Tag: U.S. Supreme Court

Former Tennessee Attorney General Urges Keeping U.S. Supreme Court Limited to Nine Justices

Chris Butler

A bipartisan coalition of 17 former state attorneys general, including one from Tennessee, this week urged the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court to preserve the current number of nine U.S. Supreme Court justices. In a letter, these attorneys general proposed accomplishing that through a “Keep Nine” amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment simply states that “the Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine Justices.” The former attorneys general said this will protect the independence of the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Commentary: Democrats Repeat the Mistakes of 2016

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Donald Trump waving

As we get to the midpoint between the last presidential election and next year’s midterms, all political sides are expending extraordinary effort to ignore the 900-pound gorilla in the formerly smoke-filled room of American politics. This, of course, is Donald Trump.

The Democrats are still outwardly pretending Trump has gone and that his support has evaporated. They also pretend they can hobble him with vexatious litigation and, if necessary, destroy him again by raising the Trump-hate media smear campaign back to ear-splitting levels.

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Virginia’s Congressional Delegation Splits Along Party Lines in Vote to Legally Codify Abortion Rights

Eric Burk
People marching for women's rights

Virginia’s congressional delegation split along party lines on a vote to legally codify providers’ right to provide abortions and patients’ right to receive abortions. The Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021 passed out of the House of Representatives Friday in a 218-211 vote with no Republicans voting for, and no Democrats voting against, although two Republicans and one Democrat did not vote. The bill now faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

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Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Votes In Favor of a Racial Discrimination Study to Consider If Reparations Are Appropriate

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The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of a study Tuesday to review the history of racial discrimination and consider the merits of reparations.

The county supervisor, Juli Briskman, said the proposal was specifically related to the county’s choice to continue segregating its schools for 14 years after Brown vs. Board of Education, the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibited school segregation, Fox 5 DC reported.

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U.S. Supreme Court to Reconsider Roe v. Wade

The Center Square
United States Supreme Court building

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it would hear a case in December that directly challenges the landmark 1973 abortion case Roe v. Wade.

The high court set Dec. 1 as the date it would hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which means a decision could be reached by June 2022. 

This case features a challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks. The case especially addresses the constitutionality of abortion bans that take effect before a fetus would be viable outside the womb. 

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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr Joins U.S. Supreme Court Brief Supporting Religious Charity’s Right to Hire People Who Share Its Faith

Chris Butler

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr joined 17 states late last week in filing a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court to support the First Amendment rights of Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. The Mission is seeking Supreme Court review of a recent ruling by the Washington State Supreme Court that denied the faith-based charity’s First Amendment right to hire employees who share its faith.

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Arizona Attorney General Brnovich Files Amicus Brief to Uphold Georgia ‘Election Integrity Act’

The Center Square
Attorney General Mark Brnovich

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced that he joined a coalition of 16 states in filing an amicus brief urging the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to uphold the state’s recently-enacted “Election Integrity Act of 2021.”

The attorneys general expressed their support for Georgia’s motion to throw out the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit against the new voting law, which Georgia said was based on “political posturing rather than a serious legal challenge.”

The “Election Integrity Act of 2021,” or Senate Bill 202, passed the legislature along party lines. Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga, signed the 98-page omnibus bill on March 25.

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Arizona’s Gov. Doug Ducey and Attorney General Mark Brnovich Join SCOTUS Suit to Overturn Roe v. Wade

Rachel Alexander

Both Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich joined separate amicus curiae briefs with other governors and attorneys general in an abortion case out of Missouri that would gut Roe v. Wade by banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Ducey joined 11 other governors led by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to demand that the Supreme Court uphold the state law and undo Roe v. Wade. Brnovich signed on with 23 other attorneys general led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to ask that the court overrule Roe v. Wade because it is “erroneous, inconsistent, uneven, and unreliable.”

Ducey said in a statement, “The Constitution preserves the rights of the states by specifically enumerating the authority granted to the federal government. Unfortunately, almost 50 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to ignore the Constitution and created policy which has led to the over-politicization of this issue for decades.” 

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Appeals Court Vacates Decision Requiring Vaccines for Florida Cruise Ship Industry

Steve Stewart
Cruise ship next to dock

The U.S. Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit on Friday vacated its recent decision that allowed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention to enforce its COVID-19 safety rules related to the Florida cruise ship industry.

Just before the decision, Florida asked the United States Supreme Court to intervene and reverse the appeals court’s decision.

