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Bold Justice: October 8, 2018

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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 October 8 edition of Bold Justice, Ballotpedia's newsletter about SCOTUS and other judicial happenings around the U.S. Don't miss any tricks or treats while you're preparing for Halloween! 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
 

SCOTUS heard six arguments in six cases last week. This week (October 8), they will begin hearing arguments for another five cases. As of publication, the court has agreed to hear 42 cases. In its previous term, SCOTUS heard arguments in 69 cases.
Click the links below to read more about the specific cases SCOTUS is expected to hear this week:

  • October 9
  • October 10

Differing perspectives on Nielsen v. Preap

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Nielsen v. Preap October 10. The case challenges the government's interpretation of the mandatory detention provision of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA). Under this provision, the government is required to detain noncitizen U.S. residents who were convicted of certain crimes "when...released" from criminal custody. The case questions whether noncitizen U.S. residents are exempt from this provision if they are not immediately taken into immigration custody after being released from criminal custody.

University of California, Irvine School of Law professor Jennifer Chacon, writing for SCOTUSblog, said the plaintiffs' argument "has straightforward, common-sense appeal" because, she said, the plaintiffs are arguing that they were taken into immigration custody years after their release from criminal custody. On the other hand, Chacon said the "government’s statutory argument is necessarily less straightforward" and the government's "statutory reading is not obvious."

Andrew Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies argued Congress' intention in the INA's mandatory detention provision was plain and clear. He wrote the Ninth Circuit's interpretation of the mandatory detention provision was "cramped, inapt, and divorced from Congress's plain intent in drafting it. … It is obvious from simply reading the language in its totality that Congress intended for the aliens removable on the grounds listed to be detained after their criminal confinement was completed, regardless of whether those aliens were 'released on parole, supervised release, or probation' and regardless of whether those aliens could again be arrested for such offenses, and only released under limited circumstances ... Any other reading of this provision would lead to absurd results."
A case you oughta know
 

The Senate voted 50-48-1 to confirm Brett Kavanaugh as the 114th associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court on October 6, 2018. View the full vote here. A cloture vote was held on October 5, 2018, with the Senate voting 51-49 to end debate on Kavanaugh’s nomination and move forward with the final vote. The FBI conducted a supplemental background investigation with respect to the judge’s nomination the week of October 1, which followed a request for the investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

On September 28, 2018, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 along party lines to report Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate floor for a vote. The Judiciary Committee held hearings on the nomination of Kavanaugh on September 27. On July 9, President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kavanaugh is currently a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  

Keep up with Kavanaugh's nomination here.
SCOTUS trivia
 

One president became a Supreme Court justice after ending his term as the head of the executive branch. Which individual served as both POTUS and SCOTUS justice?

  1. Chester Arthur
  2. Calvin Coolidge
  3. Warren Harding
  4. William Howard Taft

Choose an answer to find out!
Federal Court action
 

Confirmations

The United States Senate confirmed one additional nominee since our last issue.

The U.S. Senate has now confirmed 69 federal judges—41 district court judges, 26 appeals court judges, and two Supreme Court justices—nominated by President Donald Trump (R).

New nominations

President Trump did not announce new nominations since our last issue.

He has announced 165 nominations since taking office on January 20, 2017.

Vacancies

The federal judiciary currently has 143 vacancies. Of those 143 vacancies, 70 have no nominee. According to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts and other outlets, an additional 26 judges have announced their intention to leave active judicial status during Trump’s first term. There are 72 pending nominations to seats tracked by Ballotpedia’s Federal Vacancy Count.

Committee action

The Senate Judiciary Committee did not report any new nominees out of committee for a full confirmation vote since our last issue.

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

Need a daily fix? Our Federal Vacancy Warning System has got you covered with continuing updates on the status of all federal judicial nominees.
Or, if you prefer, we maintain a list of individuals President Trump has nominated.
Court in the spotlight
 

Every issue, we at Ballotpedia highlight a federal court you should know more about. Right now, we’re taking a closer look at the United States courts of appeals, or circuit courts. They are the intermediate appellate courts of the U.S. federal courts. There are 13 U.S. courts of appeals.

This week, let's travel through time to 1891 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit was established. The Third Circuit is located in headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has jurisdiction over the United States District Courts in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Congress established the Third Circuit in 1891 with two authorized judgeships. By1990, the number of authorized judgeships rose to its current number of 14. Seven of the court's 12 current judges were appointed by Democratic presidents. There are two vacancies and two nominations pending.

Since 2007, SCOTUS reversed 27 decisions of 38 cases from the Third Circuit, a rate of 71 percent.
Looking ahead
 

Here’s what we’re looking ahead to this month:

  • SCOTUS will issue orders on October 15 and potentially accept new cases for the term.
  • SCOTUS is hearing cases this week and the week of October 29.

Join us in three weeks for another edition of Bold Justice, where we’ll preview the cases being argued and provide updates on other judicial news.


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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