Showing posts with label Supreme Court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Supreme Court. Show all posts

Thursday, June 30, 2022

Supreme Court Issues Flurry of Conservative Opinions in End of Term

The Supreme Court issued several other notable rulings widely seen as wins for conservatives:

· NYSRPA v. Bruen: Struck down a New York state that required gun permit applicants to show a reason for why they needed to carry a gun

· West Virginia v. EPA: Limits the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions absent further congressional action

· Kennedy v. Bremerton School District: Coach fired for praying during school game had right to do so under 1st Amendment

 

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Amy Coney Barrett Confirmed to Supreme Court

Barrett, picture here in 2018,
after her elevation to the Seventh
Court of Appeals
Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the Seventh Court of Appeals was confirmed Monday on a nearly party-line vote, with all Democrats voting against confirmation and all Republicans voting for it except for Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who is locked in a close reelection battle. 

Barrett, who was nominated last month to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg after her death from pancreatic cancer, is widely viewed as a judicial conservative and has repeatedly affirmed her belief in  originalist jurisprudence that seeks to interpret laws as they were originally written. Her elevation to the high court is expected to shift the court to the right as she replaces the liberal Ginsburg and removes Chief Justice John Roberts, a moderate conservative, as the swing vote.

 



Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Trump Nominates Amy Coney Barrett for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Seat

 The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose history of overcoming sexism in her career and her liberal jurisprudence during her 27 years on the Supreme Court made her a towering figure in the American legal community, threw another wrench in the American political world. Ginsburg, who died at 87 on September 18, had faced health challenges for several years before she succumbed to pancreatic cancer.

Trump nominated on Saturday federal Appeals Court Judge and legal scholar Amy Coney Barrett to fill her seat. In her acceptance speech for the nomination, Barrett cited Antonin Scalia, noted for his conservative views and originalist jurisprudence, as her greatest influence and has said that her views on constitutional interpretation are the same as his. If Barrett is confirmed, her presence on the court is expected to turn the court more to the right, with conservative-leaning justices holding a 6-3 majority.

Democrats have called for the nomination of a successor to be postponed until after the next president is elected, citing Republicans refusing to consider Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland in 2016, after the death of Antonin Scalia.

 

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Kavanaugh Confirmation Hits Snag as FBI Launches Probe


The confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, while expected to be narrow, was not much in doubt until a little over a week ago, when an allegation of sexual assault surfaced. In the allegation, university professor Christine Blasey Ford alleged that Kavanaugh had groped her and attempted to rape her at a party back in high school. While Kavanaugh had “unequivocally” denied the charge and Ford’s recollection of some of the details of the event were vague, distrust of the nominee’s moral character grew steadily, especially after another allegation surfaced soon after. In that second charge, a woman alleged that Kavanaugh had displayed his private parts to her during a party at Yale, where both attended college. A third woman, a client of Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who represented pornographic actress Stormy Daniels in her case against Trump, alleged that Kavanaugh had helped orchestrate gang rapes of women during high school and drugged women to make them more susceptible. None of these allegations have been corroborated by other witnesses at this time, though new evidence can come to light any time to help prove either side.

Kavanaugh’s nomination was reported out of the Judiciary Committee of an 11-10 party line vote Friday, one day after both Kavanaugh and Ford gave their testimony to the committee. However, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who voted for Kavanaugh in the committee vote, said he would not vote for Kavanaugh unless a new FBI probe was launched to investigate Ford’s claims. With the GOP majority in the Senate only 51-49, Flake’s vote is crucial for the nomination’s success. President Trump has since ordered the probe, which is expected to take around one week to complete.


Saturday, June 30, 2018

Supreme Court Rules in Labor, Travel Ban Cases


The Supreme Court issued two rulings this past week that delighted many conservatives and angered as many liberals. In the first case, the Supreme Court ruled that public sector unions could no longer involuntarily collect fees from non-union members for their bargaining services. Labor unions argued that these fees prevented free-riding from non-union members, as unions must represent all employees equally in their bargaining, not just their own members. At the heart of this case were the political activities of unions, which overwhelmingly support and donate to Democratic candidates, with which many public employees took issue. The ruling this week will likely mean less money in union coffers and thus less funding for political activities.

The second case dealt with Trump’s travel ban on people from several countries, most of them Muslim-majority. The Supreme Court argued in their decision that the President had the power to ban certain nationalities to protect national security, while the dissenting justices argued that the ban stemmed from prejudice given Trump’s campaign promise to ban Muslim immigration.


Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Trump Selects Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court

President Trump announced his selection for the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the late Justice Antonin Scalia last year, with Neil Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals as his pick. Trump said of Gorsuch at the announcement address, "The qualifications of Judge Gorsuch are beyond dispute. He is the man of our country and a man who our country really needs and needs badly to ensure the rule of law and the rule of justice."

Gorsuch has served on the Tenth Circuit Appeal Court since 2006, where he was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by voice vote. A native of Denver, Colorado, he is the son of  Anne Gorsuch Burford, Environmental Protection Agency head under Reagan. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University, where he founded The Fed, a satirical newspaper, along with Andrew Levy, now a Fox News personality. He graduated from Harvard Law School and received a degree from the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar.

Calling Scalia a "lion of the law" at the announcement, Gorsuch is known for his advocacy an originalist, textualist approach in interpreting the Constitution, similar to that of Scalia. Gorsuch will likely most often side with the conservative side of the court should he be confirmed, giving the court a 5-4 conservative majority, with Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy (for whom Gorsuch had once clerked) as the swing vote.

Democrats have begun to announce their opposition to Gorsuch, many angered that Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, received no hearing or vote by the Republican Senate. Sen. Jeff Merkely (D-OR) released a press statement, saying, "This is a stolen seat being filled by an illegitimate and extreme nominee (Gorsuch), and I will do everything in my power to stand up against this assault on the Court.”

If more Democrats feel the same way, it could set a lengthy, tense confirmation battle in the weeks ahead.