WHITE MEN GETTING PICKED FIRST, SHOCKER | Justices Out And About Judging, Winning, Dining
November 15, 2017
WHITE MEN ALWAYS WINNING
|“PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP is nominating white men to America’s federal courts at a rate not seen in nearly 30 years, threatening to reverse a slow transformation toward a judiciary that more closely reflects the nation’s diversity. So far, 91 percent of Trump’s nominees are white, and 81 percent are male, an Associated Press analysis has found. Three of every four are white men, with few African-Americans and Hispanics in the mix. The last president to nominate a similarly homogenous group was GEORGE H. W. BUSH.” Catherine Lucey and Meghan Hoyer with AP report on the trend that will likely be one of the president’s most important, and certainly most enduring, legacies.
NOT STOP FROM SCOTUS
|The Supreme Court yesterday refused to stop the execution of a condemned Ohio killer who claimed he is too ill to be put to death. SCOTUS issued an order in the afternoon rejecting the request to postpone the execution which is set to take place today.
DON'T TREAD ON ME
|For Reason, Damon Root notes that SCOTUS will soon determine whether you can wear a “Don’t Tread On Me” t-shirt while voting — cuz why not? In the upcoming case of Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, justices will consider whether the First Amendment protects the citizenry’s right to wear political attire while casting a ballot.
MAZEL
|Yesterday, a prominent Jewish organization, the Genesis Prize Foundation, awarded JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG its first lifetime achievement award for her “groundbreaking legal work in the field of civil liberties and women’s rights.”
COMIN ON HOME TO HARVARD
|The Harvard Crimson reports that just a month after an appearance at Harvard Law School’s Bicentennial Summit, CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS returned to the law school Tuesday night to preside over the final round of the Ames Moot Court Competition
BABY I SWEAR IT'S DÉJÀ VU
|“The other morning, while listening to the oral argument in Patchak v. Zinke, I was struck with the sense of déjà vu. ‘I look at statutory history,’ announced JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYORin the midst of a lengthy question to one of the attorneys. Hadn’t I heard this before?” That’s Jonathan Adler writing in The Washington Post that Justice Sotomayor has recently been making a clear distinction in how she weighs statutory history versus legislative history.
JUST TAKE THE DEVILED EGGS
|Helena Andrews-Dyer with The Washington Post reports JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN — or “Lady Kaga” as she’s sometimes referred to — had a two-hour meal last night at the “cozy” Dupont Circle restaurant, Iron Gate. Kagan was with a female friend and they were said to have dined on deviled eggs, sprouts, gnocchi and octopus. A meal fit for a lady, indeed.