“Supreme Court’s Justice Clarence Thomas Faces Scrutiny Over Wife’s Texts; Texts from Virginia Thomas to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows over 2020 election prompt Democratic concerns about conflict of interest”: Jess Bravin and Siobhan Hughes of The Wall Street Journal have this report.
Jane Mayer of The New Yorker reports that “Legal Scholars Are Shocked By Ginni Thomas’s ‘Stop the Steal’ Texts; Several experts say that Thomas’s husband, the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, must recuse himself from any case related to the 2020 election.”
Dareh Gregorian of NBC News reports that “Democrats call on Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from Jan. 6 cases due to his wife’s texts; Ginni Thomas had urged then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to tell Donald Trump to ‘stand firm’ and not concede the 2020 election.”
John Kruzel of The Hill reports that “Justice Thomas discharged from hospital, faces mounting ethics scrutiny.”
And in commentary, columnist Jesse Wegman of The New York Times has an essay titled “Ginni and Clarence Thomas Have Done Enough Damage.”
“What do Ginni Thomas’ texts mean for Justice Thomas? At the Supreme Court, it’s up to him.” Joan Biskupic of CNN has this news analysis.
“The Clarence and Virginia Thomas conundrum”: Columnist Karen Tumulty has this essay online at The Washington Post.
“Wesley Hawkins, talk of the Jackson hearings, describes life after pornography sentence”: Aaron C. Davis of The Washington Post has this report.
Earlier, Davis and Spencer S. Hsu of The Washington Post had an article headlined “The child pornography case at the center of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s hearing.”
“Judge blocks attorney anti-bias rule, finding free speech threat”: David Thomas of Reuters has this report on a 78-page ruling that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued yesterday.
“AU & Bremerton School District Urge Supreme Court To Protect Religious Freedom Of Public School Students”: Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued this news release today.
You can view the Brief for Respondent filed today at this link. And you can access the other briefs filed in the case via this link.
“Race hovered over Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing”: Seung Min Kim and Marianna Sotomayor have this front page article in today’s edition of The Washington Post.
“Free speech doesn’t mean hecklers get to shut down campus debate”: Law professors Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman have this op-ed in today’s edition of The Washington Post.
And online at World magazine, Kristen Waggoner has an essay titled “‘Keep the faith’: How a hostile encounter with Yale law students emboldened me to speak the truth with kindness.”
“Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Confirmation Feels Both Pathbreaking and Hopeless”: Law professor Jamal Greene will have this essay in the Sunday Review section of this upcoming Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.
“Justice Clarence Thomas released from hospital after week-long stay”: Ariane de Vogue of CNN has this report.
“‘You are worthy’: Sen. Booker draws tears at Jackson hearing.” Aaron Morrison of The Associated Press has this report.
Lisa Mascaro of The Associated Press reports that “Supreme Court nominee’s ’empathy’ is flashpoint for Senate.”
Tierney Sneed of CNN has a report headlined “Key takeaways from the four days of confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson.”
And Jordain Carney of The Hill reports that “Jackson faces growing GOP opposition on Supreme Court.”
“Manchin says he will vote for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson”: Clare Foran of CNN has a report that begins, “West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced on Friday that he plans to vote for President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, a move that all but guarantees she will be confirmed.”
“U.S. Judicial Conference Celebrates 100th Anniversary”: The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts issued this news release today.
“Justice Gorsuch Embraces the Rule of Lenity — and Underscores Textualism’s Modest Goals”: Richard Samp has this post at the blog of the New Civil Liberties Alliance.
“How to rein in partisan Supreme Court justices”: Simon Lazarus has this post at the “FixGov” blog of the Brookings Institution.
“What If Lindsey Graham Really Wanted to Talk About Sentencing Under the Guidelines? A Close Reading of USSG §2G2.2(b)(6).” Michael C. Dorf has this post at his blog, “Dorf on Law.”
“What Working Mothers Heard in Judge Jackson’s Words: Even the eminently accomplished Ketanji Brown Jackson knows the struggle of trying to balance a career and parenthood.” Molly Jong-Fast has this essay online at The Atlantic.
