RNLA's blog featured a wide variety of topics in 2022. Many of these blogs highlighted important judicial issues including nominations to the bench, major Supreme Court cases, and more. We hope you enjoy this recap of some of RNLA's top blog posts of 2022!
DICK DURBIN HAS A HISTORY OF "ABUSE AND BIGOTRY" ON JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
(February 22, 2022)
A 2015 article from Investors Business Daily recalls Durbin's rabid opposition to Miguel Estrada, a nominee by President George W. Bush to the D.C. Circuit, as an “especially dangerous ... Latino ... being groomed [for the] Supreme Court.”:
Durbin also opposed the nomination of Miguel Estrada, President George W. Bush's U.S. appeals court nominee. Estrada was described in a Nov. 7, 2001, borderline-racist staff memo to Judiciary Committee member Durbin as "especially dangerous, because he has a minimal paper trail, he is Latino and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment. They want to hold Estrada off as long as possible."
"They" were left-leaning special-interest groups such as the People for the American Way, the National Organization of Women, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Alliance for Justice — groups that, like current Democrats, believe that you must be the "right kind" of Hispanic or black to hold high public office. Conservative blacks and Hispanics need not apply.
Read the entire blog post here!
KBJ RECEIVES TIE VOTE FROM SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
(April 4, 2022)
The theme of today's hearing was that there are still significant questions that remain unanswered about Judge Jackson's record and judicial philosophy. Democrat members of the Committee complained (as usual) that the Republicans would dare ask for answers to questions that are foundational to understanding whether a nominee is qualified to serve on the Court. The fact of the matter is that Democrats know that many Americans would not be happy if they knew the truth about Judge Jackson's record.
Read the entire blog post here!
RNLA OPPOSES THE NOMINATION OF NANCY ABUDU TO THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT (April 27, 2022)
In a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, the RNLA announced its opposition to the nomination of Nancy Abudu to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The text of the letter can be viewed below. For a PDF version, click here.
. . . .
The Republican National Lawyers Association (“RNLA”) urges you to oppose the nomination of Nancy Abudu to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. We oppose Ms. Abudu’s nomination because her views are extreme and fall outside of the mainstream. RNLA has only formally opposed one other judicial nominee made by the Biden Administration. We oppose Ms. Abudu because her views and rhetoric go beyond that of even progressive activists, and we see no reason to believe that she will be an impartial judge on the “hot button” issue of election law.
Read the entire blog post here!
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMON [V. KURTZMAN]…
(June 27, 2022)
The Supreme Court held today in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that when life gives you Lemon [v. Kurtzman], you strike it down for good. This notoriously troublesome Establishment Clause test, which Justice Scalia likened to “some ghoul in a late-night horror movie” that somehow keeps coming back to life, is conclusively and finally dead.
Joseph Kennedy, a high school football coach in Washington's Bremerton School District, lost his job after he knelt at midfield after games to offer a quiet personal prayer. The Supreme Court held today (6-3) that the school district’s actions violated the First Amendment’s Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses.
Religious liberty wins again at the Supreme Court this term, and today’s opinion ensures it will continue to do so in the future.
Read the entire blog post here!
REPUBLICANS SUE PENNSYLVANIA OVER ILLEGAL MAIL-IN-BALLOT PROCEDURE (October 17,2022)
The complaint explained:
The General Assembly has mandated that a voter who uses an absentee or mail-in ballot “shall . . . fill out, date and sign the declaration” printed on the outer envelope of the ballot. 25 P.S. §§ 3146.6(a), 3150.16(a). A majority of this Court has already held that any absentee or mail-in ballot that does not comply with the General Assembly’s date requirement is invalid and cannot be counted in any election after the 2020 general election. See In re Canvass of Absentee and Mail-In Ballots of November 3, 2020 General Election, 241 A.3d 1058, 1079-80 (2020) (Opinion of Justice Wecht); id. at 1090-91 (Opinion of Justices Dougherty, Saylor, and Mundy) (“In re 2020 Canvass”). Thereafter, a panel of the Third Circuit held that the federal materiality statute—which touches on election officials’ determination of whether an “individual is qualified under State law to vote,” 52 U.S.C. § 10101(2)(B)—somehow preempts the date requirement. The U.S. Supreme Court vacated that holding last week. See Migliori v. Cohen, No. 22-1499 (3d Cir. May 27, 2022), cert. granted and judgment vacated, Ritter v. Migliori, No. 22-30, 2022 WL 6571686 (U.S. Oct. 11, 2022) (Mem.). And when addressing a request for a stay earlier in that case, three Justices even opined that the Third Circuit’s holding is “very likely wrong” on the merits because it rests upon a misconstruction of federal law. Ritter v. Migliori, 142 S. Ct. 1824, 1824 (2022) (Mem.) (Alito, J., dissenting from the denial of the application for stay).
Read the entire blog post here!
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Be on the lookout for more of RNLA's top blog posts of 2022 next week!