Supreme Court

The Democrats’ Attack on the Supreme Court

Featured image The Supreme Court has suddenly become controversial. “Supreme Court approval rating declines amid controversy,” headlines CNN. “What the Justice Clarence Thomas Scandal says about ethics on the Supreme Court,” opines NPR. “US Supreme Court Alito Ethics Controversy Spotlights Unchecked Power of Justices,” says Bloomberg. The list could go on and on. Why is the Court suddenly controversial? Obviously because it is, at the moment, in the hands of relatively conservative »

Geraldine Tyler’s (good) day in court

Featured image I covered the Supreme Court oral argument in Geraldine Tyler v. Hennepin County last month in “Geraldine Tyler’s day in court.” The following week I stepped back for a broader view of the case in “Argumentum interruptum — live on FOX News!” In the latter post I wrote (link omitted): Ms. Tyler lost in the district court and on appeal because the courts felt bound to apply the 1956 Supreme »

Planned Parenthood vs. The Supreme Court

Featured image The President and CEO of Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill Johnson, called for packing the Supreme Court and other “judicial reforms” in an interview with Jen Psaki on MSNBC: During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” McGill Johnson told host Jen Psaki that the reason why she’s calling for changes to the nation’s court system is due to recent attacks “on our democratic rights and our democratic freedoms.” This »

The Sotomayor exception

Featured image Paul Gigot writes in the Wall Street Journal’s morning editorial report email today: Democrats and progressives now dominate nearly every leading political and cultural institution in America. The most important exception is the U.S. Supreme Court, which after many decades finally has a majority of originalist Justices. This is proving to be intolerable to Democrats and the press corps, which are unleashing a furious political attack on the current Court, »

In defense of Justice Thomas

Featured image Mark Paoletta, a self-described friend of Justice Thomas, has posted the statement immediately below in response to the latest ProPublica hit piece on the justice headlined “Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition.” The subhead of ProPublica’s story features a quote from Richard Painter, the University of Minnesota clown whom I have written about many times before. Paoletta’s statement is accessible via Twitter. I »

Argumentum interruptum — live on Fox News!

Featured image Yesterday I worked all day preparing for what was to be a three-minute segment with Lawrence Jones on Fox News last night. The segment was to discuss the case of Geraldine Tyler v. Hennepin County that is pending in the United States Supreme Court. The Court held oral argument on April 26. It is likely to decide the case in June. I anticipated that more urgent news would result in »

Democrats’ Attack on Supreme Court Intensifies

Featured image The Democrats are attacking the independence of the Supreme Court, for obvious reasons: for once, they don’t control it. The attack is multi-faceted, but “ethics” is the most common excuse. They attacked Justice Thomas, whom they hate, for going on vacations with a rich conservative friend, Harlan Crow. It is obvious that Thomas committed no ethics violation, and the Wall St. Journal’s Editorial Board points out the Left’s usual double »

At the Supreme Court

Featured image Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito sat down with James Taranto and David Rivkin for the Wall Street Journal weekend column “Justice Alito: ‘This made us targets of assassination.” As the Journal loves to do on its opinion pages, the column breaks news. Behind the Journal’s paywall, the whole thing is worth reading. Here are the quotes I think are particularly worth pulling: • “I personally have a pretty good idea »

Missing at Yale Law School

Featured image The fabricated controversy over Justice Thomas and his billionaire friend Harlan Crow has missed what should be the real controversy. Crow contributed $105,000 to Yale Law School! YLS is of course Justice Thomas’s alma mater. But wait! There’s more. The Thomas connection is no coincidence. Crow’s contribution was for a worthy cause, sure to generate heartburn among the authorities at YLS. Crow’s contribution was for a portrait of Justice Thomas »

The Biskupic omission

Featured image The calculated barrage of lies directed at Judge Brett Kavanaugh in his 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearing should never be forgotten. The Democrats did everything but physically assassinate Justice Kavanaugh as they assassinated his good name. Complicit in the assault were the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee including Dianne Feinstein, Patrick J. Leahy, Richard J. Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse — who could forget Sherlock Sheldon? — Minnesota’s own Amy »

Did the New Yorker Just Sink Harvard?

Featured image You seldom look to The New Yorker for support for a conservative cause, but today the storied magazine published a devastating article by Harvard Law professor Jeannie Suk Gersen on the Harvard affirmative action case now pending at the Supreme Court. The article, “The Secret Joke at the Heart of the Harvard Affirmative-Action Case,” is devastating not only on the merits, but also for the conduct and rulings of District Court »

Thinking about Biden v. Nebraska

Featured image I commented on the oral argument held by the Supreme Court in Biden v. Nebraska in “Giving it away” earlier this week. It’s an important case. The Biden administration should go down in flames in it. Based on the oral argument, I thought Missouri’s alleged standing in the case deriving directly or indirectly from the state’s student loan administrator (MOHELA) is tenuous. If a majority of the Court reaches the »

Giving it away

Featured image I subscribe to alerts from services including the Associated Press, the New York Times, Axios, Politico, and Semafor. Every one of them agrees that yesterday’s oral argument in Biden v. Nebraska portended difficulties for President Biden’s $500 billion student loan giveaway. I listened to the oral argument on C-SPAN and have posted it below. I hope they have it right. Biden’s royal decree (via Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona) canceling »

Today in the HEROES Act cases

Featured image The Supreme Court hears oral argument at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern) this morning in two consolidated student loan giveaway/HEROES Act cases. The Associated Press purports to report on the issues in this story this morning. The live stream of the hearing is accessible here. The cases come before the Court on review of the Eighth Circuit’s preliminary injunction putting a hold on the loan giveaway program. The Eight Circuit opinion is »

Not in the HEROES Act

Featured image The constitutionality of President Biden’s student loan giveaway under the HEROES Act comes before the Supreme Court for oral argument in the cases consolidated for hearing in Biden v. Nebraska this week. The cases raise an incredibly important issue. John’s and my friend and former congressman, John Kline, has filed an amicus brief in the case with Buck McKeon. They wrote the bill. Their lawyer wrote a letter to the »

A Dobbs leak footnote

Featured image I read the documents released by the Supreme Court in its investigation of the Dobbs leak as soon as they were posted on the Court’s site Thursday afternoon. They are posted here. Giving the Marshal’s 20-page report on the investigation a close reading several times over, I commented on it in “Dobbs leaker still at large.” I raised the question whether the justices had been interviewed in the course of »

Dobbs leaker at large

Featured image The Supreme Court announced this afternoon that the leaker of the Dobbs draft opinion remains at large. That is unfortunate for many reasons, including the damage done to the Court as an institution and the physical danger to which the leak subjected the justices supporting the draft opinion. It’s also unfortunate that the Biden administration appeared not to give a rip. I gleaned from one of the stories on the »