Concluding her Senate floor speech in behalf of Judge Brett Kavanaugh—her vote for him was the decisive one—Republican Susan Collins expressed “her fervent hope” that he “will work to lessen the divisions in the Supreme Court so that we have fewer 5-4 decisions and so that public confidence in our…
Hosted by Charlie Sykes.
Hosted by Charlie Sykes.
Hosted by Charlie Sykes.
Senate Judiciary chairman has a strong hand to keep things on schedule.
Hosted by Charlie Sykes.
With a big suit against Harvard looming, public opinion continues to disapprove of race-based college admissions.
On Monday night, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced that Christine Blasey Ford would have the opportunity to testify at a public hearing next Monday about her accusation that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two were high-school students, and Kavanaugh will have a chance to…
Is Trump's adviser going rogue, or have we seen this show before?
It’s stupider than you can imagine.
Washington is full of people who make self-assured pronouncements about what will happen next week or next year. We often caution against this tendency, thinking as we do of presidential candidate John F. Kennedy’s argument to his aides for picking the unscrupulous Lyndon Johnson as his running…
On Monday, July 9, President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh is a serious and respected federal judge with a well-thought-through constitutionalist orientation. Based on what we know now, he deserves enthusiastic support from all who…
Democrats will go after him by fair means or foul. Mostly foul.
Subtlety not being Donald Trump’s customary approach to his job, his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was a surprisingly artful political play.
Plus, Jon Kyl the sherpa.
Hosted by Jim Swift.
Hosted by Jonathan V. Last.
The Maine senator is one of two pro-choice Republicans whom Democrats hope to sway.
Hosted by Charlie Sykes.
The president chooses an originalist who would give conservatives a solid majority.
Hosted by Charlie Sykes.
Today on the Daily Standard podcast, editor-in-chief Stephen Hayes and reporter Andrew Egger discuss the latest from Washington, including the resignation of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, Trump's latest defense of Vladimir Putin, and the president's upcoming Supreme Court nomination announcement.
The SCOTUS shortlister is recalled as ‘remarkably fair-minded and smart.'
Hosted by Charlie Sykes.
Hosted by Charlie Sykes.
As the list of possible SCOTUS picks narrows to rumored likelies, what about the women?
Democrats will go to war against Trump’s court pick, without much hope of success.
Incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill already voted against Gorsuch, and Josh Hawley plans to exploit that.
Hosted by Charlie Sykes.
Plus, why dogs and politics are a dumb mix.
Here are five judges who could potentially replace the retiring Anthony Kennedy.
With Anthony Kennedy’s retirement, the chief justice will likely move into the swing seat.
SCOTUS ruled in Janus such dues were unconstitutional. Based on past examples, unions can expect a financial hit.
Remembering when unions, now staring down an existential SCOTUS defeat, lost religion.
SCOTUS didn't touch the First Amendment issue, but Kennedy's decision smacked down anti-Christian hostility
SCOTUS homes in on Colorado’s contempt for Jack Phillips, not the First Amendment and free expression.
The president got quite an education last week from the Supreme Court and the 7th Circuit.
At oral arguments Tuesday for the case NIFLA v. Becerra, a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court seemed skeptical about the constitutionality of a California law that requires pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to advertise for "free or low-cost" government-funded abortions.
The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday morning in a case set to undo a seminal 40-year-old precedent that required all public sector employees to pay their union a “fair share fee” whether or not they’d elected to join.
"If unions are so good and doing such a great job, why do they have to force people to pay them?" That’s the question Mark Janus, an Illinois child services specialist, posed to assembled reporters on Friday. It’s the Supreme Court who will give him an answer. His case will be heard on Monday.
Lawmakers are still waiting on the Trump administration to advise the Supreme Court on a case that, if taken up, would potentially allow American victims of Palestinian terrorism to collect a reversed multimillion dollar judgment, sources on and off Capitol Hill told TWS.
The upcoming Supreme Court case most threatening to the Democratic establishment will revisit the 40-year-old ruling that created public-sector unions as we know them today.
