[This previously ran on Legalytics Substack] Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, once celebrated as a stalwart conservative and a crowning achievement of the Trump presidency, now finds herself under fire from the very base that championed her confirmation. Her recent vote in Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, where she sided with Chief…
Tag: Donald Trump
The Final Five? Trump’s Next Potential Nominees to the Supreme Court
Former President and current President Elect Donald Trump appointed 234 judges during his first term. Three of these were to the United States Supreme Court. This is quite unique on several levels. Only three presidents, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and Dwight Eisenhower had three or more confirmed nominees since 1950 (Eisenhower had five in two…
Are the Justices Still Party Players
All Article III federal judgeships start at the same place — with a presidential nomination. This procedure played a large role in the first several decades of statistical studies of judicial behavior, where researchers found that the party of appointing president was a strong predictor of judicial votes. While not looked at as frequently anymore,…
A Whole New Ballgame: How Trump’s First Time Judges are Unlike Anything We’ve Seen Before
The President is transforming the federal courts in a flurry unlike anything we’ve seen in the past. Since he began his tenure in office, President Trump made revamping the courts a top priority. Even before elected he made this one of his most prominent campaign pledges. This started with his promise to fill Justice Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court at the commencement of his presidency and has continued at a rapid pace ever since.
365 Days of Trump and the Supreme Court
How better to wrap up the calendar year than by examining the President’s take on his relationship with the Supreme Court – especially since the Court was one of President Trump’s favorite topics of discussion this past year. The context of these references ranged from from specificity to generalities and from praise to criticism. Many of the…
What’s at Stake in a Supreme Court Ruling in the Trump Immigration Battle?
The Supreme Court’s role as a co-equal branch of the federal government may soon be put to the test. While various issues relating to President Trump’s decisions are percolating in lower courts, one that has received much attention recently is his Executive Order on Immigration. Yesterday the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments regarding the temporary…
The Supreme Court and the Next Generation of Executive Power Cases
Over the past several months an entirely new class of executive power-related concerns have percolated through the national media and have begun burgeoning in federal courts. Prior to the election of President-Elect Trump, few knew about the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution and how it could be violated. Just this morning Trump’s comments on Twitter…
The Great Supreme Court Debate
One of, if not the main duty of the Supreme Court is safeguarding Constitutional guarantees. Is the Court, however, the most important political branch of the government as well? For those who followed the Third Presidential Debate one could surely surmise such was and is the case. From a rule of law perspective, the Court’s…
The Justices’ Surprising Support (Or Lack Thereof) for the U.S.
Since it’s election season it seems like as good of a time as any to gauge the Justices’ support for the government. The Justices and especially Justice Ginsburg have been by no means silent about the current presidential candidates. Furthermore, the Supreme Court is more relevant in this election than possibly in any prior presidential election. …
Justice Ginsburg: Political and Efficient All Wrapped Up in One
Once on the Supreme Court the Justices have a few essential obligations. Add to this life-tenure and lots of free time while the Court is in recess and the job sounds pretty enviable. The Justices still must hear oral arguments, meet and vote to decide cases, and grant new cases for the Court to hear…
The Next Justice – In The Candidates’ Own Words
AP Photos / Charlie Neibergall / Matt Rourke The Supreme Court. A Major Election Concern? In this presidential election season the Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Scalia has become a hot-button issue central to every campaign. Take Hillary Clinton’s comment during April 14’s Democratic Debate (which I will return to later): “You know, there…
Empirical SCOTUS 