SCOTUS

[Volkonski]

Rep. Jim McGovern
@RepMcGovern
The Supreme Court just rejected Kevin McCarthy's ridiculous challenge to proxy voting. Proxy voting allows the House to continue its work for the American people as safely as possible during this pandemic. That’s why hundreds of Members of Congress-Democrats & Republicans-use it.
9:50 AM · Jan 24, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
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Replying to @RepMcGovern

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Ellen Dibble
@EllenDibble
·
1h
Replying to
@RepMcGovern
If the Senate would do the same, they wouldn't have to wait to vote every time a Democrat is out sick.

[Volkonski]

Reuters
@Reuters
·
2h
U.S. Supreme Court rejects House Republicans' challenge to pandemic-era voting rules http://reut.rs/3GSUCIe

[Dr. Ken]

It looks like Joe Biden is getting his first Supreme Court nomination

Justice Stephen Breyer will step down from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Breyer is one of the three remaining liberal justices, and his decision to retire after more than 27 years on the court allows President Joe Biden to appoint a successor who could serve for several decades and, in the short term, maintain the current 6-3 split between conservative and liberal justices.

At 83, Breyer is the court's oldest member. Liberal activists have urged him for months to retire while Democrats hold both the White House and the Senate. They contended that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stayed too long despite her history of health problems and should have stepped down during the Obama administration.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/suprem ... t-n1288042

[RVInit]

Thank goodness. I was really afraid he would wait.

[John Thomas8]

Doesn't mean any nominee will get past mitchy-poo.

[andersweinstein]

Doesn't mean any nominee will get past mitchy-poo.

Remember Mitch and the Republicans eliminated the Senate filibuster for Supreme Court nominees when confirming Gorsuch. They went on to confirm Kavanaugh and Barrett with simple majorities.

[AndyinPA]

Yep! That was my first thought. Mitch is not going to be happy, and he'll have no one but himself to blame. Sometimes there really is karma. It's sure past time he had to suffer a little.

[John Thomas8]

Doesn't mean any nominee will get past mitchy-poo.

Remember Mitch and the Republicans eliminated the Senate filibuster for Supreme Court nominees when confirming Gorsuch. They went on to confirm Kavanaugh and Barrett with simple majorities.

When have rules bothered mitchy?

[AndyinPA]

Doesn't mean any nominee will get past mitchy-poo.

Remember Mitch and the Republicans eliminated the Senate filibuster for Supreme Court nominees when confirming Gorsuch. They went on to confirm Kavanaugh and Barrett with simple majorities.

When have rules bothered mitchy?

Since he's not the Majority Leader.

[filly]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketanji_Brown_Jackson

Obvious pick. Suggest you read the entire entry so you can be conversant on this jurist’s record. Note that the vote confirming her was 53-44. What will Sinema and Manchin do to bollox up this or any other pick ?

[filly]

[Dr. Caligari]

What will Sinema and Manchin do to bollox up this or any other pick ?

Say what you want about those two, they have been very good on supporting President Biden's judicial nominations.

[filly]

This article was written in August of 2020. The author argues that Leondra Kruger is the more conventional choice but that was before Brown-Jackson replaced Garland on the Court of Appeals.

[filly]

What will Sinema and Manchin do to bollox up this or any other pick ?

Say what you want about those two, they have been very good on supporting President Biden's judicial nominations.

“Have been” is the operative phrase. We will see what happens.

[pipistrelle]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketanji_Brown_Jackson

Obvious pick. Suggest you read the entire entry so you can be conversant on this jurist’s record. Note that the vote confirming her was 53-44. What will Sinema and Manchin do to bollox up this or any other pick ?

In 1996, Jackson married Patrick G. Jackson, a surgeon and the twin brother of former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's brother-in-law.[75][76] They have two daughters.[75]

This makes me break out into It’s a Small World

[Luke]

Wonderful news! So happy we'll have an African American woman on the Supreme Court, this is going to be as important to young Black women as Sotomayor was to young Latina girls. This will also remind voters how important SCOTUS is, especially with Roe v Wade coming under fire. The more Republicans fight this, the brighter the line will be. (Democrats are going to keep the House and Senate in November.)

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, has been widely considered the early frontrunner for any Supreme Court vacancy under Biden. That chatter gained volume last year when Biden tapped her to fill now-Attorney General Merrick Garland’s seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. That court is regarded as the second-most influential federal court, behind only the Supreme Court.

Two sources close to the Congressional Black Caucus said that Jackson is viewed as a favorite and has long been on the group of influential lawmakers’ shortlist for future openings. Prior to her confirmation last summer, Jackson served as a federal district court judge from 2013 through 2021.

She also previously worked for the U.S. Sentencing Commission for several years as its vice chair. Before being appointed to the bench, Jackson worked as an attorney at the firm Morrison & Foerster with an emphasis on appellate litigation. She is also a former assistant federal public defender in D.C. and clerked for several jurists — including Breyer.

