Tag: Amy Coney Barrett

Shareholders question corporate dollars supporting abortion restrictions

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Pfizer, companies face calls to align political spending with values

With corporate political power in the spotlight and a more conservative Supreme Court considering whether to take up fresh challenges to abortion, shareholders are pressing companies to align their campaign spending with their stated values.

The addition of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court increases the likelihood that justices could soon hear challenges related to abortion, legal experts say. The court’s new 6-3 conservative majority means a case’s fate is less likely to lie in the hands of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who joined the high court’s liberal wing in the past to block restrictions for abortion providers.

Liberals worry that any case that rises to the court may undermine the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case, which established a right to abortion, or undercut rights for LGBTQ individuals seeking health care. Continue reading.

‘Hopefully Amy Coney Barrett will come through’: Adviser Admits Trump is hoping for Supreme Court rescue

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With the Trump campaign frantically attempting to challenge vote-counting procedures in several battleground states where the president’s early leads have evaporated, a prominent conservative attorney and co-chair of Lawyers for Trump openly admitted in a television interview Thursday that the campaign’s ultimate hope is for newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett to “come through” and decide the election.

“Republicans consider the Supreme Court their insurance policy for when they lose elections.” 
—Brian Fallon, Demand Justice

Harmeet Dhillon, a legal adviser to the Trump campaign, said in an appearance on Fox Business that “we’re waiting for the United States Supreme Court—of which the president has nominated three justices—to step in and do something.” Continue reading.

GOP clears key hurdle on Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination, setting up Monday confirmation

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Republicans cleared a key hurdle Sunday for Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination, paving the way for her confirmation on Monday.

Senators voted 51-48 to begin winding down debate on Barrett’s nomination. GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) voted with Democrats against moving forward.

A final vote to confirm Barrett to the Supreme Court is expected to take place by Monday evening, roughly a month after President Trumpannounced his intention to nominate her to succeed the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Continue reading.

McConnell tees up Barrett nomination, setting up rare weekend session

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday teed up Judge Amy Coney Barrett‘s Supreme Court nomination, paving the way for a rare weekend session roughly a week before the November election.

McConnell’s move sets up a vote to end debate on Barrett’s nomination for Sunday, with a final vote to confirm her to the Supreme Court expected by early Monday evening.

The Senate is expected to be in session on both Saturday and Sunday debating Barrett’s nomination, though her confirmation is guaranteed absent an unlikely last-minute surprise. Continue reading.

A 2009 Supreme Court ruling may require Barrett to recuse herself from 2020 election cases

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J. Michael Luttig served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit from 1991 to 2006.

It is a foregone conclusion that Amy Coney Barrett will be seated on the Supreme Court before the Nov. 3 presidential election. As soon as her first day, Justice Barrett may face the most momentous and difficult decision of her promised tenure of decades: whether to recuse herself from cases that could determine the outcome of that presidential election.

At her confirmation hearings this past week, Barrett rightly deflected Democratic senators’ demands that she commit in advance to recusal, wisely promising instead to seriously consider the question should it arise. Barrett herself almost certainly does not know whether recusal is required and will not know until she is actually confronted with the question.

But as Barrett must already understand, her decision was made exponentially more difficult by Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., an inartful and mischievous 5-to-4 case decided more than a decade ago by the court she will soon join. The ruling would seem to apply squarely to Barrett’s recusal decision and could well require, or at least counsel, her recusal. Continue reading.

Judiciary Committee sets vote on Barrett’s nomination for next week

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Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans scheduled a vote for next week on Judge Amy Coney Barrett‘s Supreme Court nomination.

The panel will vote on Barrett’s nomination on Oct. 22 at 1 p.m. under a schedule offered by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham(R-S.C.). 

Barrett’s nomination was on the Judiciary Committee’s agenda for the first time on Thursday morning, but was widely expected to be held until Oct. 22. Under committee rules, any one senator can request that a nomination be delayed a week, and they routinely are. Continue reading.

GOP barrels toward vote on Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination

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Republicans are barreling toward an end-of-month vote on Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination after she avoided major landmines during hours of questions from senators over the past two days.

Barrett’s appearances before the Judiciary Committee this week have changed little about the overall dynamic of the Supreme Court battle on Capitol Hill, signaling the political fight over her nomination is likely to be settled on Election Day, not in the Senate.

GOP senators say nothing over the first three days of the four-day hearings has altered their support for Barrett or derailed their endgame: confirming her before the Nov. 3 elections. Continue reading.

Amy Coney Barrett Forgets Right To Protest Is A First Amendment Freedom

Key Background

Wednesday is the third day in Barrett’s confirmation hearings, after President Donald Trump nominated her to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The hearings over the past three days have largely followed thesame theme—Democrats pressing Barrett on how she would rule on challenges toabortion rights and the Affordable Care Act, questions Barrett for the most part has declined to answer, with Republicans asking softer questions meant to back up Barrett’s judicial qualifications.

Tangent

The U.S. racial reckoning following the death of George Floyd in May led to protests in cities across the United States. Recently, some Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have called for new laws tocrack down on protests that are viewed as “disorderly.” Critics have called those proposals unconstitutional, meaning there could be court challenges if antiprotesting laws are passed.

Surprising Fact

The five freedoms of the First Amendment are usually among the first lessons taught in civics classes in the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recommends those applying for U.S. citizenship to study the five freedoms in order to pass a citizenship test for naturalization.

Amy Coney Barrett faced the questions. But Trump hovered over her confirmation hearings.

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On Tuesday, Amy Coney Barrett spent much of her Supreme Court confirmation hearing trying to rise above the stench of the self-serving politics and skulduggery that President Trump has injected into the process. She did it without notes. Without raising her voice. And without really answering a single question of substance.

The full day of endless verbiage was not so much about Barrett as it was about how fetid the exercise has become.

Trump has devoted significant energy to blustering and tweeting about the sorts of judges he would nominate as president, and he has been forceful in his certainty that his choices would abide by his will. His desires include dismantling the Affordable Care Act, defending gun ownership as a right essentially without limits and overturning Roe v. Wade. Just recently, he has added another job to his wish list, one that helps to explain the urgency of these hearings: having a ninth justice on the bench in time to rule in Trump’s favor on any lawsuits that might arise from an election in which polls have him trailing and in which people have already begun voting. Continue reading.