Category: Supreme Court

Contributed by Deb Kline.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham has released his  schedule for the confirmation process of Amy Coney Barrett. Beginning October 12, the committee will hear one day of introductions followed by two days of questioning. A review of the committee’s recommendation would begin October 15, with reporting out of committee on October 22. The nomination and recommendation then go to the floor of the Senate with Mitch McConnell deciding what to do from there. 

This is arguably the fastest timeline in history for the nomination and potential confirmation of a Supreme Court justice and fully rankles every Democrat currently breathing. There’s the stark reminder of McConnell’s refusal to hold hearings for Obama’s pick, Merrick Garland, with the thin excuse that no justice should be confirmed in an election year, and the full-out flip-flop of Senate Republicans who vociferously supported that excuse in 2016 and now pretend to have amnesia about it.  

The idea that someone like Barrett, who’s diametrically opposed to just about everything Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg stood for, could get a lightspeed confirmation is devastating to every equal rights beneficiary and advocate. It also indicates how low the Republicans will go to get their way – even if it puts weak incumbents at risk by enraging and invigorating Democrat turnout at the polls. 

Barrett has publicly opposed the Affordable Care Act and Roe vs. Wade, the former of which will be reviewed by the Supreme Court in an upcoming session on November 10, and could result in the loss of coverage for millions of Americans. While she claims Roe vs. Wade is settled law, anti-choice advocates are cheering her nomination in expectation that the act would be overturned. She has done little in her judicial career to dissuade anyone from that thinking. 

While there seems to be little Senate Democrats can do to stop the confirmation, some have already come out saying they’ll refuse to meet with her, and may skip the hearings altogether. NJ Senator Cory Booker has said he’ll meet with her for one particular question: to ask Barret if she would recuse herself from any potential high court case involving the 2020 presidential election. 

In an editorial in the LATimes last week, Erwin Cherwinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law acknowledged that little can be done to stop the confirmation, but advised that “Democrats must politely, but firmly, explain to the American people that President Trump has appointed someone who is going to take away their rights.”

That much, we know. 

Additional Resources

A Look at Amy Coney Barrett’s Record on Abortion Rights 

Stop Amy Coney Barrett – Demand Justice

Contributed by Deb Kline.

In a typical year, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) would go into recess at the end of June after handing down decisions on several cases. It’s definitely not a typical year as the term ended with several significant rulings handed down well into July. 

While the general consensus was that the court had tilted in favor of conservatives, this recent term yielded some surprises – and perhaps the political lines are not quite as hard and fast as feared. 

In fact, Justices Roberts, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch ruled against Trump in the case argued with Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, that sought the financial records from Trump’s accounting firm, Mazar, and from his lender, Deutsche Bank. (Note: while Kavanaugh and Gorsuch joined the majority opinion, they declined to agree with the reasoning). In addition, the court unanimously agreed that NO president has absolute immunity. Yay for that! 

Interestingly, the same judges who ruled for the Vance case – Roberts, Ginsberg, Kagan, Sotomayer, Breyer, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch – also rejected similar efforts by the House to subpoena Trump’s financial records. Both cases were sent to the lower courts for review.

Chief Justice Roberts also sided with liberals on the bench in three significant cases in June. In fact, Justice Neil Gorsuch, the first Trump appointee to the court, joined Roberts in the ruling that Federal civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender workers. 

Roberts also sided with liberals as the deciding vote in blocking a controversial Louisiana abortion law that would have closed every clinic in the state. The court had previously struck down a similar case from Texas when Justice Anthony Kennedy was still on the bench. Remember that Justice Kennedy was replaced by Brett Kavanaugh, who as expected, sided against abortion rights. 

Roberts, Sotomayer, Ginsberg, Breyer and Kagan also preserved the DACA program, giving a boost to immigration rights and further angering conservatives and especially, the Trump administration. 

On the downside, last week SCOTUS cut back the Obamacare requirement that provided free birth control as part of employers’ health insurance plans in a 7-2 decision, with Justices Kagan and Breyer in concurrence with the majority. As a result, the current administration can move forward with rules allowing virtually any employer to claim a religious or moral exemption to providing free birth control coverage, potentially eliminating coverage for between 70,000 and 126,000 women. 

Sources

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-trump-tax-returns-financial-records/2020/07/09/8f274352-c1e2-11ea-9fdd-b7ac6b051dc8_story.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/08/supreme-court-upholds-trumps-limits-on-birth-control-coverage-352385?fbclid=IwAR2fShdXy5b31tF9MUYmutIy7MokPc_aoeHi-TA5NtfDhCR7gpFye8xQMXY

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/us/trump-taxes-supreme-court.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

https://www.scotusblog.com

Civics 101: The Supreme Court

The Term of the Court begins, by law, on the first Monday in October and lasts until the first Monday in October of the next year. Each Term, approximately 7,000-8,000 new cases are filed in the Supreme Court. This is a substantially larger volume of cases than was presented to the Court in the last century. In the 1950 Term, for example, the Court received only 1,195 new cases, and even as recently as the 1975 Term it received only 3,940. Plenary review, with oral arguments by attorneys, is currently granted in about 80 of those cases each Term, and the Court typically disposes of about 100 or more cases without plenary review. The publication of each Term’s written opinions, including concurring opinions, dissenting opinions, and orders, can take up thousands of pages. During the drafting process, some opinions may be revised a dozen or more times before they are announced.

Learn more about the cases before SCOTUS during this current term October 2019- October 2020 here