Trump Is About To Flip Yet Another U.S. Court Of Appeals | Klobuchar Could Use SCOTUS To Drive A Wedge In The Democratic Race
November 20, 2019
TICK TOCK TICK TOCK
|“Despite putting a temporary hold Monday on a decision approving a U.S. House Committee subpoena for PRESIDENT TRUMP’S financial records, the U.S. Supreme Court soon will face a more critical question: whether to hear and decide the president’s separation-of-powers challenge in the current term.” That’s Marcia Coyle with The National Law Journal reporting that the Supreme Court is on the clock when it comes to deciding how to handle the president’s tax return cases.
TOTALLY INNOCENT
|Noah Feldman for Bloomberg addresses a liberal group criticizing JUSTICES SAMUEL ALITO and BRETT KAVANAUGH for meeting with an anti-gay-rights activist whose organization filed a “friend of the court” brief in a major gay-rights case before SCOTUS this term. Feldman argues that there’s nothing wrong with Supreme Court justices “being sociable.” Feldman writes, “Friends of the court aren’t parties to a litigation in the ordinary sense. They’re independent groups or individuals sharing their views with the justices. There’s no scandal if justices interact with them.”
A YUGE DEAL
|Madison Alder with Bloomberg reports PRESIDENT TRUMP “is on the cusp of flipping the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to a majority of Republican-appointed judges, the third such changeover during his administration.” She explains that both the Third and Second Circuits have been flipped under Trump. The president has appointed nearly 160 federal judges to lifetime seats, and his administration continues to press on with growing that number.
SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE
|“SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR is betting that the Democratic presidential contest will be a rerun of the story about the tortoise and the hare, with herself in the tortoise’s role. Wednesday’s debate will be an important test of whether she has the gumption to fill that role.” That’s Henry Olsen writing in The Washington Post that Klobuchar has the chance to rise to the top of the race, in part because she has the opportunity to distinguish herself from MAYOR PETE, who had something of a hot streak in the polls as of late. And how could Klobuchar draw contrast with Buttigieg? On something she knows a lot about: the Supreme Court.