Supreme Court:
Barrett: Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed on October 26 by a 52-48 vote. All Rs except Susan Collins voted yes; all members of the D caucus voted no. Barrett was sworn in by Justice Thomas the same evening.
Barrett: Carrie Severino summarizes Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 of the Judiciary Committee hearings on Judge Barrett.
ABA: The left-leaning American Bar Association gave Judge Barrett a rating of Well Qualified by a substantial majority, with a minority voting for a rating of qualified.
Barrett: Harsh Voruganti of the Vetting Room has analyzed the split opinions involving Judge Barrett, both when she was in the majority and minority.
Barrett: Politico writes that Barrett quickly became a consensus candidate due to strong support from Mitch McConnell, Leonard Leo, and Josh Hawley. Also notable is the Leo helped to keep Neomi Rao off Trump's Supreme Court list.
Barrett: Leftists have demanded that Justice Barrett recuse herself from a variety of cases, especially potential election litigation. Carrie Severino and Ed Whelan disagree, pointing out previous cases in which liberal judges did not recuse themselves.
Supreme Court: Senator Ted Cruz has written a book on the Supreme Court: One Vote Away: How a Single Supreme Court Seat Can Change History. He revealed that he raised concerns with President Trump about Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. He instead recommended Senator Mike Lee be appointed.
Supreme Court: Joshua Wilson asks why there aren’t any evangelicals on the Supreme Court, while there are 6 Catholics. He mentions that evangelicals are less likely to become lawyers, and less likely to attend top law schools. One answer the article doesn’t give is that evangelicals are more interested in results than identity politics.
Nominations, Hearings, Confirmations:
Feinstein: Some leftist groups want Senator Diane Feinstein removed as ranking D on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Some senators are unhappy with her performance in the ACB hearings, but there doesn't seem to be much support for removing her.
Texas: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was accused of corruption by seven aides, including First Assistant AG Jeff Mateer, who resigned in protest. Mateer is notable due to his nomination to ED-TX in 2017. He was not confirmed due to some controversial comments he made that came to light.
New Nominations:
TBD
Senate Judiciary Committee hearings:
TBD
TBD
The Federal Judiciary:
Judicial winning: Carrie Severino of the Judicial Crisis Network is writing a series highlighting Trump's conservative judicial appointees. The series so far includes Kyle Duncan, Amul Thapar, Ken Lee, Lisa Branch, Amy Coney Barrett, Greg Katsas, Justin Walker, Kevin Newsom, Dan Bress, Eric Murphy, Daniel Collins, Patrick Bumatay, Paul Matey, and Jay Richardson.
Misconduct: Judges accused of misconduct often retire to avoid accountability. Case in point is Judge Truman A. Morrison III of the DC Superior Court.
1st Circuit: Judge Juan Torruella died on October 26 at age 87. He was the first appeals court judge from Puerto Rico. He was appointed to D-PR by Ford in 1974 and to the 1st Circuit by Reagan in 1984. He was generally liberal, issuing rulings supporting abortion and gay rights, and obstructing the death penalty.
SD-CA: Chief Judge Larry Burns will take senior status on January 22, 2021, two days after the winner of the next presidential election is inaugurated. He was appointed by W in 2003. In 2012, he wrote a column endorsing an assault weapons ban, so he isn't that conservative.
State Supreme Courts:
Elections: Check out my preview of state supreme court elections in 2020.
California: Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Martin Jenkins to the California Supreme Court. He was appointed to ND-CA by Clinton in 1997, and resigned in 2008. Governor Schwarzenegger then appointed him to the California Court of Appeals. He is 66. The court now has 5 D and 2 R appointees.
Texas: Governor Greg Abbott appointed Rebeca Huddle to the Texas Supreme Court. Huddle, 47, is a native of El Paso who was a justice on a Houston-based appeals court. She replaces Justice Paul Green, who retired in August.
Numbers and Trivia:
Obstruction: Keith Whittington examines obstruction of circuit court nominees. Both parties have engaged in this practice and President Obama was not obstructed significantly more than previous presidents.
Supreme Court: Ilya Shapiro shows that liberal justices of the Supreme Court are more likely to vote as a block than conservative justices.
Roberts Court: Dan McLaughlin rebuts the claim by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse that the Roberts Court decided 80 cases by a 5-4 margin, and all 80 cases were decided in favor of corporate interests.
Longevity: Three judges originally appointed by Nixon, Gerald Bard Tjoflat, John Clifford Wallace, and Peter T. Fay, just passed 50 years of service. They are tied for 26th on the list of longevity of service of federal judges.
Longevity: Three judges originally appointed by Nixon, Gerald Bard Tjoflat, John Clifford Wallace, and Peter T. Fay, just passed 50 years of service. They are tied for 26th on the list of longevity of service of federal judges.
Longevity: ProPublica examines the longevity of current federal judges. Trump appointees are somewhat younger than those of other presidents.
Courting Change: Reuters examines the federal appeals courts, including appointing president, circuits, age, race, and sex.
Claims: President Trump appointed Eleni Roumel as Chief Judge of the Court of Federal Claims on October 19. Trump appointed her to the court in February 2020. She was Deputy Counsel to VP Mike Pence 2018-2020. She replaces Margaret Sweeney, whose term on the court of claims expired on October 24. Sweeney was appointed to the court by W in 2005 and was named chief by Trump in 2018.
History:
Lincoln: Kamala Harris misrepresented how President Lincoln handled a Supreme Court vacancy in an election year. He didn't make a nomination before the election not because "the people should decide" but because the Senate was out of session. (Also, there was a civil war.) The seat was filled in the lame duck session after the election.
Resources:
Bench Memos (National Review)
The Vetting Room
Twitter: FedJudges Senate Cloakroom
Senate Judiciary Committee
ABA Judicial Ratings
Wikipedia: Trump Judges US Appeals Courts
Senior Status Spreadsheet
Future Judicial Vacancies
BostonPatriot diaries: History Trump DC-5 6-11 9th
Ballotpedia--State Supreme Court Vacancies Elections
The Supreme Courts
2020: March April May June July August September October Elections
Claims: President Trump appointed Eleni Roumel as Chief Judge of the Court of Federal Claims on October 19. Trump appointed her to the court in February 2020. She was Deputy Counsel to VP Mike Pence 2018-2020. She replaces Margaret Sweeney, whose term on the court of claims expired on October 24. Sweeney was appointed to the court by W in 2005 and was named chief by Trump in 2018.
History:
Lincoln: Kamala Harris misrepresented how President Lincoln handled a Supreme Court vacancy in an election year. He didn't make a nomination before the election not because "the people should decide" but because the Senate was out of session. (Also, there was a civil war.) The seat was filled in the lame duck session after the election.
Resources:
Bench Memos (National Review)
The Vetting Room
Twitter: FedJudges Senate Cloakroom
Senate Judiciary Committee
ABA Judicial Ratings
Wikipedia: Trump Judges US Appeals Courts
Senior Status Spreadsheet
Future Judicial Vacancies
BostonPatriot diaries: History Trump DC-5 6-11 9th
Ballotpedia--State Supreme Court Vacancies Elections
The Supreme Courts
2020: March April May June July August September October Elections
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