“I’m glad to see the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reverse its prior decision and free the cruise lines from unlawful CDC mandates, which effectively mothballed the industry for more than a year,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “The importance of this case extends beyond the cruise industry. From here on out a federal bureau will be on thin legal and constitutional ice if and when it attempts to exercise such sweeping authority that is not explicitly delineated by law.”

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U.S. Supreme Court Sides with Student in Free Speech Case

The Center Square
U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of free speech rights for students outside of the classroom in a decision Wednesday.

The court sided with former Mahanoy Area High School student and cheerleader Brandi Levy in the case, formally known as Mahanoy Area School District v B.L., with a 8-1 decision in her favor. Mahanoy Area High School is located in Pennsylvania.

Levy, upset that she had not made her school’s varsity cheer team, posted on the social media site Snapchat a simple message with explicit language expressing her frustration.

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Arizona Attorney General Brnovich Leads Challenge at SCOTUS Related to Hobbs

Rachel Alexander
Mark Brnovich

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed an amicus curiae brief Monday in the U.S. Supreme Court with 22 states signing on, demanding the court overrule a decision by the Sixth Circuit allowing state officials to surrender in lawsuits challenging state laws they don’t want to defend.  The move comes as Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is refusing to appeal adverse decisions striking down Arizona’s elections laws.

The brief relates to Kentucky v. EMW Women’s Surgical Center, where Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear failed to appeal a court decision striking down a Kentucky law banning dismemberment abortions during the second trimester of pregnancy. Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron is trying to intervene in order to defend the law.

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Obamacare Lawsuit Backed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody Rejected by U.S. Supreme Court

Casey Owens

The U.S. Supreme Court decided Thursday to uphold a 2017 provision part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, that was challenged by Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody, and 17 other states.

The provision nullified an “individual mandate” or “minimum essential coverage” established in a 2012 court decision that was intended to put a tax penalty on Americans who did not purchase health insurance or enroll in Medicaid.

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Georgia U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson Insists Packing U.S. Supreme Court Will Attract More Public Support

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA-04) said members of the public should prepare for several Congressional hearings where he and other elected officials will make their case for increasing the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices. Johnson chairs the U.S. House of Representatives’ Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Staff at the Decatur-based website Decaturish.cominterviewed Johnson this week in a question-and-answer-style format. The congressman said expanding the number of seats on the U.S. Supreme Court “will…gather support as we make the case for reform in the justice system.”

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Chincoteague Church Tries Again with Lawsuit Against Northam for 2020 Capacity Limits

Eric Burk

Chincoteague-Island-based Lighthouse Fellowship Church (LFC) has filed a second opening brief in a lawsuit against Governor Ralph Northam over 10-person capacity limits instituted in Spring 2020. Although Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Arenda Wright Allen ruled that the church couldn’t sue the governor and that the case was moot since Northam had ended the capacity restriction, Liberty Counsel argues on behalf of the church that Wright was mistaken.

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U.S. Supreme Court Overturns California’s Restrictions on In-Home Religious Activities

The Center Square
Group of people singing at a worship service

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled late Friday that California’s COVID-19 restrictions on in-home religious gatherings, limiting worship to families from a maximum of three households, could not continue.

In the 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court reversed a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling allowing California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s limits on people exercising their First Amendment rights to freely practice religion at home.

In its written order, the court noted that it was the fifth time it has “rejected the Ninth Circuit’s analysis of California’s COVID restrictions on religious exercise.”

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Fifteen Secretaries of State Endorse Keep Nine Amendment

Jason M. Reynolds
Supreme Court of the United States

A group of 15 secretaries of state this week issued their support for the “Keep Nine Amendment” recently introduced in Congress, marking the latest victory for the organization seeking to preserve the independence of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Keep Nine Amendment said in a statement that the 15 sent the letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader of the House Kevin McCarthy.

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Georgia General Assembly Resolution Asks Congress Not to Increase Number of U.S. Supreme Court Justices

Chris Butler
Supreme Court of the United States

Members of the Georgia House of Representatives have submitted a resolution that asks the U.S. Congress “to reject any and all actions to increase the number of justices on the United States Supreme Court.” Staff for U.S. Sen.-elect Jon Ossoff and U.S. Sen.-elect Raphael Warnock, both Democrats scheduled to soon represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate, did not return The Georgia Star News’ requests for comment on the matter.

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Tennessee Will Support Texas in U.S. Supreme Court Election Lawsuit Against Four Other States, Attorney General Announces

Chris Butler

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery announced Wednesday that he will support an Amicus Brief supporting the Texas election lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court. As The Tennessee Star reported Tuesday, Texas officials filed a lawsuit directly to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the election results in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argues that officials in those four states changed election rules without legislative consent, thus violating the U.S. Constitution.