Bhavini Bhakta loved her union—until she got to know it. As a fifth-grade teacher in southern California’s Monrovia Unified School District, she put her trust in her local chapter. But after Bhakta’s principal had to fire and rehire her six years in a row because of a nonsensical seniority law, she…
Michael Warren is on vacation this week, and Andrew Egger is filling in for him on White House Watch. Michael will be back in the saddle on July 3.
After Neil Gorsuch was confirmed, most of America moved on to Russia, North Korea, the tax plan, and Rodrigo Duterte. But a small universe of Republican legal thinkers moved on, instead, to war-gaming the next Supreme Court vacancy.
Today on the Daily Standard podcast, frequent contributor and Hoover Institution scholar Adam J. White discusses Justice Gorsuch's relatively aggressive start to his term on the court, as well as a key religious liberty case coming this week.
The DAILY STANDARD Podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on his recent story "How Mitch McConnell Won the Battle to Confirm Gorsuch."
One of the most tedious aspects of our politics is partisan battles over legislative procedure. To hear each side tell it, the opposition never hesitates to employ unprecedented tactics to further narrow political goals at great cost to the republic. Such arguments are almost always disingenuous.…
President Donald Trump appears to have been mugged by reality this week following Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad's chemical-weapons attack on his own people. The result? Assad's regime—and in particular, the airbase in central Syria where his attack was launched—got a swift dose of reality in the…
One of the most tedious aspects of our politics is partisan battles over legislative procedure. To hear each side tell it, the opposition never hesitates to employ unprecedented tactics to further narrow political goals at great cost to the republic. Such arguments are almost always disingenuous.…
The DAILY STANDARD Podcast with legal expert and Hoover Institution research fellow Adam J. White on the end of of the judicial filibuster.
Literary editor Philip Terzian recounts the modern history of SCOTUS fights and concludes that, while it may be Republicans who finally end the filibuster tradition for Supreme Court nominees, the end was engineered by the Democrats.
It now appears increasingly likely that 41 or more Democratic senators will take the unprecedented step this week of filibustering a qualified Supreme Court nominee. As William Kristol wrote in the following WEEKLY STANDARD editorial, Senate Republicans shouldn't hesitate to defend the Constitution…
The impending filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch continues apace, but one Democrat is on record questioning whether Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer's plan to return the favor after the Senate GOP stymied Merrick Garland's nomination will backfire.
The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with legal expert and Hoover Institution research fellow Adam J. White on the Gorsuch nomination, the forthcoming Democratic filibuster, and a potential deal to restore the filibuster for other judicial nominees as a trade for a Gorsuch confirmation.
"Hard cases," it's often said, "make bad law." They also make for bad legal commentary, especially in the week of a Supreme Court confirmation hearing, where a nominee's critics try to fault him for failing to side with sympathetic litigants—even when the judge was just following the laws that…
The Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare is either quite nearly dead or right on-course to become law—depending on which Republican you ask. President Trump's Tuesday trip to Capitol Hill seemed designed to either cajole or intimidate on-the-fence House Republicans to support the bill.…
The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on the Gorsuch confirmation hearings, and the future of the American Health Care Act.
In case you didn't notice, the star performer in the Judiciary Committee today was the nominee himself, Judge Neil Gorsuch.
In this week's Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court, look for Democrats to criticize Gorsuch for being too deferential to the Trump Administration—and, at the same time, for not being deferential enough to it.
