Category Archives: Supreme Court

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WND Exclusive – How the Founders Failed to Prevent Judicial Activism

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Dan “bag-a-donuts” Bongino was filling in on the Mark Levin radio program this past Wednesday. For those unfamiliar, bag-a-donuts is Dan’s “catch phrase.” He uses it to describe the “everyman.”

I love this guy, because he is the everyman. He’s smart but plainspoken, like a lot of us.

He was speaking of his confusion regarding the left. They claim, he says, to be so concerned that if Judge Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court, Roe v Wade instantly will be overturned – like the next day or something.

And Dan asks, if the left really thinks abortion on demand is settled law, why should they worry? read more

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Is Brett Kavanaugh the Best of the Best?

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by: Brent Smith at the Common Constitutionalist

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Supreme Court Justices are said to be the best of the best. This should make a President’s selection relatively easy.

Brett Kavanaugh may end up being that guy. And therein lies the rub – the fact that he “may” be the one – or he may not.

So why do I say this should be an easy job for any President? Let me lay it out.

A President compiles a list of candidates, which Trump did. He should then take a look at the Justices job description and make his selection from candidates that best fit the description.

In short, the supreme Court job description is what the oath of office describes. There are two oaths of office a Justice make choose to recite.

The first, and truncated version, is the traditional oath (albeit updated in 1990), which reads: “I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________ under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.” read more

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A Constitutionalist’s Take on Supreme Court Nominee

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from Conservative Review:

Putting Kavanaugh in perspective: The positives and the concerns

Who would have thought that in 2012 we’d nominate the godfather of Obamacare to run against Obama in the presidential election? Probably the same person who would have predicted Trump would nominate the man who crafted the foundation of Roberts’ “Obamacare is a tax” premise on the lower court. Yet here we are, with Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as the next Supreme Court nominee. He’s undoubtedly much better than the man he is replacing, but he’s unlikely to be the Clarence Thomas we need at this juncture.

Kavanaugh was always considered the front-runner from day one by the D.C. legal elites. Mike Lee was never seriously considered. I’m all for moving Kennedy’s seat to the right, but if the legal elites in the Republican Party will do nothing to fight judicial supremacy other than “appoint good judges,” shouldn’t we find the best? read more

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WND Exclusive – There’s Only 1 Choice for Supreme Court Justice

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The problem a president has with any court nominee is transparency. Until your choice actually begins ruling on cases, you can never be sure he or she was what you imagined them to be. By that time, as we know, it’s too late. As these are lifetime appointments, he and we are stuck with them, many times suffering disastrous consequences of a wrong choice.

Recent history is replete with Republican “wrong” choices, from David Souter to John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor and, of course, Mr. swing-vote, Anthony Kennedy.

We cannot afford to replace Anthony Kennedy with another Anthony Kennedy, or worse. read more

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New Internet Taxes Will be a Killer

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from IBD:

Supreme Court Opens The Door To Internet Taxes — What Comes Next Could Be A Lot Worse

Whatever you think about the issue of taxing internet sales, the simple fact is that the Supreme Court has just guaranteed that people across the country will now be paying more in state taxes. It’s hard for us to see how this is good news.

In its 5-4 decision on South Dakota v. Wayfair, the court overturned two previous rulings that prevented states from taxing sales of out-of-state companies. That meant a catalog company based in Maine didn’t have to navigate 45 state sales-tax laws to figure out how much each customer owed, and then remit that money to the right states. read more

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WND Exclusive – THE SUPREME COURT’S INDECISIVE DECISION

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Now that all the talking heads and other experts have weighed in on the recent Supreme Court decision – let me add my two cents.

The U.S. supreme Court handed down a rather limp decision this week in the case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

The justices decided, in a 7-2 decision, that, “a Christian baker didn’t get a fair hearing before a state civil-rights commission and therefore shouldn’t be penalized for turning away a same-sex couple.” So writes the Wall Street Journal. read more

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Justice Anthony Kennedy – More Powerful than Any President

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by: the Common Constitutionalist

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Some say the President of the United States, no matter who that is at any given time, is the most powerful man in the world. As the Chief Executive of the United States, he commands both the largest and most powerful military, and also the largest and most powerful economy on the planet.

This may be true on the World stage, but it is not the case domestically. For years now, supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy has been the most powerful person in America.

While this is an abomination of federalism, it is never the less true. And it’s something that seems to be thrown about as no big deal by the legal, political and pundit class. But it is a big ‘F’ing deal (h/t Joe Biden), yet has evidently become the new normal.

We have devolved from the Founders’ vision of three equal branches providing checks and balances on one another, to being ruled by nine black robed oligarchs, to now the reality we face today. That our freedoms and liberties, our economy – everything we hold dear, is controlled by a single individual.

In Justice Kennedy’s hands (or his vote), he holds the future of America. We have never been so close to a dictatorship as we are today. And by one who cannot be voting out, or otherwise removed. Like a dictator, it is he and he alone who decides to stay or go. But unlike a Dictator, there is little fear of assassination. read more

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Podcast – This is What We Do About the Out of Control Courts

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We’ve all heard too many times, that the federal courts are out of control. They’ve stolen power from the Congress and the president and are effectively holding the country hostage to their whims.

What we haven’t heard is what to do about. What can we the people, or the Congress, or President Trump do to take from the courts that which is not theirs in the first place. And that’s the problem. We hear constantly that Congress has the Constitutional authority to pass this or that law, or that President Trump is well within his Constitutional power to write such and an order. But then the courts stop it. Then what? Then nothing – apparently.

Well this has to end and I have a couple of suggestions to facilitate that end. read more

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WND Exclusive – Why ‘National Reciprocity’ for Guns is Immaterial

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by: the Common Constitutionalist

Over the weekend, I was perusing the online NRA-ILA newsletter. If you are gun enthusiast, own and/or carry a weapon, or merely a supporter of the Second Amendment and gun rights, I would suggest you sign up for the newsletter.

Most articles interest me, but one in particular seemed intriguing. It is entitled, “5 reasons to support National Reciprocity.”

Although every year I feel I’m a bit closer to becoming a self-taught, “so-called” constitutional expert, I’m still far from it. So I thought, why not read what the real experts had to say on the matter of reciprocity, or the extension of rights and privileges from state to state. read more

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The Democrat Plan to Prevent a Conservative Court

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by: the Common Constitutionalist

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On Tuesday the Washington Times reported that Senator Tom Udall (D–NM) proposed a compromise for P

Tom Udall

resident Trump and the Republicans. Udall suggested that rather than Trump nominating Neil Gorsuch to the supreme Court, he instead simultaneously nominate both Gorsuch and Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland to the High Court.

He advanced the notion that president Trump “should meet privately with the court’s current eight justices and see if any of them are retiring. If one of them is planning to step down at the end of this term in June, Mr. Trump should promise to nominate Judge Garland — and he and Judge Gorsuch could be voted on at the same time.”

As an odd aside, Tom Udall, son of the late Mo Udall, democrat of Arizona, who served in Congress for 30 years, is second cousin to Senator Mike Lee of Utah. A liberal hack like Tom Udall, with a CR “Liberty Score” of ‘F’ and a conservative voting record of 4%, comes from the same family tree as does Mike Lee, the only Senator with a perfect 100% “Liberty Score.” Small and weird world isn’t it.

Does anyone else see what is happening here? This is classic “good cop – bad cop,” and I guess Udall has decided to play the good cop in a cesspool of democrat bad cops. read more