Friday, July 01, 2022

July 2022 Judiciary News

Roe no mo.

Abortion:  

On June 24, the court upheld Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban by a 6-3 vote, and overturned Roe v Wade by a 5-4 vote in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.  Previously, Politico published a leak of a draft opinion written by Justice Alito.

Ed Whelan reflects on the decision and the movement to overturn Roe, and responds to a critic of the decision.

Threats:  A man was arrested near Justice Kavanaugh's house, intending to murder him.  He found Kavanuagh's address thanks to someone posting it on the internet.  The justices have faced threats and harassment from the left since the leak of the draft decision in Dobbs. 

Lies:  Leftists are accusing Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh of committing perjury in their confirmation hearings.  This despite the fact that they never said they supported Roe, nor that they would never overturn a precedent.  Pro-choice R Senator Susan Collins has said she feels misled by the justices.

Polling:  Polls indicate that a majority of the public supports keeping Roe v Wade, but also supports restrictions on abortion that are not allowed under Roe.  This indicates that the public does not understand what Roe actually does.

States:  The fight over abortion will head to state courts, making many supreme court races even more heated.  The article has a map of which state courts have declared abortion a right in their states.

Iowa:  The Iowa Supreme Court overturned a ruling from 2018 that Iowa's constitution contains a right to abortion.  Governor Kim Reynolds has appointed four justices since 2018.

Supreme Court:

Roberts:  The media continues to troll Chief Justice John Roberts with the claim that he "lost control of the court".  This despite the fact that his job is administration, not dictating the votes of the other justices.

Breyer:  Justice Breyer retired from the court on June 30.  He was appointed to the 1st Circuit by Carter in 1980 and to the Supreme Court by Clinton in 1994.  Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in to replace him.

Bearing arms:  The court ruled 6-3 against New York's 'may issue' rule for concealed carry permits that required applicants to show a special need to carry a weapon for self-defense.  The court left open what restrictions on bearing arms are allowable, but made it harder to uphold other gun control laws.

Religious schools:  The court ruled 6-3 that the state of Maine could not discriminate against religious schools when funding private high schools.

Prayer:  The court ruled 6-3 that a coach could not be fired for holding a voluntary prayer after football games.  It overruled the case Lemon v. Kurtzman, which had the effect of restricting religious liberty.

EPA:  The court ruled 6-3 that the EPA court not regulate carbon emissions without authorization from Congress, limiting the power of the bureaucracy.

Constitution:  Ramesh Ponnuru explains that the reason that conservative policies have been advanced by the Supreme Court is that the Constitution is conservative.

Nominations, Hearings, Confirmations:

Nominations:  Biden has filled judgeships at a fast pace, thanks to many district court vacancies.  However, the pace may be slowing down.  The article has lots of related statistics.

Nominations:  Some experts think that Biden will not be able to fill all existing circuit court vacancies before the end of the year.  We can only hope.

Hispanics:  President Biden nominated Bradley Garcia to the DC Circuit shortly after MALDEF attacked him for "ongoing shabby treatment of the Latino community" for not nominating enough Hispanics to judgeships.

ED-KY:  Judge Karen Caldwell will take senior status, and President Biden is reportedly planning to nominated Chad Meredith to replace her.  He is a conservative close to Senator Mitch McConnell who was considered for a judgeship in 2020.  This is apparently part of some larger deal, but local Ds are not happy.

CD-IL:  Senators Durbin and Duckworth recommended candidates for a judgeship in CD-IL, even though there is no announced vacancy there.  Judge Sue Myerscough is eligible for senior status.

Nominations:
3rd Circuit:  Tamika Renee Montgomery-Reeves-justice, Delaware Supreme Court
ED-MI:  Frances Kay Behm-judge, Genesee County Circuit

The Federal Judiciary:

5th Circuit:  Schadenfreude alert!  Texas Monthly has a long article attacking judges Willett, Ho, Oldham, and Duncan for being too conservative.

