Friday round-up
on Jul 27, 2018 at 7:17 am
In the most recent round of coverage of the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the Associated Press reports that “[n]early all the nation’s Republican governors have signed a letter backing Senate confirmation for … Kavanaugh.” Additional coverage comes from Justin Wise at The Hill, who reports that “[t]hree Republican governors declined to sign [the] letter.” LIU released a new poll finding that “a plurality of Americans believe Congress should wait until after the November general election before it votes on [the] nomination.”
Reports for this blog on the reactions of Republican and Democratic senators to the Kavanaugh nomination come from Andrew Hamm and Jon Levitan, respectively. At Law360 (subscription required), Michael Macagnone reports that “[t]he small number of Senate Democrats planning to meet with … Kavanaugh grew slightly larger this week as several more lawmakers from the minority party said they will sit down with the would-be justice.”
At Roll Call, Todd Ruger reports that Kavanaugh’s “history on the bench suggests he could press the court to jump back into the incendiary national debate over gun control laws.” For this blog, Chris Walker discusses Kavanaugh’s views on separation of powers and administrative law. Adam Feldman looks at ways to predict Kavanaugh’s views on abortion at Empirical SCOTUS. At Rewire.News, Robyn Powell worries about the effect of a Kavanaugh confirmation on Americans with disabilities.
For The National Law Journal (subscription or registration required), Marcia Coyle and Tony Mauro highlight their findings about Kavanaugh’s 48 court of appeals law clerks, noting that the judge has displayed “an affinity for Harvard and Yale law school graduates and an objective to recruit women and minorities.” At Supreme Court Brief (subscription required), Mauro and Coyle recap some “tips for advocates and judges” offered by Kavanaugh in 2011, including his belief that oral arguments matter and his mistrust of ellipses.
NTK notes that “The New York Times and Associated Press both filed requests under the Maryland Public Information Act (PIA) seeking e-mails that Ashley Kavanaugh, the wife of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, sent as town manager” in Chevy Chase, Maryland. At National Review, Ed Whelan argues that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s request for “the millions of pages of documents that passed through Kavanaugh’s office during his three years as White House staff secretary” “far exceeds what any senator could reasonably expect.” For CNN, Jamie Ehrlich reports that “Justice Elena Kagan said Wednesday that partisan battles over Supreme Court nominations make[] the court look like ‘junior varsity politicians.’”
Briefly:
- At the Associated Press, Amy Taxin reports that “[r]etiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Thursday said he believes it is vital to maintain close ties with Europe and is concerned the U.S. appears to be drifting away.”
- At Reason’s Volokh Conspiracy blog, Will Baude continues a debate about “the possibility that unions could be sued for several years worth of agency fees collected even before the Supreme Court held that the fees were unconstitutional in” Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31.
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