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Commentary: A Deep-Dive into the Other Deep State – Public Sector Unions

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by Edward Ring   When government fails, public-sector unions win. When society fragments, public-sector unions consolidate their power. When citizenship itself becomes less meaningful, and the benefits of American citizenship wither, government unions offer an exclusive solidarity. Government unions insulate their members from the challenges facing ordinary private citizens. On every major issue of our time; globalization, immigration, climate change, the integrity of our elections, crime and punishment, regulations, government spending, and fiscal reform, the interests and political bias of public-sector unions is inherently in conflict with the public interest. Today, there may be no greater core threat to the freedom and prosperity of the American people. In the age of talk radio, the Tea Party movement, internet connectivity, and Trump, Americans finally are mobilizing against the uniparty to take back their nation. Yet the threat of public-sector unions typically is a sideshow, when it ought to occupy center stage. They are the greatest menace to American civilization that nobody seems to be talking about. Ask the average American what the difference is between a government union, and a private sector union, and you’re likely to be met with an uncomprehending stare. That’s too bad, because the differences are profound.…

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Opponents of Gay Marriage Try Again in Court to Argue Tennessee’s Marriage Laws Are Invalid

Jason M. Reynolds

A motion was filed Monday in the Chancery Court in Williamson County asking the court to set aside its earlier judgment dismissing the claims of five Williamson County residents who say Tennessee should not issue marriage licenses until a new statute is passed. The Motion for Relief from Judgment asks the court to set aside its earlier judgment on June 14, 2016, dismissing the claims of five Williamson County residents related to the administration of Tennessee’s marriage licensing statutes by the Williamson County clerk following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Former State Sen. David Fowler said in a press release that he filed the motion as attorney for the Constitutional Government Defense Fund, the legal arm of the Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT). At least three of the plaintiffs are ministers at Middle Tennessee churches who say that Obergefell means Tennessee should not issue marriage licenses until a new statute is passed, according to Courthouse News Service. George Grant, Larry Tomczak and Lyndon Allen filed a lawsuit on Jan. 21, 2016 against Elaine Anderson, clerk of Williamson County. The other plaintiffs are Lyndon Allen and Tim McCorkle. The U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision overturned…

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U.S. Supreme Court Case out of Tennessee Could Spark Changes in Alcohol Sales Industry

Chris Butler

Members of the U.S. Supreme Court are hearing a case that originates out of Tennessee involving the alcohol sales industry, and the outcome could have implications nationwide, according to Forbes. Specifically, the court could rule on whether states can pass laws that protect in-state businesses in the alcohol industry from outside competitors. Oral arguments in Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Blair were to begin last week, Forbes reported. “The court will consider a Tennessee law that limits liquor licenses to residents who’ve lived in the state for at least two years,” Forbes reported. “Renewing the license, which expires after just one year, requires residing in Tennessee for no less than 10 consecutive years. As a result, both those living outside Tennessee and those newly arrived in the Volunteer State are completely barred from obtaining a liquor license, which limits competition for long-established incumbent businesses.” The story profiled Doug and Mary Ketchum, who run a small liquor store in Memphis. They moved to Tennessee from Utah. Total Wine & More, a larges independent wine retailer, was interested in the Tennessee market at the same time the Ketchums were seeking their license, Forbes said. “With nearly 200 stores nationwide and…

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Carol Swain Commentary: President Trump’s Ingenious Plan to Get the Supreme Court to Rule on the Constitutionality of Birthright Citizenship

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by Dr. Carol M. Swain   On October 30, President Donald Trump announced plans to issue an executive order ending the practice of giving U.S. citizenship to children of illegal aliens. By taking this bold action, the President is poised to make history by forcing the U.S. Supreme Court to issue its first-ever clarification on whether the USA-born children of illegal aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship. Following the President’s lead, Senator Lindsey Graham expressed his support by stating his plans to file legislation addressing the matter. Birthright citizenship comes from the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Although some scholars argue it would take a constitutional amendment to end the practice, others point to statutory language and the text of the 14th Amendment to argue that Congress has the authority to address the matter. Congress’s authority, they argue, is found in the language that implies anyone not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States is excluded from automatic citizenship. The “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” clause is understood to mean…

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US Supreme Court Turns Away Challenge to Trump’s Border Wall

