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Thoughts on the Supreme Court of the United States

Thoughts on the Supreme Court of the United States

Last updated on: September 5, 2018 at 9:53 am by Dan Peterson

Thoughts on the Supreme Court of the United States 2018-09-05T09:53:25-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The Supreme Court Building in Washington DC (Wikimedia Commons)

President Trump has promised to announce on Monday his nominee for the vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States that’s being left by the departure of Justice Anthony Kennedy.

This is, yes, certainly one occasion when it’s much better, from the standpoint of a serious conservative, to have Donald J. Trump in the White House than to have Hillary R. Clinton. Hallelujah!

The speculation attending this vacancy is intense. And it’s a mark of our hyperpartisan and ideologically divided times that various liberals and Democrats are already declaring “war” — that’s the term being used — against a nominee who hasn’t yet so much as been named.

Here is a list of Senate votes on nominations to the Supreme Court since 1789:

https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/nominations/Nominations.htm

Notice how many of them were “voice votes,” or unanimous confirmations. Notice how wide the margins of confirmation generally have been. But no longer. And not recently. A “voice vote” today is hardly even conceivable.

To see what some are saying about President Trump’s impending choice — we’ll know soon enough who it is, of course, but, as in sports, advance speculation is fun — you might want to read some or all of the following informed articles:

“Jeffrey Toobin Delivers the ‘Bork’s America’ Smear of 2018”

Amy Coney Barrett was, at one point, thought to be the frontrunner.

“Amy Coney Barrett’s Cult” (by a Jewish writer, incidentally)

“Progressives Deploy Religious Ignorance and Bigotry to Stop Amy Coney Barrett” (written by an Evangelical, incidentally)

“David Savage Keeps Misrepresenting Judge Amy Barrett”

Some think that Brett Kavanaugh is now the favorite.

“Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Impeccable Record of Constitutional Conservatism”

Longish, and perhaps a bit too inside-baseball judicialese for some, but others might find it interesting:

“Brett Kavanaugh Is an Excellent Judge, but Is He the Best Choice?”

There hasn’t been much talk about Justice Thomas Lee in this connection, but he’s still on the list:

“2 Mormon Brothers Make It on Trump’s Shortlist for Supreme Court Justices”

However, although I would be rather surprised if he were actually chosen, Mike Lee is still on the list and under consideration, and there are good reasons for that:

“As Court Pick, Mike Lee Would Be Tough to Bork”

By the way, I saw an online warning the other day that no Mormon should be seated on the Supreme Court, because Mormons owe their primary loyalty to the presiding authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rather than to the United States or its Constitution. It’s a pity that Governor Al Smith and President John F. Kennedy aren’t here to respond. This is remarkably similar to the obnoxious “cult” argument being made by some against Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

***

Here’s an interesting reflection on a recent SCOTUS decision:

“Why The Masterpiece Ruling Is Truly A Major Win For Religious Liberty:Despite years of case law emptying free exercise, the Supreme Court has now confirmed that government cannot apply laws in a discriminatory way against religious believers.”

***

And here is a short essay considering another recent decision by the Supremes, from America, the official magazine of the (Roman Catholic) Jesuit order in the United States:

“There is religious bigotry behind Trump’s travel ban. The Supreme Court should have known better.”

Professor Berg is concerned about the same issue that concerned the signatories (including me) to the 2017 amici curiae brief that was filed with the Supreme Court in connection with this very case:

“Amici Curiae Brief of Scholars of Mormon History & Law in Support of Neither Party”

Finally, an examination of how all of this might play out electorally, the upcoming congressional midterms:

“Early Thoughts on The Supreme Court and the Midterms”

***

But now, if you want some relief, something that transcends partisanship, listen to this wonderful little 47-second piece:

“David McCullough | Washington’s Speech”

Posted from Newport Beach, California

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