We Must Have 9 Justices to Adjudicate the Legal Challenges to the Trump Victory Planned by the Democrats
“Democrat Joe Biden is assembling a team of top lawyers in anticipation of court challenges to the election process that could ultimately determine who wins the race for the White House.” – Associated Press
Ruth Bader Ginsberg passed away late Friday after a long bout with cancer. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family.
THE BIG QUESTION: Should a new Supreme Court Justice be appointed before November 3rd, 2020?
Why is this appointment so important?
Remember in Bush v. Gore, case in which, on December 12, 2000, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed a Florida Supreme Court request for a selective manual recount of that state’s U.S. presidential election ballots. The 5–4 decision effectively awarded Florida’s 25 votes in the electoral college, and thus the election itself, to Republican candidate George W. Bush.
Fast forward to today, ironically 20 years later. Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount who specializes in election law, in a Politico article when asked how many court cases have been filed leading up to the 2020 election responded:
…It’s 228 cases, and I haven’t added a couple, so it’s probably 230. It’s difficult to track. How many voters does this affect? I don’t honestly know. The better way to measure is this: There’s litigation now in 43 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. [Emphasis added]
Twitter is alive with responses to this important question. Here are three:
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1307321159113936896?s=21
Let me be clear: The voters should pick a President, and that President should select a successor to Justice Ginsburg.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 19, 2020
SEN. TED CRUZ: "I believe the president should next week nominate a successor to the court and I think it is critical the Senate takes up and confirms that successor before election day."
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) September 19, 2020
Will President Trump nominate a woman?
In an Axios article published on March 31, 2019 titled Scoop: Trump “saving” Judge Amy Barrett for Ruth Bader Ginsburg seat Jonathan Swan, Sam Baker wrote:
As he was deliberating last year over replacing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, President Trump told confidants he had big plans for Judge Amy Coney Barrett [a protégé of former Justice Antonin Scalia].
“I’m saving her for Ginsburg,” Trump said of Barrett, according to three sources familiar with the president’s private comments. Trump used that exact line with a number of people, including in a private conversation with an adviser two days before announcing Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Barrett is a favorite among conservative activists, many of whom wanted her to take Kennedy’s spot.
- She’s young and proudly embraces her Catholic faith.
- Her past academic writings suggest an openness to overturning Roe v. Wade.
- Her nomination would throw gas on the culture-war fires, which Trump relishes.
But Trump chose to wait.
Will Trump use his Amy Coney Barrett card now?
President Trump has provided a list of twenty nominees to the Supreme Court from which he may select one and send that nomination to the U.S. Senate. Six of President Trump’s nominees are women. One, Barbara Lagoa, is from the key swing state of Florida.
- Allison Jones Rushing, 38, of North Carolina, on the 4th Circuit since March 2019. She clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and then-Judge Neil Gorsuch on the 10th Circuit. She received her law degree, magna cum laude, from Duke University School of Law.
- Bridget Bade, 54, of Arizona, on the 9th Circuit since April 2019. Bade was both a U.S. magistrate judge and an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona. She received her law degree, cum laude, from Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
- Barbara Lagoa, 52, of Florida, on the 11th Circuit since December 2019. Previously a justice on the Supreme Court of Florida, she also was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Lagoa received her law degree from Columbia.
- Kate Todd of Virginia, former deputy assistant and deputy counsel to President George W. Bush. She clerked for Thomas and received her law degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard.
- Martha Pacold, 41, on the bench of the Northern District of Illinois since August 2019. She previously was deputy general counsel of the Treasury Department. A former clerk to Thomas at the Supreme Court, she received her law degree with honors from the University of Chicago.
- Sarah Pitlyk, 43, on the bench of the Eastern District of Missouri since December 2019. Previously special counsel at the Thomas More Society, she clerked for Kavanaugh at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She received her law degree from Yale Law.
Conclusion
The appointment of any Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court has now become political theatre. And so it will be if President Trump makes a nomination before November 3rd. The reason is that a President’s long term legacy is truly determined by the number of justices and judges appointed.
While both of these are important, the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election could, as it was in 2000, ultimately be determined by the U.S. Supreme Court. Not having a full panel of 9 justices would only add fuel to the fire.
President Trump now has the ability to change the makeup of the SCOTUS for decades to come.
But more importantly it can and will ultimately impact the final adjudication of any and all legal challenges to a Trump victory by the Democrats, which are already in the works.
Not to appoint would be so very, very wrong!
Let the battle begin.
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RELATED TWEET:
Biden said last night that the American people should select the president to replace #RuthBaderGinsburg. They already did. They chose Trump.
— Julio Gonzalez (@DrJGonzalezJD) September 19, 2020
It seems to me that the left wing lost one vote on the USSP. After the election when the Left challenges the results would it not be smarter to have a crippled Left with only three votes? I think trying to appoint a new justice pre election will create more heat than light.