His long trek through more than 70 senators' offices behind him, Judge Neil Gorsuch now comes before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary knowing at least two things for sure. First, he can expect Democratic members to offer uplifting discourses on the vital principle of judicial independence. And…
While activity and controversy have consumed the White House over the past few weeks—the rollout of the health-care bill, President Trump's claims he was wire-tapped by President Obama, the travel ban's legal troubles, and the unveiling of the Trump budget—Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has…
President Donald Trump's nomination of Neil Gorsuch to fill the late Antonin Scalia's Supreme Court seat is bound to provoke yet another political brawl. The conventional wisdom is that this is a bad thing. The increasingly bitter fights over the High Court are a sign that our system of government…
In nominating Neil Gorsuch to be the next Supreme Court justice, President Trump could not have found a judge who more starkly dramatizes the constitutional crossroads at which the nation now finds itself. For eight years, the Obama administration and its proponents pressed their progressive…
President Donald Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to fill the late Antonin Scalia's Supreme Court seat is bound to provoke yet another political brawl. The conventional wisdom is that this is a bad thing. The increasingly bitter fights over the High Court are a sign that our system of government…
The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with senior writer Jay Cost on the fight over Neil Gorsuch.
When Donald Trump released his first list of potential Supreme Court nominees last May, Neil Gorsuch's name was not on it. The inner circle of Trump's advisers were aware of Gorsuch's lofty reputation as a judge. Still, they kept him off the list because they hadn't fully studied his judicial…
In nominating federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, President Trump has made an excellent choice. Assuming there is nothing in Gorsuch’s record that is disqualifying, the Senate should confirm him posthaste.
When Donald Trump released his first list of potential Supreme Court nominees last May, Neil Gorsuch’s name was not on it. The inner circle of Trump's advisers were aware of Gorsuch's lofty reputation as a judge. Still, they kept him off the list because they hadn't fully studied his judicial…
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer isn’t a happy warrior. He loves the spotlight, but everyone's paying more attention to his colleagues Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. He hoped to be majority leader, but Republicans surprised most observers by holding the Senate on Election Day. He…
The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with deputy online editor Chris Deaton on President Trump's new SCOTUS pick and his story on the Senate prospects for Neil Gorsuch's nomination.
Conservatives and Republicans appear to be in nearly universal agreement: In nominating Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, President Donald Trump has hit a home run. Immediately after Trump made the announcement Tuesday night from the White House, my email inbox was flooded with statements of…
After the successful effort last year by Senate Republicans to deny Merrick Garland, Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, a confirmation vote, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told Americans "...we're not playing tit for tat here. We want a mainstream nominee because that's the right thing…
The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with frequent contributor and Hoover Institution scholar Adam J. White on why Neil Gorsuch, Trump's pick for the vacant Supreme Court seat, is the best Trump could make.
President Trump announced Tuesday night his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
It was a difficult weekend for the Trump administration as it sought to implement and defend its most controversial executive order to date, the travel ban. Fortunately for Trump, there's a chance to reset from the executive order fiasco with Tuesday night's announcement of his nominee for the…
The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with editor William Kristol on the Trump transition.
Soon after Justice Antonin Scalia died on February 13, the battle over who should fill the Supreme Court vacancy commenced. Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, took the position that it shouldn’t be President Barack Obama but the next president—whoever Americans choose—who…
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recent outburst against Donald Trump has been roundly criticized by people of all political stripes. Insofar as her comments suggested a clear bias about cases that could come before the Supreme Court, they were clearly a mistake and a departure from the norms of Court…
The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with the Hoover Institution's Adam J. White on the Supreme Court's rulings on President Obama's amnesty executive orders and affirmative action.
Of the 54 Senate Republicans, only 2—Mark Kirk of Illinois and Susan Collins of Maine—support holding hearings this election year on President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Kirk, but not Collins, also says he would consider voting for the nominee, making…
Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who sits on the Senate Judiciary committee, put it plainly. “There'll be no hearing, no votes until the next president," Graham said Tuesday as he left the first weekly GOP conference meeting since the death of Antonin Scalia.
To hear some on the left tell it, the Supreme Court would be hamstrung if it had to function for a year or more without a ninth justice. What to do in the event of a 4-4 tie? This would not have been viewed as a problem, however, by America's Founders, who created a Court with an even number of…
President Obama says he soon will nominate someone to fill the vacancy opened by the unexpected death of Supreme Court associate justice Antonin Scalia. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell says his chamber will block any nominee the president sends up.
