more Supreme Court seats to fill while in office. The game has again come into sharp focus with Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings. It’s a good time to ask: Do we really want to keep playing this game?”
OTHER NEWS
What the Supreme Court's First Ruling on Fashion Copyrights Means for the Runway
Vogue“This ruling isn’t a blanket statement protecting all designers from knockoffs and copying, but rather it opens the door for making the case that certain parts of design can be protected by copyright. That’s important, especially considering that Congress has discussed expanding copyright protections for fashion designers but has not yet made it into law.”