THE HOT BENCH WITH MARK SHERMAN | Mark Yo Calendars | Gorsuch and His Many, Many Recusals
March 9, 2017
THE HOT BENCH
|This week’s Hot Bench features MARK SHERMAN with The Associated Press, a veteran who has been covering the Supreme Court for over a decade. He suggested SCOTUS should create more avenues for public access noting, “Obviously, the end of that road is cameras in the courtroom—which I don’t think is likely any time soon—but maybe a streaming audio of arguments might be an intermediate step along the way.” Catch our full interview here.
APRIL 7
|This very special day is supposedly when we can expect JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. In an interview with POLITICO, SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL said the Senate will vote and confirm Gorsuch before their two week break which begins April 8. McConnell also said, “I think the president, to his credit, and his team found the single most outstanding circuit judge in America. It is very, very hard to argue against Gorsuch.” McConnell later credited DONALD TRUMP for not “blow[ing] this opportunity” with his selection of Gorsuch.
TOP-ED
|“There is no principled reason to vote against GORSUCH.” That’s David C. Frederick in The Washington Post, a longtime supporter of Democratic candidates and causes defending his former partner and longtime friend as “brilliant, diligent, open-minded and thoughtful,” and entirely qualified to join the Supreme Court.
KNOWING WHEN TO BOW OUT
|Tony Mauro with The National Law Journal reports JUDGE GORSUCH recused himself from 1,095 cases as a Tenth Circuit Judge. More than 500 of those recusals were triggered by the involvement of a “former client or colleague.”
OTHER NEWS
Can a Court Decision Help Close the Achievement Gap?
The Atlantic“When policymakers and advocates refer to education as ‘a civil-rights issue,’ fiscal equity is often framed as a piece of that equation. And in a landmark ruling, the Kansas Supreme Court has ordered the state to address significant shortfalls in how its public schools are funded.”
How Descendants of a Slave and a Supreme Court Justice Righted a 160-Year-Old Wrong
TIME“‘Apologizing to the Scotts for the Dred Scott decision is like bringing a Band-Aid to an amputation. It’s right and necessary to apologize, but what’s important now is what actions we can all take.'”
4 Things To Know About Trump's Pick For Solicitor General
Law360“While the solicitor general has historically worked outside of the public eye, the latest nominee for the job of representing the federal government at the U.S. Supreme Court, Noel Francisco, shouldn’t expect any anonymity.”