How Appealing



Wednesday, November 9, 2016

“Deal names five judges to Georgia’s two top courts”: Greg Bluestein of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an article that begins, “Gov. Nathan Deal continued a transformation of the judiciary on Wednesday by tapping three new Georgia Supreme Court justices and two new judges on Georgia’s Court of Appeals, stocking the court system with young conservatives who are poised to long outlast his tenure in office.”

Earlier today, the office of Georgia Governor Nathan Deal issued a news release titled “Deal appoints three to Supreme Court of Georgia.”

Georgia Supreme Court Justice-to-be Britt Grant currently serves as Solicitor General of Georgia and previously clerked for D.C. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh.

And Georgia Supreme Court Justice-to-be Nels S.D. Peterson currently serves as a judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals and previously clerked for Eleventh Circuit Judge William H. Pryor, Jr.

Posted at 10:12 PM by Howard Bashman



“GOP Strategy Paved Way For Trump To Nominate Supreme Court Justice”: Nina Totenberg had this audio segment on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

Posted at 9:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Pennsylvania voters approve raising judges’ retirement age”: Jan Murphy of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has this report.

Posted at 8:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“Do Democrats still think ‘we need nine’ on the Supreme Court?” Columnist Michael McGough has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.

Posted at 8:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump’s victory ensures a conservative majority on the Supreme Court”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

Jess Bravin and Mark H. Anderson of The Wall Street Journal report that “Donald Trump Poised to Tilt Supreme Court; President-elect will have chance to fill Scalia’s vacancy; as nominee, he said Second Amendment was ‘under siege.’

Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Trump’s win keeps Supreme Court conservative.”

Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle reports that “Trump’s election will have significant impact on Supreme Court.”

Ariane de Vogue of CNN.com has an article headlined “Who will Trump pick for the Supreme Court?

Leada Gore of AL.com has an article headlined “Who will Donald Trump nominate to Supreme Court? Alabama native, former AG Bill Pryor among contenders.”

And Jeremy Wallace of The Tampa Bay Times has a blog post titled “Will Trump turn to a Floridian for the Supreme Court?

Posted at 8:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Election Changed The Politics Of The Supreme Court; Overnight, Donald Trump stopped the law’s leftward shift”: Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed News has this report.

Posted at 6:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“Charlie Wiggins retains Supreme Court seat despite campaign to oust him; Justice Charlie Wiggins beat back a well-funded challenge as one of three incumbent justices who reclaimed their seats on the Washington state Supreme Court”: Steve Miletich of The Seattle Times has this report.

Posted at 5:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“‘Notorious’ Justice Ginsburg Wears Her ‘Dissent Jabot’ While Rome Burns”: Rick Hasen has this post today at his “Election Law Blog.”

Posted at 2:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“A ‘view’ from the courtroom: The election and U.S. values.” Mark Walsh has this post today at “SCOTUSblog.”

Posted at 2:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Does a new President equal a new Supreme Court?” Lyle Denniston has this post today at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

Posted at 2:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“Will Trump’s Rule of Law Be Our Rule of Law? The fate of the entire legal apparatus of government is in the balance.” Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online today at Slate.

Online at Bloomberg View, law professor Noah Feldman today has essays titled “The Constitution Is Built to Protect the Losers” and “Victory Speech Was Part Lincoln, Part Trump.”

And online at The Atlantic, law professor Garrett Epps today has an essay titled “Donald Trump Has Broken the Constitution: The President-Elect is a figure out of authoritarian politics, not the American tradition.”

Posted at 2:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“Immediate Effect of the Election on the Court and the Justices”: Adam Feldman has this post today at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.

Posted at 2:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“What the 2016 presidential election means for the Third Circuit: take two.” Matthew Stiegler has this post today at his “CA3blog.”

