RETURN OF THE TRAVEL BAN | Happy Fall, Happy SCOTUS Season | Sotomayor Speaks Out
September 22, 2017
BROUGHT THAT OLD THING BACK
|Two days before the president’s travel ban is set to expire and it looks like his administration is ready to re-up the ante. The White House will replace its controversial ban with more targeted restrictions that would affect a slightly larger number of countries. These new rules wouldn’t have a stated end date, and countries could be added or removed from the list of affected countries at any time.
NEW SEASON, NEW TERM
|Happy fall, SCOTUS friends! As we know all too well, a change of the seasons brings us the happiest time of year: a return to Supreme Court business over at 1 First. David Savage with the Los Angeles Times looks to the new term and walks us through the major questions before the justices this fall.
TAKES THE CAKE
|Of all the big cases before the justices this term, Greg Stohr with Bloomberg anticipates the case that could be the most passionately fought for is one that began as a brief discussion about a wedding cake in Colorado. The cake case will be the first test case of gay rights since the high court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015.
WHY ELECTIONS MATTER
|“When the court was asked to hear three cases on labor arbitration agreements last September, BARACK OBAMA was president, HILLARY CLINTON was heavily favored to succeed him, and federal appeals court JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND was in line to replace the late ANTONIN SCALIA. Garland had a strong record of defending workers’ rights. By the time the court agreed to hear the cases, DONALD TRUMP was president-elect and Garland’s nomination was dead. Three months later, NEIL GORSUCH was sworn in as the court’s newest justice — and his record in workplace cases skews the other way.” Richard Wolf with USA Today examines how greatly the Trump presidency has and will affect labor cases set to go before the Supreme Court this year.
EVERYBODY NEEDS A PLACE TO REST, EVERYBODY WANTS TO HAVE A HOME
|At an event in D.C. hosted by iCivics—the nonprofit founded by former JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR—JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR spoke out on the issue of immigration. Referring to it as “a real issue,” Sotomayor stressed that immigrants feel at risk and that we need to find better ways to “give people some sense of greater security than what they’re feeling.”
PRAYERS FOR PUERTO RICO
|Yesterday, JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR told CNN that she hasn’t heard from “half her family” in Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria has knocked out power after striking the island territory. “The island is suffering a great tragedy right now,” Sotomayor said. “Myself personally and the rest of my family, we are exceedingly concerned. We ask for your prayers.”
PODS DU JOUR
|To get you prepped for the new SCOTUS term, Constitution Daily’s podcast hosts Michael Dorf of Cornell University Law School and Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute to discuss the Supreme Court’s upcoming cases about partisan gerrymandering, immigration, free speech and privacy. And when you’re done with that, add the first podcast of the new season of SCOTUS 101 to your queue. The Heritage Foundation’s podcast previews the new term and hosts ADAM LIPTAK of The New York Times for an interview about covering the court.
OTHER NEWS
Seven Patent Petitions Queued Up for Supreme Court's New Term
Bloomberg BNA“The U.S. Supreme Court could kick off its new term by deciding to revisit its landmark 2014 ruling on patent eligibility that wiped out protection for many software-based inventions.”
Company's Ban Against Gay Weddings is Akin to 'White Applicants Only' Sign, Judge Says
The Washington Post“Despite the ruling, the issue is not likely to fade away soon. The St. Cloud couple’s attorney has indicated that the Larsens plan to appeal the ruling. But on a larger scale, the same powerhouse conservative group driving the litigation has a similar case at the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Book of Essays Examines the Late Justice Scalia on Education, Broadly Defined
Education Week“The late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s views and legal opinions on education are not his best-known legacy, but they provide a window into his broader judicial philosophy, even if the justice himself might not have thought the subject worthy of a book. Those are some of the conclusions of a new book of essays that examines Scalia and education.”