The Supreme Court is not scheduled to convene until October 7, having handed down its last scheduled cases–gerrymandering and the census decision–on June 27th, officially ending its 2018-2019 term on June 30th.
Yet the “new normal” President, Donald Trump, has forced the Justices to appear before the bench twice this summer.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to temporarily ban Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the United States while the legal fight drags on.
The Court, in an unsigned order, said the administration may enforce new rules that forbid asylum applications from immigrants who have traveled through another country on their way to the United States.
This policy holds hostage the same Central Americans whose caravans Trump accused of “invading” the United States before the midterms.
In July, the Court permitted the administration to “repurpose” $2.5 billion in Pentagon money for the construction of a wall along the Mexican border.
Masterminded by the Federalist Society
When the Court convenes on the first Monday in October, it will argue three bitterly contested cases that the National Law Journal’s Marcia Coyle says will “thrust themselves into the crucible of the Presidential primary season,” when they’re handed down in June, 2020.
Having achieved a conservative majority, the Roberts Court will hear: two gay and a third transgender rights cases scheduled for oral arguments on October 8; a case addressing whether to end Dreamers’ protection, scheduled for November 12th; and a not-yet-scheduled Second Amendment case that could increase gun owners’ rights.
An Anonymous $22 Million Donation for Kavanaugh
According to OpenSecrets.org, Leopold secured financing from an anonymous $22 million donation that assured Justice’s Brett Kanvauagh’s confirmation, newly released tax records show.
“The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, pledged to spend as much as $10 million to ensure Kavanaugh’s confirmation–the same amount that it spent to help confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017,” OpenSecrets reports.
More than three-quarters of the funds JCN raised between July 2017 and June 2018 came in the form of a $17 million contribution from a single anonymous donor, according to its latest tax return, which was obtained by MapLight and OpenSecrets.
“The 2017-18 tax return also reveals JCN paid $241,000 to BH Group–a Virginia limited-liability company tied to Leo, the Trump judicial adviser–after paying the company $947,000 the previous year.
“BH Group was responsible for a mysterious $1 million donation to Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017, “OpenSecrets writes.
What’s more, JCN contributed $250,000 to the National Rifle Association, after giving the gun rights group $1 million from 2016-17.
America Engaged, another nonprofit tied to Leo, also gave $950,000 to the NRA in 2017.
The NRA ran ads boosting both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, OpenSecrets.org concludes.
Ginsburg’s Health of Concern
“The judicial left has gone off the deep end because it is losing its battle for an activist liberal court,” The Washington Post reports.
“When Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016, they saw a once-in-a-lifetime chance to shift the ideological direction of the court for a generation.
“By appointing two conservative justices, Trump has thwarted those dreams.
“And now they are worried, due to concerns over Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s health, that Trump might get a third appointment.
“So, many Democrats are now openly talking about adding more justices if they gain power,” the Post concludes.
Gorsuch’s Book Tour
Meanwhile, Justice Neil Gorsuch is promoting “A Republic if You Can Keep It”, published on September 10th.
He is speaking of cementing Justice Antonin Scalia’s originalist doctrine.
“The newly solidified conservative majority is finding its footing after a term of transition and the liberals on the bench are bracing for a hard right turn,” according to CNN, who interviewed Justice Gorsuch.
“The most vulnerable among us has the same rights as the richest and the most powerful,” Gorsuch told CNN.
CNN opines that Gorsuch’s approach to the law “rubs a number of different groups, who believe it writes them out of the Constitution, the wrong way.
“Like the more liberal justices on the Court, they believe the document evolves with time. It’s a battle between originalists and so-called “living constitutionalists,” CNN concludes.
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