A LOOK AHEAD TO MAPS, CAKES AND DRAMA ON SCOTUS DOCKET | Alec Baldwin Invoked SCOTUS, Wins Emmy
September 18, 2017
TODAY IN HISTORY
|On this day in 1945, PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN nominated Ohio Republican SENATOR HAROLD BURTON to the Supreme Court. The Senate confirmed Burton unanimously without holding a hearing, welcoming the newly elevated president’s bipartisan gesture. Andrew Glass with POLITICO gives us the full story.
TALE AS OLD AS TIME
|“It is a political practice nearly as old as the United States – manipulating the boundaries of legislative districts to help one party tighten its grip on power in a move called partisan gerrymandering – and one the Supreme Court has never curbed.” But all that could change writes Andrew Chung for Reuters. In one of the first cases of the new term, the high court will consider a case out of Wisconsin that could change American politics in a big, big way.
CAKE ART
|“JACK PHILLIPS bakes beautiful cakes, and it is not a stretch to call him an artist. Five years ago, in a decision that has led to a Supreme Court showdown, he refused to use his skills to make a wedding cake to celebrate a same-sex marriage, saying it would violate his Christian faith and hijack his right to express himself.” Adam Liptak with The New York Times explains why Phillips argues that a cake is more than a cake as we look ahead to his case’s arguments before The Supremes.
EASY LIKE SUNDAY MORNING
|For The Atlantic, Garrett Epps opines that although the issue of same-sex marriage is easy for him (he fervently supports it), he finds the SCOTUS case about the baker refusing to bake for a same-sex wedding to be a difficult one to assess. Instead, Epps asserts that the issue could have been best settled by the passage of law, not the interpretation of it. “To quote the court’s newest justice in a difference context, ‘It’s called legislation.'” Epps continues, “What if, instead of suing, Phillips had gone to the legislature and asked for a provision of state law that would cover his business? There would undoubtedly have been controversy and anger on both sides; but eventually everyone involved might sit down and work out exactly how to deal with this genuine clash of beliefs and identities. That process would likely create a better solution than this ham-fisted Supreme Court, and its friend JEFF SESSIONS, is likely to fashion.”
WHAT'S BEST
|Should a judge rely on the law or his own common sense? This is the question RICHARD POSNER, JOEL COHEN and JED RAKOFF consider in the latest edition of Slate’s monthly series of legal debates between Posner and Rakoff, with Cohen moderating. This month’s conversation is about legal pragmatism and finding the “sensible” solution.
AND THE EMMY GOES TO
|Last night, ALEC BALDWIN took home the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for his portrayal of PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP on Saturday Night Live. During his speech, Baldwin noted, “I just want to say — if I leave anybody out I’m sorry — but I do want to get this in — which is, you know, I always remember what someone told me — that is when you die you don’t remember a bill that Congress passed or a decision the Supreme Court made, or an address made by the president. You remember a song. You remember a line from a movie. You remember a play. You remember a book. A painting. A poem. What we do is important.” He might be right…but I bet some of us will still be thinking of SCOTUS.