We are in the midst of one of the most heated Supreme Court confirmations in recent memory. In terms of pure public drama, Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s hearings—which will continue on Monday when he confronts allegations of his involvement in sexual assault while in high school—ranks behind only those of Clarence Thomas in 1991 and Robert … Continue reading Do Controversial Confirmation Hearings Hurt the Court?
Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing last week was highly contentious from the very start. The first day is generally limited to opening statements by the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, formal introductions of the nominee, and the nominee’s own opening statement. But as CBS reports, day one began with Democratic senators’ … Continue reading Kavanaugh Hearings: Roundup
During the first day of the hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court starts on Tuesday, September 4, 2018. On the first day, the senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee will make opening statements, but there won’t be questions for the nominee. But these opening statements are likely to be unusually contentious. … Continue reading The Kavanaugh Documents Controversy
Less than two months after President Trump announced his nomination, Judge Brett Kavanaugh will begin his confirmation hearing to sit on the Supreme Court on September 4. The Senate Judiciary Committee has a dedicated webpage about the hearing here. On the first day, we can expect to hear opening statements by committee members, as well … Continue reading Kavanaugh Hearing Preview
Contemporary Supreme Court confirmation hearings are both exciting and disappointing. They are exciting because they provide a chance to hear directly from the nominee, who otherwise may not be well known. The interested public can learn a bit about the individual’s public personality and intelligence. On the other hand, the hearings are disappointing because the … Continue reading Putting SCOTUS confirmation hearings in context
It’s been just over 24 hours since President Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Here’s a summary of initial reactions. His credentials and experience have been praised. “On paper,” writes Richard Wolf in USA Today, “Kavanaugh may be the most qualified Supreme Court nominee in generations. Akhil Reed Amar, … Continue reading Early Takes on the Kavanaugh Nomination
Last night, in primetime, President Trump nominated Brett M. Kavanaugh to become the next Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. If approved by the Senate, he would replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is scheduled to retire at the end of the month. The President, a man not known for constancy or predictability, did exactly … Continue reading And the Nominee Is ….
As I discussed in my earlier posts on the Supreme Court and the 2016 presidential election, although the future of the Court played a major role in the election for many voters and for advocacy groups, the candidates themselves seemed uninterested in the issue. Trump released a list from which he promised to select a … Continue reading The Court and the 2016 Election—Explaining the Forgotten Issue
In the lead-up to virtually every presidential election over the past few decades, legal commentators and journalists have predicted that the future of the Supreme Court would feature prominently as a campaign issue. But these predictions have been consistently wrong—or at least considerably inflated. While the Court has featured as an issue on the campaign … Continue reading The Court and the 2016 Election—Great Expectations
What role did the Supreme Court play in the 2016 election? This is the question I consider in an article that will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Chicago-Kent Law Review. The article is based on a paper I presented at a symposium organized by ISCOTUS last fall; the law review will be … Continue reading The Supreme Court and the 2016 Presidential Election