TODAY’S THE DAY | Everything You Need To Know Before The Big Show
September 4, 2018
THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM
|Today marks the first day of JUDGE KAVANAUGH’S confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. This morning’s hearing begins at 9:30 AM Eastern. SCOTUSDaily will share with you all the news from Day 1 tomorrow, but to get you prepped and ready to go, let’s kick off today’s edition with a Cliff’s Notes version of what we can expect in the week ahead. Gabe Roth of Fix the Court gives us a synopsis, a breakdown of the characters, plot and key themes, and he notes, “P.S. Look for senators from both parties to ask Kavanaugh about live audio (and not cameras); beefing up ethics and recusal requirements for the justices; whether he’d be willing to cross party lines, so to speak, and address liberal audiences; and why he recently joined the D.C. Circuit Wellness Committee, a new group (and FTC “fix”) that helps ensure judges maintain cognitive health as they age.”
YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE
|So what, it’s a Supreme Court nomination – what’s the big deal?! If you’re reading SCOTUSDaily you know there’s any number of important answers to that silly little question. But Marcia Coyle is here to remind: the Supreme Court makes a direct impact on Americans from affecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, our ability to negotiate better working conditions, and so, so much more. Read her piece that looks at five topics likely to draw a lot of questions from senators this week.
I'LL TAKE A WACK AT IT
|Adam Liptak with The New York Times steps up to the plate to let us know just how consequential a Kavanaugh confirmation would be. He notes a JUSTICE KAVANAUGH would make CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS the swing vote on the court, effectively breaking from the moderate conservatism that has steered SCOTUS for decades.
ICYMI
|There was some important news from the ongoing fight for BRETT KAVANAUGH’S records over the weekend. The Senate Judiciary Committee was notified Friday that the White House decided to withhold 100,000 pages of Kavanaugh’s records on the basis of presidential privilege.
YOU ASKED FOR IT
|Just hours before the start of the hearings, the lawyer for former president GEORGE W. BUSH turned over 42,000 pages of documents from Kavanaugh’s service in the Bush White House. This didn’t sit well with Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER, who issued what is certain to be a futile call to delay the proceedings. He said senators on the committee won’t be able to review the records before tomorrow, while Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman CHUCK GRASSLEY claims his staff was already able to complete its review late last night.
MOVE IT OR LOSE IT
|Chris Geidner with Buzzfeed reports on Republicans’ approach to the SCOTUS nomination which namely involves doing everything they can to quicken the pace of the vetting process. Geidner explains how the nominee’s records have played a key role in that strategy writing, “The result has been that many documents from Kavanaugh’s White House work — including those from his time as staff secretary, the person responsible for coordinating the flow of paper to the president — are not being reviewed by the Senate at all, and others, from his time in the White House counsel’s office, are being withheld through a process that avoids some of the requirements of congressional requests made under the Presidential Records Act.”
KICKING OFF HER PRESIDENTIAL
|Over the weekend, SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR starting rolling out some harsh criticisms of the way things have been previously handled around judicial appointments. She said Sunday that she regrets her party eliminated the filibuster for approving most judicial nominees, and that she thinks Dems should bring it back if they get the majority next year. Klobuchar also noted on the Sunday shows that the current process for confirming Judge Kavanaugh “is not normal” and suggested the outcome of this week’s hearings remain a mystery in part because she can’t make public some very interesting elements of the nominee’s records.
ED BOARD OVERTURES
|The Editorial Board of The Washington Post thinks JUDGE KAVANAUGH should be something of a trendsetter and throw out the rulebook. The Ed Board urges the nominee to end the trend of stonewalling the Senate and instead get real about his views on issues that greatly impact American life. At the same time, the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal addresses what it’s calling the “hazing” of Brett Kavanaugh.
SPARKS WILL FLY
|Richard Wolf with USA Today previews the confirmation hearings for us. He points out that although disputes over BRETT KAVANAUGH’S partisan past have taken center stage in the weeks following his nomination, issues important to millions of Americans will likely come first as fodder in these hearings.
LET'S SEE HOW FAR WE'VE COME
|Gillian Brock notes in The Washington Post that PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON’S Supreme Court nominees were confirmed in just two days — but only half of them showed up to work on time.
SCOTUS VIEWS
Kavanaugh's Unsettling Use Of 'Settled Law'
The Atlantic“The entire point of the Republican takeover of the judicial-confirmation process—blockading the Court until a Republican president took power, centralizing appeals-court appointments in the White House, and now jamming through the Kavanaugh nomination while withholding the documents needed to review it—is to bring radical, rapid, intensely partisan change in the constitutional order. This isn’t even a matter of hints; it is an explicit promise rendered by the Republican Party as a whole, from President Trump down to voter guides handed to worshipers in the pews.”
Kavanaugh And The Ginsburg Standard
The Wall Street Journal“Don’t blame Brett Kavanaugh when he demurs at his confirmation hearing from answering questions on legal issues that might come before the Supreme Court. It’s the senators who will be in the wrong, for demanding commitments that no judicious nominee could provide.”
What's The Point Of The Supreme Court?
The New York Times“With deep distrust in our elected representatives, we have come to believe democracy is broken. Too often we’ve hoped that the justices will be our saviors. With so much dysfunction in government, the justices see themselves that way, too. But even in the current age, we need to demand more from the political branches of our government. We do not need, nor should we want, the court to save us from ourselves.”
OTHER NEWS
An Advocate For Women Or A Threat? As Hearings Begin, Differing Views On Kavanaugh Emerge
The New York Times“Republicans will present Judge Kavanaugh to the nation as an experienced, independent-minded jurist with a sparkling résumé, and as an advocate and mentor for women in the judiciary. Among the cases they will cite: his 2009 ruling in favor of Emily’s List, the group that backs Democratic women who support abortion rights. Democrats will tell an entirely different story, painting Judge Kavanaugh as a far-right extremist who would roll back abortion rights, deny health coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, protect President Trump from the threat of subpoena — and as someone who may have misled Congress when he testified during his appeals court confirmation hearing in 2006.”
Why Saying Roe V. Wade Is 'Settled' Isn't Saying Much
CNN“But in reality, as both sides of the issue know, using the word ‘settled’ isn’t saying much. In fact, any potential nominee asked about almost any Supreme Court case will likely say it’s ‘settled.’ What they don’t usually say is that while a lower court nominee must accept Supreme Court precedent, a sitting justice does not. They can vote to unsettle it.”