“The Constitution won’t interpret itself. Ketanji Brown Jackson owes us an answer on her judicial philosophy. Supreme Court justices need more than a commitment to impartiality. Even an impartial judge must interpret the law. That requires a judicial philosophy.” Law professor Scott Douglas Gerber has this essay online at USA Today.
“What Does Clarence Thomas Know? And when did he know it?” Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner have this post at their “Steady” Substack site.
“The Story Behind That Photo of Ketanji Brown Jackson and Her Daughter; A Times photographer talks about documenting history and pride at the Supreme Court confirmation hearings”: Gina Cherelus of The New York Times has this report on her colleague Sarahbeth Maney’s remarkable photograph.
“Hasen Moving to UCLA Law”: Rick Hasen has this post at his “Election Law Blog.”
“Jackson on track for confirmation, but GOP votes in doubt”: Mary Clare Jalonick and Kevin Freking of The Associated Press has this report.
“Senate Democrats Are Never Prepared For the Fight; Two unnamed Democratic lawmakers apparently think Ketanji Brown Jackson wasn’t ‘adequately prepared’ for Republican smears they did nothing to stop”: Jay Willis has this post at Balls and Strikes.
“SCOTUS will consider war powers in case of ailing veteran claiming employment discrimination”: Mark Walsh has this report online at ABA Journal.
“Virginia Thomas urged White House chief to pursue unrelenting efforts to overturn the 2020 election, texts show; In messages to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the weeks after Election Day, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas called Biden’s victory ‘the greatest Heist of our History’ and told him that President Donald Trump should not concede”: Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of The Washington Post have this report.
And Danny Hakim, Luke Broadwater, and Jo Becker of The New York Times report that “Ginni Thomas Pressed Trump’s Chief of Staff to Overturn 2020 Vote, Texts Show; The messages between Ms. Thomas and Mark Meadows are the first evidence that she directly advised the White House in efforts to reverse the election results.”
“Republican Senators Say No Boycott Planned for Jackson Committee Vote; Supreme Court nominee on track to be confirmed next month”: Lindsay Wise, Siobhan Hughes, and Laura Kusisto of The Wall Street Journal have this report.
“Little is known about Justice Thomas’ hospitalization, part of a history of secrecy from the court; The Supreme Court is not required to be transparent about justices’ health”: Chris Geidner of Grid has this report.
“How Some Texans Are Getting Abortions Despite a Devastating Law”: Samuel Dickman and Kari White have this guest essay online at The New York Times.
“QAnon Cheers Republican Attacks on Jackson. Democrats See a Signal. Criticism of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s sentencing decisions emerged as a theme among Republicans — and renewed debate about the party’s stance toward QAnon.” David D. Kirkpatrick and Stuart A. Thompson of The New York Times have this report.
“Supreme Court silent on Justice Clarence Thomas hospitalization”: Kevin Breuninger of CNBC has this report.
“Supreme Court silent on Thomas health status”: John Kruzel of The Hill has this report.
“Corpus Linguistics in the Supreme Court”: James Phillips has this guest post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”
“U.S. Senate promotes Ghislaine Maxwell’s judge to appellate court”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report.
And Madison Alder of Bloomberg Law reports that “Maxwell Judge Nathan Confirmed to New York-Based Appeals Court.”
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate confirmed U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan (S.D.N.Y.) to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit by a vote of 49-to-47.
“Crime Focus at Jackson Hearing Most Intense Since Marshall”: Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson, Madison Alder, and Jordan S. Rubin of Bloomberg Law have this report.
Access today’s rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in argued cases: The Court today issued rulings in two argued cases.
1. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court in Houston Community College System v. Wilson, No. 20-804. You can access the oral argument via this link. Interestingly, the transcript of this oral argument begins with Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. announcing that “Justice Gorsuch has a stomach bug and, out of an abundance of caution, will participate in this morning’s arguments remotely.”
2. And Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the Court in Ramirez v. Collier, No. 21-5592. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Brett M. Kavanaugh issued concurring opinions. And Justice Clarence Thomas issued a dissenting opinion. You can access the oral argument via this link.