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed a challenge by three conservation groups to the authority of President Donald Trump’s administration to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a victory for Trump who has made the wall a centerpiece of his hard-line immigration policies. The justices’ declined to hear the groups’ appeal of a ruling by a federal judge in California rejecting their claims that the administration had pursued border wall projects without complying with applicable environmental laws. The groups are the Center for Biological Diversity, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and Defenders of Wildlife. Their lawsuits said construction operations would harm plants, rare wildlife habitats, threatened coastal birds like the snowy plover and California gnatcatcher, and other species such as fairy shrimp and the Quino checkerspot butterfly. Trump has clashed with U.S. lawmakers, particularly Democrats, over his plans for an extensive and costly border wall that he has called necessary to combat illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Congress, controlled by the president’s fellow Republicans, has not yet provided him the amount of money he wants. The president has threatened a government shutdown unless lawmakers provide $5 billion in funding. On Saturday, Trump said congressional leaders sought a two-week…

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Commentary: The U.S. Constitution Allows For The Appointment Of Temporarily ‘Acting’ Officials Without Senate Confirmation

Gregory Watson

In its Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, the United States Constitution provides that the President of the United States: …by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States whose Appointments are not otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law…” This means that, by a simple majority vote of the 100-member U.S. Senate, the President may nominate — and the Senate may confirm — various appointees within the Executive branch and within the Judicial branch of the federal government. In the aftermath of the November 6, 2018, general election — and the Republican Party enjoying a net gain of three seats in the U.S. Senate — President Donald Trump should experience less difficulty, during the upcoming 116th Congress (2019-2020), with how his nominees are received in the nation’s highest legislative body, than had been the case during the 115th Congress. But not every appointment requires action by the U.S. Senate — regardless of whether that body is officially in session or is in recess between sessions. The Constitution’s Article II, Section 2, Clause 3, reads…

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Commentary: The Migrant ‘Caravan’ Marching Northbound To Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas, and What The U.S. Constitution Has To Say About It

Gregory Watson

The United States Constitution does contain a few references relative to immigration and naturalization as well as to persons seeking to enter the United States in contravention of its laws — whether violently or non-violently and whether singly or in the form of a human tsunami. In its Article I, Section 8, Clause 4, the Constitution specifically grants Congress the power “To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization….” By expressly allocating this capacity to Congress, the Constitution seeks to prevent the confusion which would inevitably result if an individual state could itself bestow U.S. citizenship upon a person not born within the boundaries of that — or any other — state. Construing Clause 4, the United States Supreme Court, in the 1892 case of Boyd v. Nebraska ex rel. Thayer, defined “naturalization” as “…the act of adopting a foreigner, and clothing him with the privileges of a native [U.S.] citizen.” In Clause 11 of that same Article I, Section 8, the Constitution authorizes Congress “To declare War…and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water….” Interpreting Clause 11, the High Court ruled in the 1795 case of Penhallow v. Doane that the war power of the United States government is…

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What The United States Constitution Really Says About ‘Birthright Citizenship’

Gregory Watson
Constitution Series 14th Amendment

In Section 1 of its 14th Amendment, the U.S. Constitution reads in pertinent part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Proposed by Congress in 1866 — and deemed by a procedurally-rare subsequent vote of Congress to have been validly ratified by the sufficient number of state legislatures in 1868 — the 14th Amendment is among the Constitution’s lengthiest and it touches upon a number of different topics each of which could stand alone. Authorship of the above-quoted words has been attributed to United States Senator Jacob Howard of Michigan. This particular provision of the 14th Amendment is generally acknowledged to overturn the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the now-infamous 1857 case of Dred Scott v. Sandford in which it had been determined that African-Americans born in the United States — to parents likewise born within the United States — could not be deemed to be American citizens. Often overlooked by persons professing to be in-the-know about the 14th Amendment, and what it does — or does not — convey about birth citizenship are the key words…

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Commentary: The U.S. Constitution Narrowly Prevailed Over Mob Rule And Character-Assassination

Gregory Watson

On October 6, 2018, now-Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh was formally confirmed by the U.S. Senate — in a rare Saturday session — with a slender vote of 50 yeas and 48 nays in the 100-member body. Both of Tennessee’s Senators, Republicans Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, cast their votes in favor of Kavanaugh joining the highest court in the land. The last time that someone gained membership onto the High Court by such a close margin was on May 12, 1881, when Thomas Stanley Matthews (nominated by President James Garfield) squeaked by with 24 yeas and 23 nays in the Senate.  Matthews went on to distinguish himself on the Court as a foe of racial discrimination when he wrote the Opinion in the 1886 case of Yick Wo v. Hopkins, striking down the City of San Francisco’s then-policies of restricting the ability of Chinese immigrants in that city — and placing extraneous procedural obstacles in their path — to establish businesses there, thus infringing upon the federal Constitution’s 14th Amendment. A short time after this past Saturday’s 50-48 vote, Chief Justice John Roberts administered the official oath to Kavanaugh as the 114th Justice of the Supreme Court, thereby…

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Phil Bredesen Afraid to Admit He’d Side With Schumer to Delay Vote on SCOTUS Nominee Until After Midterm Elections?

