Law 360: “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who turned 87 on March 15, is sticking to her twice-weekly routine of planks, pushups and other exercises with longtime personal trainer Bryant Johnson in the justices’ private gym inside the Supreme Court building.”
“The two are taking extra precautions to wipe down equipment and keep their distance. Johnson, a federal judiciary employee, has canceled appointments with his other clients and now is only working with Justice Ginsburg.”
A federal judge obtained the full and unredacted report on election interference and obstruction of justice prepared by former special counsel Robert Mueller on Monday, Law & Crime reports.
“Running out of federal court vacancies to fill, Senate Republicans have been quietly making overtures to sitting Republican-nominated judges who are eligible to retire to urge them to step aside so they can be replaced while the party still holds the Senate and the White House,” the New York Times reports.
“Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who has used his position as majority leader to build a judicial confirmation juggernaut for President Trump over the past three years, has been personally reaching out to judges to sound them out on their plans and assure them that they would have a worthy successor if they gave up their seats soon, according to multiple people with knowledge of his actions.”
“It was not known how many judges were contacted or which of them Mr. McConnell had spoken to directly.”
The Supreme Court announced that it would postpone oral arguments for its March session because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Two of the nine justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, are in their 80s.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) said that he misspoke when he said that two justices appointed by President Trump to the Supreme Court would “pay the price” for a vote against abortion rights, the Washington Post reports.
Said Schumer: “I should not have used the words I used yesterday. They didn’t come out the way I intended them to. I’m from Brooklyn. We speak in strong language. I shouldn’t have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat.”
“In a rare rebuke of a sitting member of Congress, Supreme Court Chef Justice John Roberts criticized Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) over remarks made from the steps outside the high court Wednesday that Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch would ‘pay the price’ for a vote against reproductive rights,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Roberts: “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”
“The Supreme Court will hear a third challenge to the Affordable Care Act, this time at the request of Democratic-controlled states that are fighting a lower court decision that challenged the constitutionality of the law,” the Washington Post reports.
“The court’s review will probably come in the term that begins in October, which would not leave time for a decision before the November election. The law remains in effect.”
“A Trump nominee to serve on a court that hears claims against the government once argued that several federal agencies should be eliminated and that Social Security should be abolished because economic disparity ‘is a natural aspect of the human condition,'” the Washington Post reports.
“The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against Roger Stone warned on Tuesday about attacks by President Trump and others on a juror in the trial, saying that fomenting public anger about the guilty verdict could prompt someone to ‘soon take it out on them personally,'” the New York Times reports.
“The comments by United States District Judge Amy Jackson Berman came during a hearing on an argument by Mr. Stone’s lawyers that misconduct by a juror required a new trial.
“Even as the hearing was proceeding, Mr. Trump weighed in again on the case, once more ignoring Attorney General William Barr’s explicit request earlier this month that he stop commenting on the department’s criminal cases.”
“President Trump attacked Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a pair of tweets late Monday night, days after Sotomayor issued a dissent critical of both the Trump administration’s legal strategy and the court’s majority for enabling it,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump’s comments targeting Sotomayor and Ginsburg come as he has faced criticism for targeting sitting judges and injecting politics into the judiciary. It’s not unusual for a president to criticize decisions of the Supreme Court and the lower courts. Most have avoided singling out judges or justices by name, as Trump does, or challenging their fairness and integrity.”
A national association of federal judges has called an emergency meeting Tuesday to address growing concerns about the intervention of Justice Department officials and President Trump in politically sensitive cases, USA Today reports.
“First he went after the prosecutors who recommended a multiyear sentence for his friend Roger Stone. Then President Trump turned his Twitter ire to the ‘witch hunt disgrace’ of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which led to Stone’s indictment. But perhaps most surprising was Trump’s decision to target U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson — who will determine Stone’s fate when he appears in her courtroom next Thursday,” the Washington Post reports.
“It was not the first time Trump had gone after a federal judge or questioned the judiciary, but Tuesday’s attack was nevertheless vexing to current and former judges as Jackson prepares to decide whether to send the president’s friend to prison — and for how long.”
Rick Hasen: “Among the many strange and worrying truths about American elections, one has a tendency to get lost: The path to the presidency can run not just through battleground states but also through the Supreme Court.”
“Back in 2000, it was the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore that put an end to a month-long post-election battle between the Democrat Al Gore and the Republican George W. Bush over who would be awarded the state of Florida’s Electoral College votes and, in turn, the presidency. This time, were the outcome of the 2020 election to fall to the Court, the situation could be far messier, and at stake would be the legitimacy of both the Court and the entire American electoral process.”
“The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the landmark separation of powers fight over access to President Trump’s financial records on March 31,” The Hill reports.
“A blockbuster ruling on the extent of presidential immunity in the face of congressional oversight and state prosecutorial power is expected by late June, just months ahead of Election Day.”
Washington Post: “The attorneys general for the last three states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment on Thursday filed a lawsuit in federal court arguing that the amendment must be added to the U.S. Constitution. The suit challenges a Justice Department memo earlier this month that said the national archivist, who certifies the ratification of amendments, should not do so because the congressional deadline for ratification expired in 1982.”
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an effort by Democrats to expedite a challenge to a lower court’s ruling striking down a key tenet of Obamacare, narrowing the possibility that the court takes up the contentious case this year,” The Hill reports.
Politico: “The decision deals a blow to Democrats’ hopes to elevate the issue in 2020, but it will come as a relief to President Donald Trump and Republicans, who’ve been wary of the lawsuit’s potential to scramble their election hopes.”
Associated Press: “A Wisconsin appeals court on Tuesday put on hold an order to immediately remove up to 209,000 names from the state’s voter registration rolls, handing Democrats who had fought the move a victory in the battleground state.”
The Supreme Court said that it will not take up a challenge to a New Hampshire city ordinance banning women from appearing topless in public, NBC News reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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