We suggest 8 on the bench. And Fran is the tie-breaker.
Feb 15 // Jan 31 2017
We nominate Fran Leibowitz.
Well, that landed with a bit of a thud.
And just like that we have a new nominee for the Supreme Court. Judge Neil Gorsuch.
Turns out, he was a classmate of one Barack Obama at Harvard Law School. That means that two students, sitting through the same classes, hearing the same lectures and studying the same cases, ultimately obtaining the same degrees to practice law landed on different sides of the aisle when it comes to interpreting the law. We call that wonderful at Two Weeks Ago News. It means we’re thinking. We’re considering points of view. We are open to interpreting and then working with the law.
No one from the Democratic party was happy with the news. Still aggravated by the non-nominee that was Merrick Garland, they were less than welcoming to the news of Judge Gorsuch’s nomination. Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley called this a “stolen seat” and promised to filibuster the nomination. Senator Pat Leahy of Vermont agreed. New York Senator Chuck Schumer declared the nominee must be within the legal mainstream and defend the Constitution for all Americans. Nancy Pelosi labeled him out of the mainstream and “hostile to women’s rights.” Lambda Legal objects to the nomination. Any legislator who accommodates religious beliefs (The Hobby Lobby decision) can be no friend to the gay community.
The best remark we read about Gorsuch and his history came from an article in Slate: “Gorsuch is adept at concealing his beliefs: Shawn Trautman, an attorney who took Gorsuch’s legal ethics class at the University of Colorado Law School, told me he was “shocked to learn” that Gorsuch is conservative. “I spent an entire semester with him,” Trautman said, “and never once had an inkling of his political leanings.”
Translation: “Funny, he doesn’t look like a Conservative.”
Here’s what we know: Columbia, Harvard and Oxford. Clerked for two Supreme Court Justice. Worked in the Department of Justice. Has never had a decision overturned by the Supreme Court. Clearly, a legal lightweight.
But then something weird happened in Two Weeks Ago News. After the outrage that President Trump had nominated a conservative jurist (shocked, we were!), there have been crickets out there in outrage land. We imagine it will all start up again with great enthusiasm if and when hearings ever get underway to confirm or dismiss him. We’re biding our time at this point.
We nominate Fran Leibowitz.
Well, that landed with a bit of a thud.
And just like that we have a new nominee for the Supreme Court. Judge Neil Gorsuch.
Turns out, he was a classmate of one Barack Obama at Harvard Law School. That means that two students, sitting through the same classes, hearing the same lectures and studying the same cases, ultimately obtaining the same degrees to practice law landed on different sides of the aisle when it comes to interpreting the law. We call that wonderful at Two Weeks Ago News. It means we’re thinking. We’re considering points of view. We are open to interpreting and then working with the law.
No one from the Democratic party was happy with the news. Still aggravated by the non-nominee that was Merrick Garland, they were less than welcoming to the news of Judge Gorsuch’s nomination. Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley called this a “stolen seat” and promised to filibuster the nomination. Senator Pat Leahy of Vermont agreed. New York Senator Chuck Schumer declared the nominee must be within the legal mainstream and defend the Constitution for all Americans. Nancy Pelosi labeled him out of the mainstream and “hostile to women’s rights.” Lambda Legal objects to the nomination. Any legislator who accommodates religious beliefs (The Hobby Lobby decision) can be no friend to the gay community.
The best remark we read about Gorsuch and his history came from an article in Slate: “Gorsuch is adept at concealing his beliefs: Shawn Trautman, an attorney who took Gorsuch’s legal ethics class at the University of Colorado Law School, told me he was “shocked to learn” that Gorsuch is conservative. “I spent an entire semester with him,” Trautman said, “and never once had an inkling of his political leanings.”
Translation: “Funny, he doesn’t look like a Conservative.”
Here’s what we know: Columbia, Harvard and Oxford. Clerked for two Supreme Court Justice. Worked in the Department of Justice. Has never had a decision overturned by the Supreme Court. Clearly, a legal lightweight.
But then something weird happened in Two Weeks Ago News. After the outrage that President Trump had nominated a conservative jurist (shocked, we were!), there have been crickets out there in outrage land. We imagine it will all start up again with great enthusiasm if and when hearings ever get underway to confirm or dismiss him. We’re biding our time at this point.