"It is safer to try to understand the low in the light of the high than the high in the light of the low. In doing the latter one necessarily distorts the high, whereas in doing the former one does not deprive the low of the freedom to reveal itself fully as what it is."
A few days before Justice Antonin Scalia passed away, I stumbled upon a monograph published in 1979 by the American Enterprise Institute, a debate titled "A Constitutional Convention: How Well Would It Work?" The subject matter, though interesting, paled in comparison to the names of the…
The literary critic Edmund Wilson was ambivalent about the legacy of Abraham Lincoln, but he didn't doubt Lincoln's genius as a writing man. "Alone among American Presidents," Wilson wrote, "it is possible to imagine Lincoln, grown up in a different milieu, becoming a distinguished writer of a not…
Vice President Joe Biden does not want to serve on the Supreme Court. But, he signaled to MSNBC, it would be hard for him to pass on the opportunity if offered by the president of the United States.
The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with Adam J. White, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, on replacing the late Justice Scalia.
First published November 13, 2006, and re-published today as news breaks of Antonin Scalia's passing:
Is John Roberts a good judge? Ten years ago, President Bush appointed him chief justice of the United States. His anniversary, coinciding with the Supreme Court’s reconvening last month, naturally caused lawyers, scholars, and politicians to reflect upon his legacy on the Supreme Court.
Republicans debated on the eve of Constitution Day, and did our founding document more justice than usual. The Republican debate on CNN was full of impressive performances by nearly all the candidates—and most who addressed the Constitution did so in a less clichéd way than they typically do.
When Chief Justice John Roberts administers the oath of office to the next president, he will be flanked by three, and almost four, octogenarians: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg (83), Antonin Scalia (80), Anthony Kennedy (80), and Stephen Breyer (77). The next president will likely have the…
For political observers, the story of the Supreme Court’s recently concluded term was the clash of two great colliding forces. On one side stood the Court’s always-unified liberal bloc, fortified by the apostasies of Republican-appointed Justice Anthony Kennedy and sometimes Chief Justice John…
Over at the blog Legal Insurrection, law professor William Jacobson reminds us of this answer Elena Kagan gave to Senator John Cornyn in her confirmation hearings to be Solicitor General in 2009:
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with frequent contributor Adam White on today's Supreme Court rulings.
Among the first cases heard by the Supreme Court in its new term is one from Michigan. The state stands accused of violating the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee by requiring equal treatment in public-university admissions decisions. Michigan has committed no such violation. Yet to judge…
WEEKLY STANDARD executive editor Terry Eastland reviews the Supreme Court's decisions in Fisher v. University of Texas, United States v. Windsor, and Hollingsworth v. Perry.
President Obama stopped by the press cabin on Air Force One, as the presidential plane made its way to South Africa. While there, the press had a chance to ask the president about major issues concerning Americans: the scandals, the controversial Supreme Court decisions, immigration, and many…
Last month, in City of Arlington, Texas v. Federal Communications Commission, the Supreme Court’s five judicial conservatives divided on a question concerning the relationship between federal courts and federal regulators. Justice Scalia wrote the decision for a majority that included Justice…
Abigail Fisher, a white applicant to the University of Texas, contends that the university, in giving preference to minority applicants while rejecting her, discriminated against her unlawfully because of her color. The Supreme Court will hear the case this fall; it is likely that Fisher will…
As is abundantly demonstrated by the commentary on the June 28 decision upholding Obamacare, the drama of constitutional decision-making by the Supreme Court is irresistible. Such a significant issue decided, in effect, by one man! And that man, Chief Justice John Roberts—is he a lawless sellout to…
The solicitor general had an interesting morning. He argued before the Supreme Court's nine justices that Obamacare's individual mandate isn't a "tax"—even though he'll argue tomorrow that the mandate is a "tax." And then the government's top litigator invoked the possibility of incompetent…
The Associated Press:
James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal flags this AP report from the weekend about the growing impatience of the left with Ruth Bader-Ginsburg:
"My question is, what the hell was the Secret Service agent driving the limo doing drinking a Slurpee while on duty?"