Jackson received both her undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University.

Breyer's timing appears to give Biden a relatively free hand to pick a justice who will satisfy Democrats. The announcement allows Democrats ample time to push a nominee through the confirmation process by summer, positioning her to join the court before the next term opens in October. Completing that process this year avoids the uncertainty about whether Democrats might lose control of the Senate in November's midterm elections.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that he and his colleagues are prepared to move quickly on any nominee Biden puts forward. "President Biden’s nominee will receive a prompt hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and will be considered and confirmed by the full United States Senate with all deliberate speed," Schumer said.

Republicans have no obvious mechanism to block a Biden nominee amid the erosion of filibuster rules for judicial nominees in the Senate. Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) changed the chamber's rules in 2013 to eliminate the filibuster for all presidential nominees except for the Supreme Court. Reid's successor as majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), removed the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees in 2017, paving the way for Justice Neil Gorsuch's confirmation.

Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) acknowledged Wednesday that the GOP lacks the power to prevent Democrats from confirming a Biden nominee. "If all Democrats hang together – which I expect they will – they have the power to replace Justice Breyer in 2022 without one Republican vote in support," Graham said in a statement. "Elections have consequences, and that is most evident when it comes to fulfilling vacancies on the Supreme Court.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/2 ... t-00002393

Thank you Justice Breyer. It was time for new energy.

[Luke]

Bonus: The Fox News brain trust is running in circles.

Kamala Harris To Supreme Court? Fox News Hosts Say It Could Happen
Carmine Sabia January 26, 2022 4,157
OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author's opinion

President Joe Biden and the Democrats may have just solved their issue with the incredibly shrinking poll numbers for Vice President Kamala Harris. What position could Harris have that her poll numbers and popularity would not matter and she could stay in power forever?

Fox News hosts speculated on Wednesday, after liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was reported to be retiring, that Harris could meet the criteria Biden is looking for in the next Supreme Court Justice. Namely, black, female and young. Because, after all, if you check all of the woke boxes who cares about anything else?

“This person has to be a woman, she has to be black and she has got to be younger,” Harris Faulkner said. “Anyone thinking what I’m thinking? They do not know what to do with Kamala Harris in the White House right now. I can’t be the only person seeing this.”

Cohost of the show and former White House Press Secretary for former President Donald Trump, Kayleigh McEnany, weighed in. “I think you’re right,” the host said. “That was playing in my mind from the moment we heard about this retirement. You know, it is, politically speaking if you are not happy with your vice president and want her in a different role, there is no greater role than the Supreme Court. It is a role that anyone would be honored to have.”

She noted that there is no reporting on Kamala Harris to the Supreme Court and they were just speculating, but she continued. “It’s a possibility. I think she’s at least on the shortlist and maybe it’s a position she’d readily want to consider or accept given the challenges of the vice presidency. Given the frustrations she’s incurred,” she said.

https://conservativebrief.com/harris-co ... medium=539

Yeah Harris Faulkner, keep up that hard news show.

[filly]

Fact: Amy Comey Barrett went from nomination to confirmation in 27 days.

It's been interesting to watch the coverage of other brilliant black women judges who may be in the running. An embarrassment of riches.

[Flatpoint High]

Fact: Amy Comey Barrett went from nomination to confirmation in 27 days.

It's been interesting to watch the coverage of other brilliant black women judges who may be in the running. An embarrassment of riches.

They will bring their "rap sheets", and whatever else the Crisis Queens can manufacture.

[bob]

Bonus: The Fox News brain trust is running in circles.

Yeah: The tongue-wagging is that Brandon Biden is unhappy with Harris, and will tell her to take the SCOTUS seat because she's getting dumped in 2024.

There's no evidence to support that supposition; it is just baseless gossip. So of course FOX will lead with it.

[New Turtle]

It doesn't work politically for Kamala Harris to be the nominee. What if she were nominated and ended up being the tiebreaking vote for her own confirmation?

[bob]

What if she were nominated and ended up being the tiebreaking vote for her own confirmation?

She'd get confirmed while Republicans were outraged. Until the next outrage, of course.

It doesn't work politically for Kamala Harris to be the nominee.

Rationality has never been a strong suit for FOX.

Regardless, I don't think being a justice interests Harris. And she has the inside track to be Biden's successor.

Too also: If Harris resigns as vice president, the Senate becomes truly tied. And both chambers need to confirm the president's nominee for a successor vice president.

Which would mean either nominating someone to appease the Republicans, or leaving the office vacant (and thus gridlocking Senate and therefore Congress).

[bob]

[AndyinPA]

Please tell me he was joking.

[bob]

Please tell me he was joking.

NYTpitchbot is a joke account; it fakes stories that sound like they could be in the NYT.

(The account is skewering the NYT's relentless bothsidesism.)