Courts and Congressional Oversight

Fifty years ago today, Robert Kennedy gave what was probably the greatest extemporaneous speech by an American:



Supreme Court nominations

• The modern era of SCOTUS fights started 50 years ago, with Fortas
• March 16, 1970: As the Senate is considering he nomination of Judge G. Harrold Carswell to fill the Fortas seat, Senator Roman Hruska (R-NE) says in a TV interview, "Even if he [Carswell] were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they? We can't have all Brandeises and Frankfurters and Cardozos."

SEE THURBER 184-189




Merrick Garland and "the Biden Rule" (Thurber 182)

Gorsuch and the nuclear option (Davidson 368-369)

Mitch McConnell on judgeships

Blue Slips and Senatorial Courtesy (Davidson, 369)

From The Washington Examiner:

A home state senator historically has been able to block a judicial nominee by deciding not to return a blue slip of paper to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee under the "blue slip" tradition.

“With many states in the 9th Circuit having two Democratic senators, it makes it tricky to get through committee with the way the parliamentary games are played in the Senate,” [Cato legal scholar Ilya] Shapiro said.

The blue slip tradition has been honored differently by past chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the current chairman, has held committee hearings and votes on two judicial nominees despite unreturned blue slips.
“If you look at where the vacancies are, it’s not as easy as it might look,” [University of Richmond law professor Carl] Tobias said.

Three of the seven vacancies on the 9th Circuit, for example, are in California, which has two Democratic senators, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., a member of the committee and a possible presidential candidate in 2020.

Already, Feinstein has indicated Trump may face a difficult path if he were to nominate conservative judges to the 9th Circuit.

“It’s no secret that President Trump and Republicans want to reshape the 9th Circuit and we will not accept unwarranted, partisan attacks on our courts,” she said in a statement on Reinhardt’s death. “I am fully committed to ensuring that 9th Circuit nominees reflect our state’s communities and values and are well-regarded by their local bench and bar.”

Suing the president... a Stag (Liz Wydra `98) explains it all:



Problems with oversight:

Capacity (Connelly 122-124)

Staffs.......1995.......2015

CRS.........746..........609
GAO.....4,572.......2,989

CBO.........214.........235

Hearings in the Contemporary Congress (Colbert at about 5:00).    See Thurber 135.




A hearing goes very, very bad.

Contempt of Congress (Connelly 110-112):

• The definitive encyclopedia article!
• Inherent contempt
• Civil contempt 
• Criminal contempt