THOMAS AND ALITO AT FEDERALIST SOCIETY | Lower Court Appointments Make Waves | ICYMI Toobin on Hot Bench
November 18, 2016
CONTROLLA
|Lawrence Hurley with Reuters reports JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO Thursday laid out a possible agenda for SCOTUS once conservatives resume control of the high court. Speaking at a meeting of the Federalist Society, Alito pointed to freedom of speech, gun rights and religious freedom as key issues the Supreme Court will tackle in the coming years.
ALL THAT'S PAST IS PROLOGUE
|“Tonight I charge us with the following responsibility: that the words spoken and written by JUSTICE SCALIA not be the final words in support of originalism and constitutionalism. Rather, they ought to be a prologue.” That was JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS in a late-night speech before the Federalist Society’s convention banquet. Thomas: “Justice Scalia has done his part to preserve our liberties and to properly interpret our laws and our Constitution so that his government of the people shall not perish. His life’s work is now ours to finish.” Tony Mauro with The National Law Journal reports.
WHY DON'T YOU WANNA WIN ME NOW?
|His last hope, his long-shot chance at snagging a spot on the Supreme Court, just vanished. Mike DeBonis with The Washington Post reports JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND lost his chance at the court yesterday when a federal judge dismissed a case that sought to force the Senate to take up his nomination.
WHY DON'T YOU WANNA SHOW ME OFF?
|“No sir, you cannot sue the Senate over its unprecedented obstruction of the president’s Supreme Court nominee.” Cristian Farias with The Huffington Post covers yesterday’s decision that pulled the rug out from under MERRICK GARLAND.
GOT A DOLLA BILL Y'ALL
|Yesterday at SCOTUS, justices dismissed two related cases it had previously agreed to hear in which Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and several U.S. banks sought to throw out lawsuits claiming they conspired to inflate the prices of ATM access fees in violation of antitrust law. The court action allows litigation against the companies to move forward.
MAKING WAVES
|“The effect of the district court appointments is likely to be felt within the legal profession and little reported in the media. The appellate courts get a tiny bit more attention, but even their decisions rarely make the front pages. The Supreme Court gets the glory – and the blame. But what happens in the lower courts does much more to determine the nature of law in the U.S. than the occasional interventions of the justices on high. In four years, Trump could affect the district courts powerfully and the appellate courts to a more limited degree. Over eight years, all bets are off.” That’s Noah Feldman for Bloomberg explaining the enormous effect of lower court appointments from a PRESIDENT TRUMP and how he might reshape our courts system.
TURN THOSE TVS ON
|Only two weeks after the election and the air war over DONALD TRUMP’S Supreme Court nominee is already well under way. The conservative Judicial Crisis Network is launching an ad buy of more than $175,000 to applaud Senate Judiciary Chairman CHUCK GRASSLEY for holding the line against PRESIDENT OBAMA’S nominee. JCN already spent more than $5 million encouraging Republicans and moderate Democrats to block Garland. The ads – which will run in Iowa and D.C. – are focused on getting Trump’s nominee confirmed. POLITICO’s Burgess Everett reports.
ONE MAN COULD CHANGE THE WORLD
|President-elect DONALD TRUMP has selected SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS to be his Attorney General, with REP. MIKE POMPEO picked to serve as director of the CIA. Sessions was the first GOP senator to officially endorse Trump back in February.
MOST QUOTABLE MAN
|Marcia Coyle with The National Law Journal shares with us a snapshot of what SENATOR SESSIONS had to say about some of the Supreme Court’s most controversial liberal-leaning rulings and about the nominations of JUSTICES ALITO, KAGAN, and SOTOMAYOR. His reaction to Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder for example: “It was good news, I think, for the South in that [the court found there was] not sufficient evidence to justify treating them disproportionately than, let’s say, Philadelphia or Boston or Los Angeles or Chicago.”
ICYMI
|SCOTUSDaily had the chance to speak with JEFFREY TOOBIN of CNN and The New Yorker for this week’s Hot Bench. Before November 8, Toobin predicted without hesitation that a President-elect HILLARY CLINTON would waste no time putting MERRICK GARLAND on the Supreme Court. After November 8, Toobin sang a different song. “You know,” he said, “if there’s anything to be learned from the experience of 2016, it’s that people like me should make fewer predictions, not more.” Catch the full interview.
OTHER NEWS
An Unsung Hero in the Story Of Interracial Marriage
The New Yorker“The Lovings are a couple whose names we rightfully remember from the case, and they’re indeed the stars of the film. But, buried in the footnotes of the Lovings’ story, a little-known name caught my attention—that of a Japanese-American lawyer who gave Asian-Americans, and families like mine, a voice at a pivotal moment in constitutional history.”
Five Things to Know About SCOTUS Shortlister Willett
Bloomberg BNA1) He’s an economic liberty lover. 2) Known for his social media prowess. 3) Used Twitter to tease Trump. 4) “A proven conservative who won’t rewrite the law.” 5) A friend of George W.
Five Reasons Jeff Sessions Would Be No Friend of Liberty in the Trump Administration
Reason“Here are five reasons Sessions would be no friend to libertarians if he does indeed leave the Senate and join the Trump administration.”