ABORTION AND GUN CASES SITTING ON SUPREME COURT’S DOORSTEP | A Tug Of War Within The Judiciary
September 30, 2019
WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS
|The Supreme Court will soon start a new October Term, and it’s very possible that this is the year in which the justices finally roll back Roe protections. Greg Stohr with Bloomberg reports that abortion cases are “only getting harder for the justices to avoid.”
TARGET FOR SCOTUS
|“As the country reels from mass shootings over the summer and the political branches bicker over the scope of an individual’s right to keep and bear arms, the Supreme Court will meet behind closed doors this week to consider whether or not to proceed with a case that could impact Second Amendment rights.” That’s Ariane de Vogue with CNN previewing an important gun dispute out of New York City that is sitting on the steps of SCOTUS, awaiting justices’ review.
ONE AND ONLY
|Adam Liptak with The New York Times points out that three rulings in the last month or so came down from SCOTUS in the evening hours, denying stays of execution to inmates on death row. The inmates who had filed the applications were put to death within hours of those rulings. But Liptak notes, “In all three cases, only one member of the court bothered to write an opinion, to give a hint about what was at stake. That was JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR, who maintains a sort of vigil in the capital cases other justices treat as routine.”
YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME
|“DONALD TRUMP’S presidency has faced considerable setbacks in the courts, with judges blocking administration actions on immigration, the environment and health care. But the president’s fortunes have begun to improve with help from the Supreme Court, and a crucial set of proceedings lies ahead.” Brent Kendall with The Wall Street Journal discusses how SCOTUS has aided the Trump administration while lower courts have not. He writes, “The Supreme Court’s actions also have hinted at a tug of war within the judiciary, with justices more willing than some lower courts to grant the White House some latitude.”
FREE FLOWING
|Joan Biskupic with CNN looks back at how CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST handled presiding over the Senate trial of a president — something CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS may soon have to do. The former chief justice said of his time in the limelight, “I underwent the sort of culture shock that naturally occurs when one moves from the very structured environment of the Supreme Court to what I shall call, for want of a better phrase, the more freeform environment of the Senate.”