TOOBIN ON THE RUGGEDLY HANDSOME COLORADAN | Top-Ed From Senator Orrin Hatch | LAT Doesn’t Support Gorsuch Nomination
March 27, 2017
TODAY AT SCOTUS
|The justices today heard the case of three church-affiliated nonprofit hospital systems being sued for underfunding employee pension plans. The hospitals argue their pensions are “church plans” and therefore exempt from the law.
SWIPER NO SWIPING
|The Supreme Court today declined to hear a bid to revive a $7.25 billion antitrust settlement reached by retailers with Visa and MasterCard over claims the card companies improperly fixed credit and debit card fees. The SCOTUS brief noted that CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS and JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO did not participate in consideration of the appeal. No reason was given.
SAY SOMETHING I'M GIVING UP ON YOU
|The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin reflects on last week’s Supreme Court nomination hearing and NEIL GORSUCH’S “non-answers.” Without answering the questions, the “ruggedly handsome Coloradan” still revealed that he could be as conservative of a justice as SAMUEL ALITO. Toobin: “The Justices, who serve for life, answer only to the commands of the Constitution. But, in doing so, it’s their duty to speak for those who lack political power. The Trump era has already meant trouble for these people—the poor, the sick, dissenters, immigrants—and Gorsuch, for all his intellectual distinction, has shown scant regard for their concerns. There’s little reason to believe that he would as a Justice, either.”
WHAT COMES NEXT
|Brent Kendall with The Wall Street Journal reports that try as they might, Democrats likely won’t be able to stop the confirmation of JUDGE GORSUCH to the Supreme Court.
TOP-ED
|In The Wall Street Journal, SENATOR ORRIN HATCH opines that attacks against the Supreme Court nominee, JUDGE GORSUCH, are an embarrassment to the Senate. He writes that while Gorsuch gave an outstanding performance during his hearing last week, he’s still ducking insults from Dems. “In stark contrast was the astonishing treatment Judge Gorsuch received from many of my Democratic colleagues. Whatever their motivation—be it the outcome of PRESIDENT OBAMA’S lame-duck nomination during last year’s election, an unwillingness to accept the November results, or the desire for judges to push a liberal political agenda—they have apparently decided to wage a desperate, scorched-earth campaign to derail this nomination, no matter the damage they inflict along the way.”
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|The Editorial Board with the Los Angeles Times reminds readers that a decade ago it supported the nomination of CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS because despite their disagreements with his judicial philosophy, they show deference when nominees are well qualified and scandal-free. However, they write that JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH and the ways in which his nomination came about indicate “these are not normal times.” LAT: “Some people think it’s hyperbolic to suggest that the seat was ‘stolen.’ But how else to describe it?…The Republican misuse of power took partisan obstructionism to an extraordinary new level and must not be ignored now as if it never happened.
SPEAK SOFTLY, AND CARRY A BIG STICK
|Turns out JUDGE GORSUCH is a bit of a TEDDY ROOSEVELT fanboy. Helena Andrews-Dyer with The Washington Post reports that while Gorsuch was out on the town this weekend at Teddy & the Bully Bar with family and friends, he was sure to point out that Teddy was his favorite president.
ICYMI
|“I don’t have a clear, strong view on cameras in the Court, and the justices seem to think the cameras would change the way things are argued. But the way things are going, the justices may be the last nine people in the country who share that view.” That’s DAVID SAVAGE with the Los Angeles Times talking about putting cameras in the courtroom during our last Hot Bench interview. Catch our whole conversation here.
OTHER NEWS
The Best Option for Democrats on Gorsuch
Bloomberg“Charles Schumer, the leader of the Senate minority, has said that he will ask Democrats to filibuster the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch. In response to that request, the Senate Democrats have four options. Each of them has considerable appeal, but each also runs into significant objections.”
For a Trump Nominee, Neil Gorsuch's Record Is Surprisingly Moderate On Immigration
FiveThirtyEight“Our results were surprising. In our analysis of those two topics, Gorsuch’s record puts him near the ideological center of the Tenth Circuit. The Tenth Circuit may be a touch more conservative than the Supreme Court, but Gorsuch still looks relatively centrist in these areas, according to our analysis.”
Supreme Court to Hear Case that Could Limit Lawsuits Against Companies for Disclosure Failures
The Wall Street Journal“The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether publicly traded companies can be sued for securities fraud by third parties for omitting ‘known trends or uncertainties’ in filings to shareholders.”