Posted at 11:20 AM by Howard Bashman



When will D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland return to hearing and deciding cases on that court? Now that last night’s presidential and senatorial election returns have dashed all remaining hope of his U.S. Supreme Court confirmation, some observers have begun to wonder when Chief Judge Garland will return to hearing and deciding cases on the D.C. Circuit.

For reasons that I never fully understood, Chief Judge Garland chose to refrain from participating in the hearing and deciding of cases at the D.C. Circuit following his nomination to serve on the Supreme Court. He did, however, continue to perform certain other of his duties as chief judge of that court.

Given the manner in which the D.C. Circuit disposes of its cases, it is unlikely that many, if any, appeals in which Chief Judge Garland previously heard oral argument remain undecided. And all cases argued since then to three-judge panels already involve the requisite number of judges.

On September 27, 2016, the en banc D.C. Circuit (with Chief Judge Garland not participating) heard more than seven hours of oral argument in a case challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. My earlier coverage of that oral argument can be accessed here. The case remains pending for decision by the en banc D.C. Circuit. It is unknown whether the outcome of that case is so closely divided that having an extra judge involved would make a difference. It would be very unusual for a judge who was intentionally sitting on the sidelines of a case to rejoin the decision-making process thereafter, but there certainly are times when an appellate judge cannot attend oral argument but participates in the decision after studying the briefs and listening to the oral argument audio or reading the argument transcript.

To be sure, the D.C. Circuit currently has more judges in active service than its workload would seem to justify. Nevertheless, I would expect Chief Judge Garland to return to work hearing and deciding cases at the D.C. Circuit as promptly as possible, regardless of whether his SCOTUS nomination remains officially pending until President-elect Trump takes office.

Posted at 10:38 AM by Howard Bashman



“All Kansas Supreme Court justices appear headed toward retention as votes are counted”: Jonathan Shorman of The Topeka Capital-Journal has this report.

Laura Bauer of The Kansas City Star reports that “Kansans are favoring retaining Supreme Court justices.”

Peter Hancock of The Lawrence Journal-World reports that “Kansas judges, justices ahead in retention fight, despite big-money campaign.”

And Amy Renee Leiker of The Wichita Eagle reports that “Ouster group disappointed ‘voters left bad justices in place.’

Posted at 8:23 AM by Howard Bashman



“States’ Supreme Court Election Results a Mixed Bag; Judicial elections weren’t a clear sweep for either party”: Louis Jacobson of Governing.com has this report.

Posted at 8:14 AM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Obstruction and the 2016 Senatorial Election Mandate”: Adam Feldman has this post at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.

Posted at 8:12 AM by Howard Bashman



“GOP’s Senate Victory Sets Stage for Trump High Court, Agenda”: Steven T. Dennis, Laura Litvan, and Billy House of Bloomberg News have this report.

Todd Ruger of The Hill has an article headlined “Now It’s Trump Who Can Recast the Supreme Court; Election results end hopes for Obama’s long-languishing pick Merrick Garland.”

Chris Sommerfeldt of The New York Daily News has an article headlined “What Donald Trump’s ‘ultra-conservative’ Supreme Court will look like.”

Geneva Sands and Audrey Taylor of ABC News have an article headlined “Where We Stand on Supreme Court Nominee Merrick Garland Now That Trump is President-Elect.”

And at the “Democracy in America” blog of The Economist, Steven Mazie has a post titled “How the Supreme Court will change under President Trump.”

Posted at 7:50 AM by Howard Bashman



“Donald Trump Is Elected President in Stunning Repudiation of the Establishment”: Matt Flegenheimer and Michael Barbaro of The New York Times have this report.

And Jennifer Steinhauer of The New York Times reports that “Republicans, Buoyed by Trump’s Performance, Keep Control of Senate.”

The consequences of yesterday’s elections on the future of the U.S. Supreme Court will be significant, and the current U.S. Senate‘s refusal to confirm a successor to Justice Antonin Scalia appears brilliant in retrospect.

Posted at 7:40 AM by Howard Bashman