7th Circuit:  Judge Michael Kanne passed away on June 16 at age 83.  He was appointed to ND-IN in 1982 and the 7th Circuit in 1987, both by Reagan.  In 2018, he announced that he would take senior status, but withdrew after his former law clerk, Indiana Solicitor General Tom Fisher, was not nominated.  It is unclear whether Biden will be able to fill the seat this year.

Vacancy Declarations:  There are now 119 current and future judicial vacancies.  New vacancies over the past month are listed below.
DC Circuit: Judith Rogers (Clinton) 9/1 (senior)
7th Circuit: Michael Kanne (Reagan) 6/16 (death)
WD-TX: David Guaderama (Obama) 5/27/23 (senior)
D-NJ: Freda Wolfson (W) 2/1/23 (retired)
ED-KY: Karen Caldwell (W) TBD (senior)

State Supreme Courts:

Florida:  The Florida Judicial Nominating Commission selected 6 finalists out of 17 applicants for the opening on the Florida Supreme Court caused by the retirement of Justice Alan Lawson.  One of the finalists is Judge Renatha Francis, who Governor Ron DeSantis tried to appoint to an earlier vacancy, but was rejected due to insufficient experience.  Sources indicate that DeSantis is planning to appoint Francis this time.

Indiana:  Governor Eric Holcomb appointed Judge Derek Molter to the Indiana Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the Indiana Court of Appeals in October 2021 after years in private practice.  He will fill the vacancy caused by the upcoming retirement of Justice Steven David.

Iowa:  Justice Brent Appel will leave the court on July 13, when he is age-limited.  He is the last remaining D appointed judge on the court.  The Judicial Nominating Commission nominated three finalists out of the five applicants for the position.  They are "Iowa Court of Appeals Judge David May, District 1A Judge Alan Heavens of Garnavillo, and attorney William Miller".  Governor Kim Reynolds will make her fifth appointment to the court.

New Jersey:  Liberal New Jersey Supreme Court justice Barry Albin will be age-limited on July 7.  This will be the third open seat on the court.  Governor Phil Murphy nominated Rachel Wainer Apter to an open seat in March 2021, but state senator Holly Schepisi (R) is holding up the nomination.

Utah:  Governor Spencer Cox nominated Judge Jill Pohlman to the Utah Supreme Court seat being vacated by Justice Thomas Lee.  She clerked for Judge David Winder (D-UT) and was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals in 2016.

Virginia:  The Virginia legislature agreed to a compromise to fill the seats on the Virginia Supreme Court vacated by Justices Donald Lemons and William Mims.  Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Wesley Russell Jr., age 52, who was a deputy AG under Ken Cuccinelli, will succeed Lemons.  Thomas Mann, a Fairfax County judge since 2016, will succeed Mims.

Elections:

June election results in contested races:

Illinois:  On June 28, there were partisan primaries for two seats on the Illinois Supreme Court.
District 2 (Lake, McHenry, Kane, DeKalb, Kendall):  Former Lake County sheriff Mark Curran won the R nomination with 30% to 28% to 19th Circuit Court judge Daniel Shanes.  The D nominee is 9th Circuit Court judge Elizabeth Rochford, who won 44% of the vote.  There were more votes in the R primary, which could be a good sign for November.
District 3 (DuPage, Will, etc.):  Justice Michael J. Burke (R) will face 3rd District Appellate Court Judge Mary O'Brien (D) in November.

Montana:   On June 7, Justice Ingrid Gustafson got 48% to 36% for MT GOP counsel and PSC President James Brown and 15% for Judge Mike McMahon.  Gustafson (D-aligned) and Brown (R-aligned) advance to the general election in November.
Justice James Rice got 76% to 24% for Bill D'Alton. Both will continue on to the November election.

Numbers and Trivia:

Here are the numbers of senior status declarations/retirements for federal judges (circuit judges) for the past year.
1 (0) December 2020
20 (3) January
19 (3) February
8 (3) March
7 (1) April
8 (5) May
4 (0) June
5 (2) July
4 (2) August
2 (0) September
5 (3) October
7 (1) November
9 (7) December 2021
14 (4) January 2022
4 (0) February 
3 (2) March 
6 (0) April 
5 (0) May 
5 (2) June 

136 (38) Total

Resources:
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)