Bloomfield, New Mexico must remove Ten Commandments monument from its City Hall lawn, Tenth Circuit holds: You can access today’s ruling of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit at this link.
In earlier news coverage of the case, The Associated Press reported in September 2015 that “Court hears appeals on Ten Commandments marker.”
“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.
“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.”
“John Roberts gets another chance for a conservative legacy”: Joan Biskupic of CNN.com has this report.
“Pennsylvania voters approve raising judges’ retirement age”: Jan Murphy of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has this report.
“Obama legacy imperiled as Trump weighs Supreme Court pick”: Lawrence Hurley of Reuters has this report.
“Do Democrats still think ‘we need nine’ on the Supreme Court?” Columnist Michael McGough has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.
“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?”
“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.
“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.
“Close Supreme Court race ends in win for Nakamura”: Maggie Shepard of The Albuquerque Journal has this report.
“What the Trump Presidency Means for the Supreme Court”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.
And Cristian Farias of The Huffington Post has an article headlined “Goodbye To All Those Hopes For A New, Liberal Supreme Court; And farewell, Merrick Garland.”
“So long Roe vs. Wade? President Trump’s most lasting legacy could be radical change at the Supreme Court.” Law professor Erwin Chemerinsky has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.
“‘Notorious’ Justice Ginsburg Wears Her ‘Dissent Jabot’ While Rome Burns”: Rick Hasen has this post today at his “Election Law Blog.”
“A ‘view’ from the courtroom: The election and U.S. values.” Mark Walsh has this post today at “SCOTUSblog.”
“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.
“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.”
“Immediate Effect of the Election on the Court and the Justices”: Adam Feldman has this post today at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.
“Would Obama consider pardoning Clinton? Trump has promised to put her in jail, but Obama could forestall that possibility with the stroke of a pen.” Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has this report today, along with an article headlined “President-elect Trump due to appear in court at trial starting later this month; The Republican nominee will have to juggle his legal headaches as he prepares for the White House.”
“Trump victory puts Obamacare dismantling within reach”: Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico.com has this report.
“What the 2016 presidential election means for the Third Circuit: take two.” Matthew Stiegler has this post today at his “CA3blog.”
The 2016 Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit begins tomorrow in Philadelphia: You can view the Summit’s agenda at this link. A number of the programs look especially interesting given yesterday’s election results.
I will be attending the entire four-day conference, and I am looking forward to seeing many of this blog’s readers there too. Please follow this blog’s Twitter feed for AJEI-related tweets during the Summit.
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.
“Trump’s victory has enormous consequences for the Supreme Court”: Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has this report.
And Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Trump Presidency Ends Liberals’ Dream of Supreme Court Shift.”
Access this blog’s earlier coverage of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s lists of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees: My coverage of the list issued in May 2016 can be accessed here.
And my coverage of the additional list issued in September 2016 can be accessed here.
“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.’”
“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.
“Supreme Obstruction and the 2016 Senatorial Election Mandate”: Adam Feldman has this post at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.
“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.”
“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.