The Godfather Part SCOTUS: Preparing for Democrats to “go to the mattresses” over Trump pick
There is unhinged.
And then there is NY Times Editorial Board unhinged.
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Amy Coney Barrett Tag
Schumer: Trump should pick Merrick Garland to replace Justice Kennedy, and also unicorns
As the July 9 date for Trump to announce his pick to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy nears, there is a vicious multi-front war evolving.
Of course, Democrats are attacking every likely nominee, with the anti-Catholic bigotry against Amy Coney Barrett the most prominent. Barrett would be the most finger-in-the-liberals-eye pick, and not just because of her Catholicism. She has seven (7) children -- that is a provocation in the minds of liberal feminists and the people who love them that cannot be abided.
Sorry Haters, But Amy Barrett is Not Part of a Cult
Amy Coney Barrett faced the wrath of anti-Catholics during her confirmation hearings for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
The same anti-Catholic rhetoric has emerged once again as her name is rumored to be on the short list to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Democrat Senate candidate and conspiracy theorist Richard Painter insists Barrett belongs to a cult called People of Praise.
A Dem fight over Amy Barrett’s Catholicism may be just what Trump wants
Neil Gorsuch was an incredibly safe pick for Trump. Despite the plaintive wails of Democrats about a "stolen" seat, they didn't have much with which to go after Gorsuch on the merits.
Nonetheless Democrats filibustered Gorsuch, forcing Republican's to play the nuclear option for a SCOTUS nominee (as Democrats did in 2013 for all lower courts and made clear they would do if Hillary won and they regained the Senate).
Trump’s ability to reshape the judiciary may be overstated (Part 1 – Appellate Courts)
Year One of President Trump's much-vaunted "judge story" was far more successful than anyone could have expected.
Trump nominated and confirmed more appellate circuit court judges in his first year than any modern president. His judges were, on average, just 50 years old and all of them were well-credentialed conservatives. Several are potential SCOTUS nominees.
Trump adds 5 conservative judges to shortlist of potential SCOTUS nominees
I noted yesterday that Chuck Grassley finally appears ready to clear the backlog in Judiciary Committee hearings on Appeals and District court judicial nominees, by preventing withholding of "blue slips" from becoming de facto filibusters, Chuck Grassley rips up “blue slip” stall, Al Franken left groping for alternative delay tactic.
It then will be up to Mitch McConnell to get nominees floor votes, and to overcome Democrat stalling tactics to draw out each nominee, even the ones they don't oppose. The goal has to be:
Some worry about anti-Catholic bigotry against 7th Cir. nominee Amy Barrett
Notre Dame law professor Amy Barrett has been nominated to the Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Barrett is a former Scalia law clerk.
Barrett's nomination hearing in early September generated a lot of attention when Democrat Senators attacked her for being a religious Christian. The National Review reported at the time:
Grassley: Comey Wrote Clinton Exoneration Statement Before Email Investigation Ended
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray to inform him that the committee found in unredacted parts in transcripts that former FBI Director James Comey decided to write a statement to exonerate then-presumptive Democrat presidential candidate before the FBI finished its investigation into her emails.
While you were focused on COMEY, Trump nominated another group of CONSERVATIVE Judges
It's understandable why everyone is focused on The Greatest Show on Earth, the appearance of James Comey before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, June 8, 2017.
But barring some surprise testimony not in Comey's prepared statement, the hearing will merely confirm "bad" news for Trump already leaked to the press - none of which rises to the level of criminality. And there are some good aspects of the testimony, including that Trump was not personally under investigation and never asserted any type of interference in the Russia probe.
While everyone was focused on Comey's prepared statement, Trump went about his business filling vacancies in the federal judiciary.
Anatoly Shapiro, A Name to Remember
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we revisit the story of Anatoly Shapiro.
Major Anatoly Shapiro was a Jewish officer in the Red Army who led his troupes to liberate Auschwitz concentration camp on January 27, 1945. He enlisted in the Red Army at the onset of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, was wounded in Kursk in 1943, but it's what he saw 71 years ago at Auschwitz that left the most indelible mark.
Shapiro recalled additional details of the day of the liberation in this remarkable interview given shortly before his death in 2005 at the age of 94 to an Israeli radio host Tovia Singer. This was during the second intifada, and Shapiro spoke to that too:
Ron Coleman