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The Federal Tap: Supreme Court begins its 2019-2020 term
From Ballotpedia
October 5, 2019Issue No. 178
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Saturday, September 28
Warren leads Democratic presidential candidates in Ballotpedia pageviews
- Elizabeth Warren's campaign page on Ballotpedia received 3,975 views for the week of September 22-28. Warren's pageview figure represents 11.1% of the pageviews for all Democratic candidates during the week. Joe Biden had 10.7% of the pageviews for the week, followed by Andrew Yang with 9.9%. This is Warren's first time leading Democratic candidates in Ballotpedia pageviews since February.
- Each week, we report the number of pageviews received by 2020 presidential campaigns on Ballotpedia. These numbers show which candidates are getting our readers' attention.
- Of the 19 noteworthy Democratic candidates, nine received more pageviews last week than the week before and nine received fewer. Kamala Harris received the same number of pageviews (2,369) on each week. The campaigns with the three largest week-over-week increases were Joe Biden (17.1%), Tom Steyer (16.2%), and Steve Bullock (14.6%).
- Yang remains the leader in overall pageviews this year with 121,834. He is followed by Pete Buttigieg with 118,499 and Kamala Harris with 107,579.
- On the GOP side, Joe Walsh led with 5,339 pageviews, followed by Bill Weld with 4,956.
Monday, September 30
Rep. Thornberry (R-Texas) announces he won't run for re-election in 2020
- U.S. Rep Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) announced that he would not seek re-election in 2020. Thornberry was first elected to Congress in 1994 and represents Texas' 13th Congressional District. Thornberry is the most senior Republican in Texas’ congressional delegation. He is the 22nd Republican member of the U.S. House and the sixth member of the U.S. House from Texas to announce a 2020 retirement.
- So far, 26 members of the 116th Congress—four members of the U.S. Senate and 22 members of the U.S. House—have announced they would not seek re-election in 2020. Of those 22 members from the U.S. House, 17 are Republicans and five are Democrats. Sixteen are retiring from political office, four are seeking seats in the U.S. Senate, one is running for governor, and one is running for a county board of supervisors.
- On November 3, 2020, all 435 seats in the U.S. House and 35 seats in the U.S. Senate will be up for election. In the U.S. Senate, there are 33 seats up for regular election, along with a special election in Arizona for the U.S. Senate seat that John McCain (R) won in 2016. Another special election is expected to be called in Georgia for the seat of Johnny Isakson (R), who is retiring at the end of 2019.
- Heading into the election, Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the U.S. Senate and Democrats hold a 235-200 majority in the U.S. House. The presidency will also be on the ballot.
Tuesday, October 1
Rep. Collins (R-N.Y.) resigns from U.S. House
- Former Republican Rep. Chris Collins resigned from the U.S. House. His resignation became effective the day he pleaded guilty to committing insider trading with Innate Immunotherapeutics stock and lying to federal investigators. Collins was first elected to the House in 2012 with a 1.5% margin.
- Prior to being elected to the House, Collins was an Erie County executive. He started multiple small businesses including Bloch Industries, Easom Automation, Innate Immunotherapeutics, and Mead Supply. Collins graduated from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, with an M.B.A. and from North Carolina State University with a B.S.
Wednesday, October 2
Twelve Democrats qualify for October 15 presidential primary debate
- Twelve presidential candidates qualified for the fourth Democratic primary debate on Oct. 15, 2019: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang.
- Seven candidates failed to reach both the polling threshold of 2 percent support or more in four national or early-state polls and the fundraising threshold of 130,000 unique contributors.
- While the first two Democratic debates were held over two nights so that no more than 10 candidates were on stage at one time, the October debate will take place on one day. With 12 candidates participating, it will be the most candidates on stage in a single presidential primary debate. Republicans held the previous record with 11 candidates on stage during the September 2015 debate.
- Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, will host the event. Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, and Marc Lacey are set to moderate.
Congress is out of session
Neither the Senate nor the House will be in session next week. Click here to see the full calendar for the first session of the 116th Congress.
SCOTUS is on summer recess
The Supreme Court is on summer recess. To learn about the upcoming 2019-2020 session, click here.
WHAT'S ON TAP NEXT WEEK
Monday, October 7
Supreme Court begins its 2019-2020 term
- The U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing cases for the 2019-2020 term. The court's annual term begins on the first Monday in October and lasts until the first Monday in October the following year. It generally releases the majority of its decisions by the end of June.
- The court has scheduled oral arguments for the first three months of the term, broken down as follows:
- 14 cases (9 hours of oral argument) in October
- 12 cases (10 hours of oral argument) in November
- 15 cases (12 hours of oral argument) in December
- SCOTUS will hear the following cases during the week of October 7:
- October 7:
- October 8:
Where was the president last week?
- On Monday, Trump participated in an Armed Forces welcome ceremony and the swearing in of the secretary of labor.
- On Tuesday, Trump received his intelligence briefing and met with the secretary of defense.
- On Wednesday, Trump met with the President of the Republic of Finland.
- On Thursday, Trump delivered remarks and signed an Executive Order Protecting and Improving Medicare for the nation's seniors.
- On Friday, Trump visited with wounded warriors at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.
Federal Judiciary
- 107 federal judicial vacancies
- 40 pending nominations
- 13 future federal judicial vacancies
About
The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.
