Tagged Supreme Court

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The Atlantic: If You Thought Citizens United Was Bad, Wait for This Supreme Court Case

A Supreme Court ruling in favor of Shaun McCutcheon would set the stage for totally eliminating remaining campaign-finance laws.

-By Norm Ornstein

September 26, 2013- It is tempting to think that there is only one issue hitting Washington these days: the coming apocalypse over a government shutdown and a possible default. It is, to be sure, the Big One, and it should dominate our discussion and analysis. But there are many other issues looming out there that deserve broader focus and attention. One is the farm bill, a case study in dysfunction and chaos over the past three years which has devastated farmers hit by the most significant drought since the Great Depression and which, if unresolved by the end of the month, could cause milk prices to skyrocket, among other things.

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Talking Points Memo: Ginsburg Calls Out Roberts: ‘One Of The Most Activist Courts In History’

-By Tom Kludt

August 26, 2013- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg signaled that she is in no hurry to step down from what she described as "one of the most activist courts in history" in a candid interview published Sunday.

Ginsburg told The New York Times that, despite calls from some on the let for her to retire before President Barack Obama leaves office so he can name a liberal replacement, she intends to stay on the court "“as long as I can do the job full steam, and that, at my age, is not predictable.” Appointed by former President Bill Clinton in 1993, Ginsburg has survived cancer twice.

She also opened up the current court under Chief Justice John Roberts, who led the majority in striking down a crucial part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in June. Ginsburg said “if it’s measured in terms of readiness to overturn legislation, this is one of the most activist courts in history.”

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NY Times: Court Is ‘One of Most Activist,’ Ginsburg Says, Vowing to Stay

-By Adam Liptak

August 24, 2013- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 80, vowed in an interview to stay on the Supreme Court as long as her health and intellect remained strong, saying she was fully engaged in her work as the leader of the liberal opposition on what she called “one of the most activist courts in history.”

In wide-ranging remarks in her chambers on Friday that touched on affirmative action, abortion and same-sex marriage, Justice Ginsburg said she had made a mistake in joining a 2009 opinion that laid the groundwork for the court’s decision in June effectively striking down the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The recent decision, she said, was “stunning in terms of activism.”

Unless they have a book to sell, Supreme Court justices rarely give interviews. Justice Ginsburg has given several this summer, perhaps in reaction to calls from some liberals that she step down in time for President Obama to name her successor.

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Think Progress: Nine Term North Carolina Senator Resigns To Fight New Voter Suppression Law

-BY Ian Millhiser

August 19, 2013- North Carolina state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird (D) announced today that she is resigning her seat in the state legislature after 17 years of service. Instead she will work full time to reverse the blizzard of right-wing legislation enacted by Republicans since they took over the state government last January. In a message posted on her website, Kinnaird wrote that a major focus of her post-legislative work will be “a grass-roots project to make sure everyone in the state has a proper voter ID so that no votes are denied, even though” a recently enacted voter suppression law “is aimed at exactly that – repressing the vote.” Kinnaird’s replacement will effectively be chosen by Democratic officials.

Mother Jones: Democrats To Introduce Supreme Court Ethics Bill

—By Stephanie Mencimer

July 31, 2013- Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has been in the news recently after Mother Jones revealed her involvement in Groundswell, a secret effort by a group of conservatives to organize their fight against liberals, mainstream Republicans, and Karl Rove. Her political activity has once again raised questions about whether she is creating conflicts of interest for her husband, and whether he should be forced to recuse himself from cases that involve Ginni's work.

Mother Jones: Is Ginni Thomas’ Expanding Activism a Problem for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas?

—By Stephanie Mencimer

July 26, 2013- Virginia "Ginni" Thomas is no ordinary Supreme Court spouse. Unlike Maureen Scalia, mother of nine, or the late Martin Ginsburg, mild-mannered tax law professor who was good in the kitchen, Thomas came from the world of bare-knuckled partisan politics. Over the years, she has enmeshed herself ever more deeply in the world of political advocacy—all the while creating a heap of conflict of interest concerns surrounding her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Her role in Groundswell, the coalition of conservatives waging a "30 front war" against progressives and the GOP establishment that was revealed by Mother Jones on Thursday, revives questions about the propriety of Thomas' activism on issues that have or could become the subject of Supreme Court cases.

Think Progress: North Carolina Prepares To Suppress Black Voters, Now That The Voting Rights Act Lost Its Teeth

-By Aviva Shen

July 2, 2013- Just days after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, North Carolina is moving forward with a host of bills to roll back voting rights. Republican lawmakers are accelerating a new agenda to eliminate early voting, Sunday voting hours, and same-day registration provisions. GOP leaders also vowed to move quickly to pass a controversial voter ID law that would make it much harder for minorities, seniors, students, and low-income voters to cast their ballots.

Think Progress: After Casting Key Fifth Vote For Bush, Justice O’Connor Now Regrets Bush v. Gore

-By Ian Millhiser

April 29, 2013- Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the conservative retired justice who provided the fifth vote to install George W. Bush as president, is now having second thoughts about that decision:

Looking back, O’Connor said, she isn’t sure the high court should have taken [Bush v. Gore].

“It took the case and decided it at a time when it was still a big election issue,” O’Connor said during a talk Friday with the Tribune editorial board. “Maybe the court should have said, ‘We’re not going to take it, goodbye.’”

The case, she said, “stirred up the public” and “gave the court a less-than-perfect reputation.”

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