Tag: U.S. Supreme Court

GOP Senate confirms Trump Supreme Court pick to succeed Ginsburg

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The Senate confirmed Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Monday, providing President Trump with a last-minute political victory just days before Nov. 3. 

The 52-48 Senate vote on Barrett’s nomination capped off a rare presidential election year Supreme Court fight sparked by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept. 18. GOP Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was the only Republican to oppose Barrett, saying she doesn’t believe a nomination should come up before the election. 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who previously voted against advancing Barrett because of the election, supported her nomination on Monday. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) returned from the campaign trail to oppose Barrett’s nomination.  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.

Supreme Court denies Pennsylvania GOP request to limit mail-in voting

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The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request from Pennsylvania’s Republican Party to shorten the deadlines for mail-in ballots in the state. Thanks to the court’s 4-4 deadlock, ballots can be counted for several days after Election Day.

Why it matters: It’s a major win for Democrats that could decide the fate of thousands of ballots in a crucial swing state that President Trump won in 2016. The court’s decision may signal how it would deal with similar election-related litigation in other states.

The state of play: A Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision moved the deadline for absentee ballots to be counted from 8 p.m. on Election Day to 5 p.m. the following Friday, Nov. 6. If the U.S. Supreme Court had granted a stay, it would have resulted in a return to the original deadline. Continue reading.

Supreme Court to review Trump border wall funding, asylum policies

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The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review a pair of disputes over Trump administration immigration policies, including the president’s diversion of military funds to build a wall along the United States’ southern border and a policy requiring asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases proceed through American courts.

The cases are expected to be heard sometime after the anticipated confirmation of President Trump’s third justice, Amy Coney Barrett, and are likely to present the first major legal confrontation over Trump immigration policy to the 6-3 conservative majority court.

In both instances, the administration sought Supreme Court review after lower federal courts rebuffed the president’s bids to curb migration into the U.S. from Mexico. 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.

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.

Amy Coney Barrett served as a ‘handmaid’ in Christian group People of Praise

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While Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett has faced questions about how her Catholic faith might influence her jurisprudence, she has not spoken publicly about her involvement in People of Praise, a small Christian group founded in the 1970s and based in South Bend, Ind.

Barrett, a federal appellate judge, has disclosed serving on the board of a network of private Christian schools affiliated with the group. The organization, however, has declined to confirm that she is a member. In recent years, it removed from its website editions of a People of Praise magazine — first those that included her name and photograph and then all archives of the magazine itself.

Barrett has had an active role in the organization, as have her parents, according to documents and interviews that help fill out a picture of her involvement with a group that keeps its teachings and gatherings private. Continue reading.