THE HOT BENCH FEAT. CHRIS GEIDNER | Justice Thomas on the Future of the Republic | Ted Cruz on the Future of the Supreme Court
October 27, 2016
THE HOT BENCH - FEAT. CHRIS GEIDNER
|In the latest installment of The Hot Bench, SCOTUSDaily spoke with Buzzfeed’s self-proclaimed “law dork,” Chris Geidner. I asked him about his time covering the Supreme Court and he noted, “The Supreme Court is still one of the harder areas to break into because it isn’t as online, as accessible as some other entities, and so it takes a little bit of time to get used to all the different peculiarities.” Read the full interview here.
HE SPEAKS!!!!!
|Not known for his public speaking, JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS said yesterday at the Heritage Foundation that the Supreme Court confirmation process is an example of how the nation’s capital is “broken in some ways.” Thomas also added, “I think we have decided that rather than confront disagreements, we’ll just simply annihilate the person who disagrees with me. I don’t think that’s going to work in a republic, in a civil society.”
CRUISE WITH CRUZ
|In Colorado this week, SENATOR TED CRUZ hinted that GOP leadership could block Supreme Court nominees indefinitely. Cruz: “There will be plenty of time for debate on that issue…There is certainly long historical precedent for a Supreme Court with fewer justices. I would note, just recently, that JUSTICE BREYER observed that the vacancy is not impacting the ability of the court to do its job. That’s a debate we’re going to have.”
IF I KNEW WHAT I KNEW IN THE PAST
|Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post reacted to SENATOR TED CRUZ’S comments, and she didn’t pull any punches. “Cruz may have learned nothing in 2016, but other Republicans have. The latter understand that Cruz/Trump/Jerry Falwell Jr./Sean Hannity brand of populism is a loser, not to mention an embarrassment…Then again, Cruz might decide that the handwriting is on the wall and that it is best to slink off than face a defeat in a Senate reelection campaign. Maybe he can snag a job on Trump TV.”
TOP-ED
|In the Los Angeles Times, Eric J. Segall says it isn’t the Senate that needs to do its job, it’s the Supreme Court. “The U.S. Supreme Court released its December calendar of oral arguments last week. Normally, the justices hear 12 or more cases during this sitting, but this year, they have scheduled only eight — a calendar court commentators have called ‘bare-boned’ and ‘anemic.'”
SEE YOU IN MY NIGHTMARES
|“It’s important to understand just how far from the norm the current situation has descended. Did the titanic battle that led to the defeat of ROBERT H. BORK, PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN’S Supreme Court nominee, open the door to this kind of behavior? You often hear such a claim, but the fact is that no, it did not.” That’s Linda Greenhouse with The New York Times writing on what she calls the “corrosive” 2016 election and “the new abnormal.”
SUN DON'T SHINE IN THE SHADE
|For The Huffington Post, Christian Farias is here to tell us that this could be the beginning of the end for the Supreme Court. He reports on recent comments from SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN and reflects on a recent column from Ilya Shapiro. “As a matter of constitutional law,” Shaprio wrote, “the Senate is fully within its powers to let the Supreme Court die out, literally.”
DON'T KNOW BY NOW, I'M TALKIN BOUT CHI-TOWN
|This Saturday, former Supreme Court justice and lifetime Chicago Cubs fan JOHN PAUL STEVENS plans to be at Game 4 of the series, and he has a playful wish. We wants to toss a ball from the mound at Wrigley at the World Series. “I’d like to see if I can throw it over the plate,” he told The Associated Press. JPS is 96 years old and still swinging for the fences.
OTHER NEWS
Supreme Court braces for another term with only 8 justices
ABA Journal“As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to begin its second month of oral arguments, which start Monday, Oct. 31, the effect of the court having only eight justices is clearly evident.”