Tag Archives: SCOTUS

George Mason University Fixes Its #ASSoL Problem

Last week it was announced the George Mason University was naming its law school after Antonin Scalia, prompting some of you to immediately note that the new name, the Antonin Scalia School of Law, yielded the acronym ASSoL, which is especially funny in our hashtag-happy era. Well, snicker no more. Or at least, snicker less. Via the Wall Street Journal: …

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Media Matters Exposes “Web Of Self-Dealing & Dark Money” Behind Smearing Of Merrick Garland [VIDEO]

As I noted a few days ago, the Judicial Crisis Network was known as the Judicial Confirmation Network before President Obama took office. Clip recap: A Media Matters investigation of the discredited right-wing group Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), the main source of baseless smears against, and false characterizations of, Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, reveals a familial web of self-dealing …

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Koch Brothers Donation Convinces George Mason University To Rename Its Law School For Antonin Scalia

From the Wall Street Journal: George Mason University School of Law, named after a founding father known for his refusal to sign the Constitution, is renaming itself after a man famed for a strict adherence to its words: Justice Antonin Scalia. George Mason University’s Board of Visitors, who are appointed by the Virginia governor, voted in favor of the renaming …

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SCOTUS Splits 4-4, Upholds Defeat Of Anti-Gay Bid To Upend Mandatory Public Sector Union Fees

In April 2013, Orange County elementary school teacher Rebecca Friedrichs sued the California Teachers Association, arguing that her mandatory union fees meant that she had been unwillingly forced into financially supporting the union’s advertising campaign against the passage of Proposition 8. Friedrich’s suit was joined by the Christian Educators Association International. Which brings us to today. Via The Atlantic: The …

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TENNESSEE: Federal Court Awards $2 Million In Legal Fees To Plaintiffs In Same-Sex Marriage Battle

From the Knoxville News Sentinel: The state must pay more than $2 million in legal fees to three couples who successfully challenged Tennessee’s same-sex marriage ban, a federal judge in Nashville ruled Friday. Judge Aleta Trauger awarded $1.98 million in attorneys’ fees and $59,916 in expenses to the plaintiffs, which include Knoxville veterinarians Valeria Tanco and Sophy Jesty. The award, …

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POLITICO: Teabagistan Is Ready To “Pounce” If Republicans Cave On SCOTUS Nomination Hearing

Via Politico: There are plenty of plausible reasons why Republicans might eventually fold in the standoff over the Supreme Court: Overwhelming public opinion, a Democratic pressure campaign, and vulnerable GOP senators trying to save their jobs, to name a few. But there’s another even more persuasive reason they won’t: The wrath of the right wing. The activist right has been …

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NOM Money Beg: Help Us Stop John Kasich

Brian Brown has issued yet another money beg in support of Ted Cruz because John Kasich doesn’t hate gay people as much as he should. Brown writes: I’m asking for your immediate financial help so that we can get the truth about John Kasich out to voters and the media and stop any consideration of him as the GOP nominee, …

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Trump: I Have A List Of SCOTUS Nominees

CBS News reports: Donald Trump tried to assure a room of Palm Beach County Republicans on Sunday that his conservative credentials were real – and that the party should unite behind him for the nomination, especially with a Supreme Court seat at stake. To further prove that, the Republican front-runner told the crowd that he would submit a list of …

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Bernie Sanders: If I’m Elected, I’ll Ask Obama To Withdraw Merrick Garland As SCOTUS Nominee [VIDEO]

Last night Rachel Maddow asked this of Bernie Sanders: “If you get the Democratic nomination and you are elected president in November, would you ask President Obama to withdraw that nomination in a lame duck so you could name your own nominee?” Sanders responded: “Yes, I would. I think I’m 100% prepared to support Judge Garland. I think he’s clearly …

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Cites “Biden Rule” – Says There Will Be No SCOTUS Hearing [VIDEO]

The Hill reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday shot down the idea of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland getting a hearing. McConnell insisted in a floor speech that the vacancy should be filled by the next president. “The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country, …

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LGBT Groups React TO SCOTUS Nominee

From Lambda Legal: “With President Obama’s nomination of Judge Garland to the Supreme Court, we call upon members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to fulfill their constitutional duty and ensure Judge Garland is given a complete and timely review. We encourage them to ask comprehensive and probing questions to evaluate Judge Garland’s ability to be a fair and impartial member …

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LIVE VIDEO: Obama Makes SCOTUS Announcement UPDATE: Nominee Reported To Be Merrick Garland

President Obama will announce his nomination for the US Supreme Court at 11am Eastern. Embedded below is the official White House live-stream. Some expect the nominee to be present during Obama’s revelation. Exciting! UPDATE: CNN is reporting that Garland will be the nominee.

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Obama’s SCOTUS Nomination Due This Morning

NBC News reports: President Obama has made up his mind. The president will announce his nominee to the Supreme Court at 11 a.m. ET Wednesday, just over a month after the death of conservative jurist Antonin Scalia left a vacancy on the bench. “I’ve devoted a considerable amount of time and deliberation to this decision,” Obama said in a statement. …

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Notorious RBG Turns 83 Today

Today is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 83rd birthday and progressives are flooding Twitter with well wishes. The Huffington Post has published a compilation of RBG’s most famous quotes. Here’s one for us: “In recent years, people have said, ‘This is the way I am.’ And others looked around, and we discovered it’s our next-door neighbor — we’re very …

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Obama Narrows SCOTUS Shortlist To Three

Reuters reports: The White House has narrowed its search for a U.S. Supreme Court nominee to three federal appeals court judges, Sri Srinivasan, Merrick Garland and Paul Watford, a source familiar with the selection process said on Friday. Srinivasan, an Indian-American who served under presidents of both parties before President Barack Obama named him as an appellate judge, and Garland, …

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Puerto Rico Gov: Ignore That Crazy Anti-Gay Judge

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Today, Governor Alejandro García Padilla [photo] announced that the decision issued yesterday by the District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, holding that the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges striking down discriminatory marriage bans nationwide did not apply to Puerto Rico because it is not a state, would not …

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Rafael Cruz To Breitbart: Donald Trump Will Appoint Pro-Gay SCOTUS Justice And Destroy America [AUDIO]

Brian Tashman reports at Right Wing Watch: Rafael Cruz, the father and campaign surrogate of GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz, launched into yet another rant about the Supreme Court in an interview today on “Breitbart News Daily,” this time warning that an additional “liberal justice” on the high court will destroy all of society. “One more justice like that,” the …

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Loretta Lynch: Don’t Consider Me For SCOTUS

NBC News reports: U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has “asked not to be considered” for nomination to the Supreme Court to take the spot formerly occupied by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Administration insiders had concluded more than a week ago that Lynch’s nomination would create an opening for Senate Republicans to demand Justice Department …

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Log Cabin Republicans Hit Trump On Marriage [VIDEO]

David Badash writes at New Civil Rights Movement: The Log Cabin Republicans today posted an ad demanding Donald Trump tell them where he stands on same-sex marriage. The gay GOP group as recently as December had been supportive of the Republican frontrunner, with their president proclaiming the brash billionaire is “one of the best, if not the best, pro-gay Republican …

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BREAKING: SCOTUS Unanimously Overturns Alabama Supreme Court Ruling Against Gay Adoption

USA Today has the breaking news: The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously reversed an Alabama court’s refusal to recognize a same-sex adoption. The justices upheld a challenge brought by an Alabama woman after her state’s highest court refused to recognize the adoption she and her former lesbian partner were granted in Georgia. The couple never married and have since split …

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