The text of an email I sent this afternoon to Senator Pat Toomey, one of my Senators: I wrote to you a few days ago about Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, raising concerns I had about the accusations leveled against the judge by Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez. You wrote inContinue reading “Writing My Senator: Judge Brett Kavanaugh”
Tag Archives: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court and the Norms of American Political Behavior
To follow up on yesterday’s post about the nomination to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, I want to point out a few articles that I found noteworthy in the day since. However, I want to start with this series of tweets, because it says something that’s puzzled me about the events of Saturday. MyContinue reading “The Supreme Court and the Norms of American Political Behavior”
After Scalia: The Coming Clash of the Executive and the Legislative Branches over the Judiciary
Saturday afternoon, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died. I was having dinner with friends at Farpoint. One of my dinner companions happened to look over at the flatscreen televisions hanging over the bar at Northern Lights, and she audibly gasped. “Scalia died.” The rest of us turned, looked, and gibbered things like “Wow” and “Damn.”Continue reading “After Scalia: The Coming Clash of the Executive and the Legislative Branches over the Judiciary”
Marco Rubio, Marriage, and the Supreme Court
The composition of the Supreme Court, in my view, is the major issue of the 2016 presidential election. It’s possible that the next president will nominate between 2 and 4 justices. The conservative-leaning court we have now could, by 2020, lean liberal or be strongly conservative, based on who the next president is. This, ofContinue reading “Marco Rubio, Marriage, and the Supreme Court”
The Affordable Care Act: Back at the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has decided to take up one of the legal challenges to the insurance subsidies offered through the federal insurance exchange, Healthcare.gov. This is an appeal of the case in the fourth circuit, where federal subsidies were upheld. The tenth circuit case, where the Appeals court struck down the subsidies, is still dueContinue reading “The Affordable Care Act: Back at the Supreme Court”
On Supreme Court Nominations
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is stepping down. Who should President Obama replace him with? It’s guaranteed that whomever he nominates will be in for a difficult time in the Senate. A year and a half ago I suggested Hillary Clinton as a likely Supreme Court nominee from President Obama. I think the reasonsContinue reading “On Supreme Court Nominations”
On Hillary Clinton’s Future
Politics is a strange and mysterious game. 🙂 In the hours after Barack Obama’s pick of Joe Biden to be his running mate, the McCain campaign released an attack ad that criticized Obama for not choosing his primary campaign rival, Hillary Clinton, as his running mate. I’ve also seen speculation in the past forty-eight hoursContinue reading “On Hillary Clinton’s Future”
On the Supreme Court and Detainees
The Supreme Court issued a stinging rebuke to the Bush Administration and its policy of classifying detainees as “enemy combatants,” stripping them of legal rights. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court says that detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and other military prisons have the right of habeas corpus to challenge their detentions. Also, theContinue reading “On the Supreme Court and Detainees”
On Senator Kerry's Filibuster
Massachusetts Senator Kerry today called for a Senate filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito. I don’t know how the votes will break down, if the Democrats will have enough votes to hold off a cloture vote. If the cloture vote to end debate fails, would the Republicans then unleash the nuclear option, rewritingContinue reading “On Senator Kerry's Filibuster”
On Harriet Miers and Connections
On August 6th, 2001 President Bush received a Presidential Daily Briefing entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” This was the PDB that current Secretary of State Condi Rice was grilled about by the 9-11 Commission. Yesterday President Bush nominated Harriet Miers, his former staff secretary and current White House Counsel, to be theContinue reading “On Harriet Miers and Connections”