Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announced two appointments to the Minnesota Supreme Court today. First, he elevated sitting associate justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea to Chief Justice, replacing outgoing Chief Justice Eric Magnuson. Second, as some of my co-bloggers have noted below, he tapped University of Minnesota law professor David Stras to fill the vacancy created by […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Splitting Up MMS to Prevent Oil Spills
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar plans to break up the Minerals Management Service in the wake of the offshore well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. The rationale is that the MMS has an internal conflict-of-interest because it is responsible for both generating revenue through offshore leases as well as protecting worker safety and the environment. […]
A New York Court?
If Elena Kagan is confirmed, the Supreme Court will have four justices from New York City, the New York Times reports. The four are a portrait of the city, each carrying distinct New York traits to Washington. “Kagan is so Manhattan, Scalia is so Queens, Ginsburg is so Brooklyn and Sotomayor is so Bronx,” said […]
Mojave Cross Removed
The Supreme Court refused to order removal of the cross overlooking the Mojave desert at issue in Salazar v. Buono. This may have prompted some vandals to take matters into their own hands, as the cross was apparently stolen and is now gone. (Hat tip: How Appealing)
Taking ObamaCare Challenges Seriously
The New York Times might be the last place one would expect a news story suggesting that constitutional objections to the recently enacted health care reform law should be taken seriously, but that’s just what we got today. The story focuses on the lawsuit by twenty state attorneys general, among others, against the health care […]
FedSoc Podcast on the Nomination and Confirmation Process
The Federalist Society has posted online a podcast on the Supreme Court nomination and confirmation process. Moderated by former Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand, it features SCOTUSBlog’s Tom Goldstein, former Associate White House Counsel Sarah Wilson and Professors William Kelley (Notre Dame) and David Stras (Minnesota). The FedSoc has also created the SCOTUSReport website as […]
Kagan’s New View of Confirmation Hearings?
In 1995, then-law professor Elena Kagan wrote that Senators should ask, and judicial nominees should answer, more probing questions about a nominee’s judicial philosophy. Her article, “Confirmation Messes, Old and New,” 62 U. Chi. L. Rev. 919 (1995), maintained that the Bork hearings’ robust give and take over constitutional law was a better model than […]
Kagan Confirmation Hearings as a “Teaching Moment”
George Mason University law professor Neomi Rao has an op-ed in Tuesday’s WSJ hoping that Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court confirmation will be “an opportunity for a teaching moment about what the court does, how it affects the lives of ordinary citizens, and how individual justices make a difference in this enterprise.” She continues: It would […]
Kagan’s Scholarship
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 10, 2010 8:31 am in Judicial Nominations, Kagan Nomination, Supreme Court
At Balkinization, Marvin Ammori and Mark Tushnet review some of Elena Kagan’s scholarship (and seem more impressed than Paul Campos and Paul Mirengoff). Ammori explores some of her First Amendment scholarship and wonders whether she is sympathetic to “corporate speech rights,” such as those embraced by the Supreme Court in Citizens United. Brian Leiter also […]
Justice Kagan I Presume?
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 9, 2010 10:25 pm in Judicial Nominations, Kagan Nomination, Supreme Court
SCOTUSBlog’s Tom Goldstein says the pick is coming tomorrow, and David Lat has reasons to think it’s Kagan (as Politico reported Friday). If Kagan is the pick, there will be no filibuster and she will be confirmed — perhaps even with 65 votes as Goldstein predicts — but there could be some bumps on the […]
Former AG Dann Pleads Guilty
The Columbus Dispatch reports that former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has pled guilty to several ethics violations, but will avoid jail time. More from the Plain Dealer, which reports Dann answered “guilty” to the charges in a Columbus courtroom Friday morning. However, he maintained his innocence while also telling the judge he took full […]
Judge Scofflaw
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports on a judge that seems to have some trouble obeying the law and paying her fines. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold has not paid more than $1,000 in fines and late fees for city of Cleveland traffic and parking tickets issued since 2006, records show. She owes […]
Polling on the Court
Some liberal commentators have sought to portray the Supreme Court as radically conservative and out-of-step with the American people. Interestingly enough, the public does not appear to agree, and does not want a more “liberal” court. On April 30, the Washington Post reported on a new Washington Post-ABC poll: Even though Obama and the Democratic […]
Sunday Song Lyric
There are lots of songs about Mom — readers contributed a bunch here. For today’s lyric, I thought about “There’s Always a Mother Waiting at Home.” Here’s the chorus: If sickness overtakes you Or old companions shake you As through this world you wander all alone When friends you haven’t any In your pocket not a […]
Are Carbs Worse than Fat?
The May 2010 Scientific American has an article summarizing recent research suggesting that refined carbohydrates could be a greater health concern than saturated fats. It begins: Eat less saturated fat: that has been the take-home message from the U.S. government for the past 30 years. But while Americans have dutifully reduced the percentage of daily […]