HAPPY (ALMOST) THANKSGIVING!
November 23, 2016
ON DECK
|Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that asks the justices to consider what standards states may use in determining whether a defendant convicted of murder is mentally deficient enough to be spared the death penalty. At the heart of the case is Bobby J. Moore whose guilt is not questioned in the murder of a store clerk during a botched robbery. Nor is there any question that he has limited mental abilities. NPR’s Nina Totenberg reports on the case that could force justices to set standards for defining intellectual disability in death penalty states.
WHAT TO EXPECT
|When you’re expecting a new Supreme Court justice… Kenneth W. Moffett with The Washington Post tells us what to expect from DONALD TRUMP’S eventual nominee, delivering four predictions for the nominee himself (or herself, if we’re lucky!), the makeup of the court, and future rulings on affirmative action and gun rights.
THERE'S NO QUESTION
|President-elect DONALD TRUMP plans to put a conservative, anti-abortion and pro-gun justice on the Supreme Court bench. But David Savage with the Los Angeles Times tells us that the kind of conservative Trump chooses “will determine whether his first nominee will be quickly confirmed or instead trigger a fierce fight in the closely divided Senate, potentially overshadowing the early months of Trump’s presidency.”
ICYMI
|A panel of three federal judges ruled that Wisconsin’s legislative district maps were drawn unconstitutionally with the intention to “burden the representational rights of Democratic voters.” The ruling means the case could be destined for the big house on First. Brett McGinness for USA Today writes, “Sometime next year, the highest court in the land could take all 50 states’ legislative maps, shake them up like an Etch A Sketch and say, ‘try again.'”
TOP-ED
|Noah Feldman for Bloomberg delivers us a breakdown of the Wisconsin gerrymandering case and explains how Republican state legislators took politics too far – something being repeated all over the country. And so there’s no question in understanding the importance of this case, Feldman notes, “With the political branches of government in Republican hands, any reform must come from the courts. The Wisconsin case may become the most important judicial decision of our political era.”
MAKES IT EASIER, EASIER TO BARE
|The Wisconsin ruling is something to write hope about because it’s the first time ever a federal court invalidated a gerrymander for providing an unfair advantage to one political party. As Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern puts it, if the case goes to SCOTUS it will “fundamentally alter representation in the United States.”
T-GOD FOR T-GIVING
|SCOTUSDaily wishes you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving! We will return to your inbox next Monday. Until then, Tony Mauro with the National Law Journal might suggest seeing “Loving” to get you your Supreme Court fix. It’s a film he’s calling “a legal love story for the whole family.” What more could you possibly want?
OTHER NEWS
McConnell's Supreme Court Gamble Paid Off Big League
New York Magazine“Often lost in the blizzard of explanations for Donald Trump’s astounding Electoral College victory is the slower, steadier development that put him within close reason of an upset: the consolidation of Republican voters in support of him despite the many defections he suffered among GOP elites. And while reflexive partisanship and intense hostility to Hillary Clinton may have had a lot to do with it, a more tangible factor was the argument so many of them offered themselves: the Supreme Court seat at stake, and with it the balance on the Court for many years to come.”
Court Blocks Federal Plan to Extend Overtime Pay to Many
The Associated Press“In a blow to the Obama administration’s labor-law plans, a federal court has blocked the start of a rule that would have made an estimated 4 million more American workers eligible for overtime pay heading into the holiday season. As a result of Tuesday’s ruling, overtime changes set to take effect Dec. 1 are now unlikely to be in play before vast power shifts to a Donald Trump administration.”