Cory Booker: Win Back Senate To Bring Sanity Back To Courts

On By nikoel-hytrek

To combat the partisanship of the Supreme Court, Cory Booker said his main goal is to target one of the root causes for the radicalization: the Senate. In the first event in a series of conversations with the 2020 presidential candidates, hosted earlier this week by Des Moines Area Community College and Iowa Public Television, Booker received a question from a student about how Booker would handle a Supreme Court that has been heavily influenced by conservatives. Booker said he wants to solve the problem, and he’s open to the two most popular proposals, term limits and expansion, but he […]

Steve Bullock: Appoint More Western Judges, Consider Court Expansion

On By nikoel-hytrek

Montana governor Steve Bullock has a new idea for the type of justices he’d seek for the Supreme Court. After touring an ethanol plant and a grain co-op earlier this week, Bullock told Starting Line he would pursue justices who come from the Midwest or Western regions of the country. “I think that when you have your whole court that are folks who are all, essentially, coming from the East Coast, all coming from a small handful of schools, you’re really losing a big perspective of what this country is,” he said. Bullock said that as Montana Attorney General he argued […]

Klobuchar Plans To ‘Hit The Ground Running’ On Court Nominations

On By nikoel-hytrek

Senator Amy Klobuchar was in the room when Brett Kavanaugh testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, prior to his confirmation. She was one of the senators who asked him about his past and called for an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations against him made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.  Now, with Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court and Klobuchar running for president, Klobuchar has told Starting Line she’s looking more to the future of court nominations than the past. “One thing I know and I’ve learned from that and all our other dealings with judicial issues is you […]

Rebalancing Court Ideology A Priority For Julián Castro

On By nikoel-hytrek

Though Julián Castro hasn’t released a comprehensive plan concerning the courts in America, he recently shared some of his ideas for the types of judges he would appoint.  At a meet-and-greet event in Omaha, Nebraska on Sunday, Castro told an audience of about 200 people that he would protect reproductive rights with his judicial appointments.  “I would appoint judges to the federal district, appellate and Supreme Court level who value the precedent of Roe v. Wade,” he said.  Castro emphasized the importance of lower federal courts in decision-making in America. Any case in the federal court system has to pass […]

Beto O’Rourke Explains His Supreme Court Term Limits Plan

On By nikoel-hytrek

As the Supreme Court weighs in on key issues like gerrymandering and the U.S. Census, Democratic presidential candidates have been rolling out court reform ideas while on the campaign trail. Former Beto O’Rourke recently announced his idea for limiting the amount of time justices serve on the Supreme Court.  Currently, justices have lifetime appointments, but O’Rourke’s plan would limit them to 18 years. After the 18-year term, justices would be able to serve on federal courts of appeal.  In explaining his position at an event in Ames, O’Rourke talked about de-escalating the amount of tension seen in recent Supreme Court […]

Jay Inslee: Democrats Need To End Filibuster To Make Progress

On By nikoel-hytrek

Democrats have been increasingly concerned about the Supreme Court ever since Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016 and Sen. Mitch McConnell blocked President Barack Obama’s nominee to the high court. It’s not a problem that will be solved simply by a Democrat winning the White House, either. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee suggested two paths forward on dealing with obstructionist Republicans both on the Supreme Court and climate issues during his meet-and-greet in Tower Park late last week.  “Two things: elect a few more Democrats,” Inslee began with. “Because we now have understood the consequences of the right-wingers taking over […]

How A Census Citizenship Question Would Impact Steve King’s District

On By nikoel-hytrek

The Supreme Court of the United States is expected to decide tomorrow whether the Trump Administration can add a question to the census asking about respondents’ citizenship, a decision that will impact some communities in Iowa. If the question is added to the 2020 census, households and communities with undocumented immigrants will face a hard decision. Answer honestly or decline the opportunity to be counted as part of a city’s population. In Iowa, most new immigrants are concentrated in the western part of the state where meatpacking businesses like Tyson Foods and Seaboard Triumph Foods operate and employ both documented […]

Pete Buttigieg Only Candidate With Plan For Expanded Supreme Court

On By nikoel-hytrek

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is the only candidate among 21 who has laid out a full vision for reforming the Supreme Court.  Though many other candidates have recognized the need for reform, Buttigieg has advocated for expanding the number of justices during his campaign. His idea for the expansion would put the new number at 15 and would involve five justices with Democratic affiliations, five connected to the Republicans and five bipartisan justices recommended by the other ten. The model for this plan comes from a paper that will be published in the Yale Law Journal […]

Iowa Republican Leaders Brag About Their Court Appointee Success

On By nikoel-hytrek

Sen. Chuck Grassley and other top Iowa Republican leaders made it clear over the weekend what they view as their party’s signature accomplishment in recent years: a conservative takeover of the judiciary at all levels.  With the 15 minutes he had to speak at Sen. Joni Ernst’s Roast and Ride on Saturday, Grassley spent about a third of his time talking about the Supreme Court and how its conservative justices are a victory. “I think the outstanding thing this president has done is that after he has served eight years, there’s still going to be a legacy that we’re all […]

How 2020 Candidates Voted On Trump Appointee Opposed By AFL-CIO

On By nikoel-hytrek

The job doesn’t stop just because a candidate is on the campaign trail. For those in the Senate, that means participating in votes and weighing in on the confirmation of Trump judicial appointees. On Monday, the Senate voted to confirm Rossie Alston, Jr., a former judge on the Virginia Court of Appeals, to serve on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. While he was confirmed 75-20 in a bipartisan vote, there have been some concerns from labor organizations for his previous involvement in an anti-union organization. Here’s how the presidential candidates in the Senate voted. […]