Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) just denounced Supreme Court Justice John Roberts’ disingenuous umpire theory of judging — his oft-quoted statement that the role of a judge is just to call “balls and strikes” as he sees them — with a harsh critique of what’s turned out to be remarkable “judicial More…
Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) just wisely suggested that the phrase “judicial activism” be dropped from the lexicon of judicial nomination hearings, where it’s so frequently batted around to attack one side or another.
“I suggest we be wary of the phrase ‘judicial activism,’” he said. “So many of the rulings More…
Senator Orrin Hatch just tipped us off as to how Republicans intend to fight the Sotomayor nomination: As a Supreme Court justice, he warned, she’d be in a very different position than on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Rather than simply follow precedent, as is the role of an More…
According to CNN’s Peter Hamby, that’s what the protester who just got ejected from the hearing room was yelling.
What a difference a chairman makes. When he ran the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter (then-R-, now-D-Pa.) dealt in a genteel manner with hot-button issues. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is firing the culture war cannon as fast as he can load it. America’s “traditional system” is under threat. The Court More…
Ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), following the introduction of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor by Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), warned that empathy is prejudice, identity is discrimination, and every statement ever made by a nominee can and will be used against her.
In his opening statement, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) noted that Thurgood Marshall, despite the fact that he graduated first in his law school class, was a highly successful U.S. Solicitor General and had a long list of extraordinary achievements, was grilled during his Supreme Court nomination with More…
The news is already abuzz with the start of the confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s first nominee to the United States Supreme Court.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is getting all sorts of suggested questions from law professors today, ranging from the role of federalism in our More…
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