THE TIME IS HERE! Election Day Is Upon Us, And the Supreme Court Is Knock-Knock-Knocking On Your Door
November 8, 2016
LET US WELCOME IT GLADLY WITH COURAGE AND CHEER
|Today’s the day! Election Day 2016 is upon us and we will at long last have answers to so many outstanding questions—about the future of the presidency, the Supreme Court, and the next generation.
THIS IS MY GENERATION, BABY
|Mashaun Simon with NBC News reports the next president could shape the Supreme Court for generations, and that voters of color should take this election seriously.
TIME TO FACE THE CHANGE
|After today, the politics of the Supreme Court will be forever changed. Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner writes, “Everything changes Wednesday morning. All of the comments being made in the final month of a seemingly unending presidential election cycle and in the closing days of an election in which control of the Senate hangs in the balance are posturing. It’s real posturing, insofar as that is possible—the Republicans are attempting to get out the vote for candidates whose races are essential to them controlling the Senate next year. But beginning Wednesday morning, the Senate will need to face those governing questions.”
YOUR MESS IS MINE
|“So if Clinton wins and Democrats take the Senate, the G.O.P.’s decision on Garland will tell us a lot about 2017. If Republicans embrace Obama’s nominee, they will be acting hypocritically but rationally. If they reject him, 2017 will be even messier and more acrimonious than most observers expected.” That’s Ryan Lizza keeping things peppy over at The New Yorker.
TEAM OBSTRUCTION
|Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick considers whether there are enough Senate Republicans dedicated to upholding four more years of political gridlock over the Supreme Court, hoping the stonewall ends at the polls today.
TODAY AT SCOTUS
|Justices considered two cases testing whether Miami can sue Wells Fargo and Bank of America under the Fair Housing Act for alleged racial discrimination in mortgage terms and foreclosures. Robert Barnes reported, “The housing collapse of 2008 nearly broke the city of Miami. Now, its leaders have embarked on a novel and aggressive legal strategy to recoup losses from the big banks they say created the crisis with discriminatory and predatory lending practices. It is a high-stakes effort that is being encouraged by many cities, and the banks Tuesday will ask the Supreme Court to stop it before it takes root.”
LOOK BACK AT IT
|“The Supreme Court justices on Monday took up a strikingly complicated – even for them – case about the president’s ability to fill top jobs at government agencies.” Robert Barnes with The Washington Post reports on what justices were up to yesterday at 1 First.
HOW'D YOU SLEEP LAST NIGHT
|Here’s hoping our top political operatives and lawyers on both sides of the aisle got a good night’s sleep in case their nightmare scenario plays out tonight. Because let’s say Election Day ends in a deadlock, and a short-handed Supreme Court is asked to resolve the matter…then we’d need a whole new definition for “deadlock.” For POLITICO, Darren Samuelsohn and Josh Gerstein report on “one of the most toxic presidential campaigns in modern history” set against the backdrop of an even-numbered Supreme Court bench.
BONNE CHANCE
|To all of you and the races you’re watching. SCOTUSDaily will have all the news for you tomorrow, marking the beginning of a new era in Supreme Court news. You won’t want to miss it.
OTHER NEWS
Panel upholds 'soft-money' ban but sends GOP campaign finance challenge to Supreme Court
The Washington Post“A three-judge federal panel Monday dismissed a renewed Republican challenge to the ‘soft-money’ ban on unlimited donations to political parties from wealthy individuals, corporations and advocacy groups like unions in a decision that returns the fight over a landmark campaign law to the U.S. Supreme Court.”