October 20, 2017
I WILL STAND MY GROUND AND I WON'T BACK DOWN
|Remember JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND? While he never made it to the Supreme Court, he did make big moves yesterday as the Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit. Fix the Court learned over the summer that the circuit had internally endorsed a new live audio policy on a case-by-case basis but that as of yesterday members of the press and public had yet to formally ask for a livestream of a specific hearing. Leave it to Executive Director of Fix the Court, GABE ROTH, to break the mold. He sent a request to Garland yesterday asking him to stream live audio of this morning’s abortion rights case. Within hours, Garland responded and agreed. Oral argument in the case of Garza v. Hargan began streaming live this morning. It was the very first time the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals had ever done so.
HEY BABY, THERE AIN'T NO EASY WAY OUT
|Mark Sherman with The Associated Press reports prominent chefs, bakers and restaurant owners are stepping forward to call on the Supreme Court to rule against the Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. Celebrity chefs Jose Andres, Elizabeth Falkner and Carla Hall, the owners of a popular Washington, D.C., cupcake shop and a small-town baker from Mississippi are among those who are signing onto a legal brief being written by the Human Rights Campaign.
WELL I KNOW WHAT'S RIGHT
|Has the Supreme Court legalized public corruption? That’s the question Matt Ford with The Atlantic looks to answer in his latest. He writes, “That ruling, like a series of others from the Court in recent years, recast actions once eschewed in politics as reasonable behavior for elected officials. The justices have portrayed these rulings as necessary on First Amendment grounds. But the long-term effects could imperil the public’s faith in democratic institutions.”
PODCAST DU JOUR
|On the latest episode of SCOTUS 101, the podcast presented by The Heritage Foundation, its hosts Elizabeth and Tiffany talk about recent speeches by JUSTICES ELENA KAGAN and SONIA SOTOMAYOR, as well as JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG’S workout routine.