Chris Alto
Phil Bredesen, Chuck Schumer

On the heels of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announcing his retirement, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), called for delaying the Senate vote on the President’s nominee until after the November mid-term elections. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), who is running to succeed Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), issued a statement shortly after Kennedy made his plans known and indicated her intent to support President Trump’s nominee. The Tennessee Star asked Democrat Phil Bredesen who is also running to succeed Corker, a simple question – “Do you agree with Chuck Schumer that no vote should be held on the SCOTUS nominee until after midterms?” Whether out of loyalty to Schumer who personally recruited Bredesen to run for the Senate, or because he is afraid to alienate potential votes, Bredesen had no response. Bredesen has gone out of his way to avoid giving direct answers to some of the more defining issues in the November elections including whether he would vote for a Constitutional originalist like Neil Gorsuch and whether he agrees with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding President Trump’s travel ban.          

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Supreme Court Lifts Ruling on Christian Florist Barronelle Stutzman, Who Refused to Decorate Same-Sex Wedding for Long-time Customers

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Barronelle Stutzman

Reuters   After siding with a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sent back to lower courts a similar dispute over a florist who declined to create flower arrangements for a same-sex wedding based on her Christian beliefs. The justices threw out a 2017 ruling by Washington state’s Supreme Court that Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in the city of Richland, about 200 miles (320 km) southeast of Seattle, had violated the state’s anti-discrimination law and a consumer protection measure. The court ordered the top Washington state court to revisit the case in light of its ruling on June 4 in favor of Colorado baker Jack Phillips, who similarly cited his Christian beliefs in refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Stutzman in 2013 refused to provide the arrangements to Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed, who were getting married after the state legalized same-sex marriage the prior year. She was hit with a $1,000 fine and directed to make floral arrangements for same-sex weddings if she does so for opposite-sex weddings. In the baker case, the court ruled that a Colorado state commission had…

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FACT’S David Fowler: Supreme Court Trampled States’ Rights In Ruling Creating Birth Certificate Rights For Same-Sex Couples

Wendy Wilson
U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Arkansas must put the names of same-sex couples on children’s birth certificates, a decision David Fowler, president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, said reflects the high court “again eroding the rights of the states.” Justice Neil Gorsuch dissented in an opinion joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The decision reversed an Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that upheld a state law defining the other spouse as the woman’s husband and presumed father. Alabama’s highest court had said “it does not violate equal protection to acknowledge basic biological truths.” The plaintiffs in the case before the U.S. Supreme Court were two married lesbian couples who had children through anonymous sperm donation. One woman in each couple gave birth and wanted her partner to be listed as her spouse, but the state would only issue certificates with the birth mother’s name. The presumption of motherhood for lesbian partners is “irrational, illogical and impossible,” Fowler told The Tennessee Star. Fowler said that when the high court moved to “deconstruct marriage” in a 2015 ruling that struck down state bans on same-sex marriage, it “started the process of deconstructing the family as a whole.” Birth…

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ACLJ Asking People to Sign Petition to Confirm Neil Gorsuch to Supreme Court

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  The conservative American Center for Law and Justice is asking people to sign a petition in support of confirming Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. President Trump’s nominee is facing a Democratic filibuster and Republicans in the Senate are talking about using the so-called “nuclear option” to stop it. That would involve changing Senate rules so that a nominee can be confirmed with a majority vote instead of meeting a 60-vote threshold. This is the first time in history that a nominee to the Supreme Court has faced a partisan filibuster. “We must replace Justice Scalia with a staunch conservative,” the ACLJ says on its website. “The next Supreme Court justice will likely be the determinative vote on the most monumental issues of our time: abortion, religious liberty, national security, and free speech.” The left has launched “a scorched-earth campaign to defeat him,” according to the ACLJ. “They don’t want a proven conservative on the court.” Meanwhile, former President Obama’s group Organizing for Action is asking supporters to sign a petition to stop Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from changing the Senate rules to confirm Gorsuch. “This is a reckless tactic that could ruin the checks and balances…

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