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Bold Justice: May 6, 2019

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Alexander Hamilton may have thought them the least dangerous branch, but we at Ballotpedia think federal courts are the most exciting!

Ballotpedia's Bold Justice

Welcome to the May 6 edition of Bold Justice, Ballotpedia's newsletter about the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) and other judicial happenings around the U.S. Not sure what to do with yourself now that SCOTUS has finished hearing oral arguments? Don't worry! Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to the Daily Brew for the most up-to-date political information.

We #SCOTUS so you don't have to

Arguments

The Supreme Court has finished hearing arguments for its October 2018-2019 term. Click here to read more about SCOTUS' current term.

Opinions

SCOTUS ruled on one case since our April 29  issue. The court has issued rulings in 30 cases so far this term. Forty-two cases are still pending an opinion.

Click the links below to read more about the specific cases SCOTUS ruled on since April 29:

April 29

  • Thacker v. Tennessee Valley Authority was argued before the court on Jan. 14, 2019.

    On July 30, 2013, Gary Thacker and Anthony Szozda were fishing on the Tennessee River while the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was trying to raise a downed power line from the river. Thacker and Szozda's boat came through the area as TVA was raising the power line, and the two were hit by the conductor. Szozda was killed and Thacker was seriously injured. Thacker and his wife, Venida, sued TVA for negligence. The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. On appeal, the 11th Circuit Court affirmed the case's dismissal.

    The outcome: In a unanimous decision, the court reversed and remanded the 11th Circuit's ruling. Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan held the TVA is "subject to suits challenging any of its commercial activities."

Upcoming SCOTUS dates

Here are the upcoming dates of interest in May:

  • May 9: SCOTUS will conference. A conference is a private meeting of the justices where justices decide which cases to accept or reject and discuss and vote on cases heard since the previous conference.

  • May 13: SCOTUS will release orders.
    • When SCOTUS releases orders, they grant or deny review on the merits in a case. They can also issue other orders, such as granting or denying a request to participate in oral argument, according to SCOTUSblog.

  • May 16: SCOTUS will conference.

  • May 20: SCOTUS will release orders.
SCOTUS trivia

What case did SCOTUS recently dismiss as improvidently granted?

Choose an answer to find out!
Federal Court action

Confirmations

The Senate confirmed five nominees since our April 29 issue.

The Senate has confirmed 102 of President Trump’s judicial nominees—63 district court judges, 37 appeals court judges, and two Supreme Court justices—since January 2017.

Nominations

President Trump has announced six new Article III nominees since our April 29 edition.

The president has announced 186 Article III judicial nominations since taking office on Jan. 20, 2017. The president named 69 judicial nominees in 2017 and 92 in 2018. For more information on the president’s judicial nominees, click here.



Vacancies

The federal judiciary currently has 149 vacancies. As of publication, there were 64 pending nominations.

According to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, an additional 15 judges have announced their intention to leave active judicial status during Trump’s first term.

For more information on judicial vacancies during Trump's first term, click here.

Committee action

The Senate Judiciary Committee did not report any new nominees out of committee since our April 29 edition.

Do you love judicial nomination, confirmation, and vacancy information? We figured you might. Our monthly Federal Vacancy Count, published on the last Wednesday of each month, monitors all the faces and places moving in, moving out, and moving on in the federal judiciary.

Need a daily fix of judicial nomination, confirmation, and vacancy information? Click here for continuing updates on the status of all federal judicial nominees.

Or, if you prefer, we also maintain a list of individuals President Trump has nominated.
A judge you oughta know

In each issue of Bold Justice, we highlight a federal court you should know more about. Right now, we’re taking a closer look at the 94 U.S. District Courts. The district courts are the general trial courts of the U.S. federal court system.

There is at least one judicial district for each state, and one each for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.  

In this edition,  we're island-hopping to the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. The District of Puerto Rico has original jurisdiction over cases filed in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The court is based in San Juan.

Decisions of the court may be appealed to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.

The District of Puerto Rico has seven authorized judgeships. There are currently two vacancies. The breakdown of current active judges by appointing president is:

  • Barack Obama (D): One judge
  • George W. Bush (R): Three judges
  • Jimmy Carter (D): One judge
Looking ahead

Now that SCOTUS has finished hearing oral arguments for the 2019-2020 term, Bold Justice will be published biweekly in May and June. We'll be back May 20 with a new edition filled with the latest judicial happenings.


Why subscribe to Bold Justice?

Stay on top of the whirlwind world of the federal judiciary


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Join us, counsel, as we lay the foundation for what happened this week in the world of federal courts. Our record will reflect the cases SCOTUS heard, which judges retired, which were nominated, and what important rulings come out of other federal courts. Call us as your next witness and get the most in-depth coverage of federal courts available to your inbox. Subscribe for free today.

Ballotpedia has been providing new areas of coverage, performing in-depth analyses, and developing new tools to help keep our readers in the know since 2006. This is one more resource to keep you informed—one that can be delivered to your inbox once a week.







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Why Bold Justice?

Well, there’s a story behind it, and we’re happy to credit Justice Samuel Alito for the inspiration. Back in October of 2014, Justice Alito joined his fellow Supreme Court Yale Law alumni, Justices Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor, for a panel as part of the law school’s alumni weekend (video below). During the discussion, the moderator asked the audience if they could guess which of the three justices on the panel served as the inspiration for a coffee house to name one of their blends of coffee, Bold Justice. Justice Alito responded, “Obviously, it’s me.”

He went on to tell the story of how, during his days as a Third Circuit judge, his law clerks participated in a Newark, New Jersey, coffee shop’s year-long promotion wherein if customers sampled every blend for one year, the customers could then create and name a blend of coffee. Justice Alito described Bold Justice as a blend that was “designed for about three o’clock in the afternoon if you’re working and you’re starting to fall asleep, if you have this, it will jolt you awake.” A blend of courts and coffee: sounds perfect to us!

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