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Why Supreme Court Candidate Sri Srinivasan Might Not Be So Centrist or Moderate After All
National Review ^ | 02/25/2016 | Jim Geraghty

Posted on 02/25/2016 7:29:07 AM PST by SeekAndFind

From the Thursday Morning Jolt:…

Why Sri Srinivasan Might Not Be So Centrist or Moderate After All

A conservative legal mind who watches the DC circuit closely writes in to the Morning Jolt, offering a cautionary note about the conventional wisdom that DC Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sri Srinivasan represents one of President Obama's more centrist or moderate options for a Supreme Court nomination:

You mentioned Judge Sri Srinivasan as a moderate falling somewhere between Souter and Kennedy. He is not likely to be a moderate.

In fact, so far, his record as a judge on the D.C. Circuit has been somewhat to the left of Ruth Bader Ginsburg back when she sat on the same Circuit. She became more liberal once elevated to the Supreme Court, where she faced no chance of reversal. My guess is that any Obama appointee will become more liberal once elevated to the Supreme Court, due to the fact that Supreme Court decisions are final and can't be reversed.

This legal mind notes Judge Sri Srinivasan ruled in favor of government requirements on commercial speech:

In a divided opinion Tuesday, a three-judge panel for the appellate court stood by its previous decision to slash the SEC's requirement that issuers declare whether their products are "conflict free" because it violates their First Amendment rights. The majority said its opinion wasn't swayed by a separate D.C. Circuit ruling in American Meat Institute et al. v. U.S. Department of Agriculture et al., which in July 2014 upheld country of origin labeling in the interest of informing consumers because the SEC rules don't concern advertising or point-of-sale disclosures.

The panel's reasoning turned on its interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court's standard in Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which dealt with compelled speech for advertising purposes. But in a lengthy dissent, U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan said the panel had completely misread Zauderer and that the First Amendment poses "no bar" to the SEC's disclosure obligation.

He ruled the government can broadly make decisions based on race and gender…

Last month, in an opinion authored by Judge Sri Srinivasan, a D.C. Circuit panel ruled that a white Foreign Service Officer's challenge to a long since defunct, and short-lived, State Department affirmative action hiring plan, which was aimed at increasing racial diversity among the officer corps in the U.S. Foreign Service, was properly dismissed by a federal district court.

… and that the Labor Department can impose wage and hour regulation on home health care providers…

In the opinion for the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan wrote that it was within the Department of Labor's power to change the exemption for third-party employers, and that the department's actions were neither arbitrary nor capricious.

Srinivasan is willing to rule against the EPA… when it gives regulated industry a break:

In response to a suit brought by the Natural Resource Defense Council, a federal appeals court voted 2-1 to slap down an attempt by the Environmental Protection Agency to weaken enforcement of a law designed to cut ozone out of the atmosphere.

In 2008, the EPA issued regulations that would allow some areas extra time to comply with a Clean Air Act-mandated reduction in the allowable amounts of ground-level ozone, which is a product of fossil fuel consumption, and with restrictions on planning transportation projects that might add to ozone production…

Judge Sri Srinivasan found that the EPA had no right to change the implementation date of the regulations, nor could it lift restrictions on projects that might add to the ozone problem. "We conclude that both challenged aspects of EPA's regulations implementing the 2008 ozone standards exceed the agency's authority under the Clean Air Act," he wrote. "…Because we find that the EPA's challenged implementation rules exceed the agency's authority under the Clean Air Act, we vacate the pertinent portions of EPA's regulations."

This conservative legal mind continues his assessment:

Ironically, the supposedly liberal judges who were put on the D.C. Circuit after him – to pack the D.C. Circuit after the filibuster was curbed – have proven more willing to question government regulations than he is. They've joined rulings to strike down certain gun regulations in Washington, D.C..

Moreover, even liberal district judges in D.C. appointed by Obama rule against the Obama administration more often than Judge Srinivasan, like Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruling against the NLRB about posting requirements; and against EPA over Clean Water Act coal regulations, where she was later reversed by the DC Circuit; and Judge James Boasberg ruling against the IRS when it attempted to license tax preparers.

Sri Srinivasan doesn't look like such a difficult "no" vote after all.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: scotus; scotusnominee; sri; srisrinivasan; supremmecourt
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1 posted on 02/25/2016 7:29:07 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Sure he is. He’s a “Moderate” statist.


2 posted on 02/25/2016 7:31:57 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: SeekAndFind

It shouldn’t matter if you are a “moderate” or “conservative” or “centrist” or whatever, it should only matter that you know how to read the document and interpret it as its written. Anyone should be able to do that.

That seems to be such a difficult concept these days.


3 posted on 02/25/2016 7:33:29 AM PST by marron
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To: SeekAndFind
Stealth nominee. Trojan horse. Manchurian candidate. No reason to entertain ANY obama-nation.

We can't afford to keep compromising our liberties.

4 posted on 02/25/2016 7:34:46 AM PST by IronJack
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To: SeekAndFind
You mentioned Judge Sri Srinivasan as a moderate falling somewhere between Souter and Kennedy.

There is nothing moderate about being between Souter and Kennedy.

5 posted on 02/25/2016 7:36:50 AM PST by The_Victor (If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Nobody.....NOBODY nominated to this court by Barack Hussein Obama is a CENTRIST or a MODERATE.

Learn it.
Live it.
Love it.


6 posted on 02/25/2016 7:41:04 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: SeekAndFind
My first reaction was; " SRI ? "

So I went looking

From Wicki;

Srinivasan was born Padmanabhan Srikanth Srinivasan[6] in Chandigarh, India. His father hailed from Mela Thiruvenkatanathapuram, a village near Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. His family, including two younger sisters, emigrated in the late 1960s to Lawrence, Kansas.[7] His father was a professor of mathematics at the University of Kansas, and his mother taught at the Kansas City Art Institute and later worked at the University of Kansas computer science department.[8] Srinivasan graduated from Lawrence High School in Lawrence, where he played basketball, sharing the court with future NBA star Danny Manning.[8]

Srinivasan earned a bachelor's degree in 1989 from Stanford University and then earned a J.D./M.B.A. in 1995 from Stanford Law School and Stanford Graduate School of Business.[8]

After law school, Srinivasan worked as a law clerk for United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III and then was a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.[8]


I haven't read through (yet) ... but I'm looking for the Visa and citizenship citation(s)

7 posted on 02/25/2016 7:41:21 AM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Obama would NEVER throw away over 100 years of Marxist maneuvering on a move that would strengthen the conservative bent of the SCOTUS. NEVER!. ValJar and Soros wouldn’t let him nor would any of the One Worlders pulling the strings in the Capital.


8 posted on 02/25/2016 7:42:31 AM PST by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: SeekAndFind

It would kill you to give us a DIRECT LINK to this article?


9 posted on 02/25/2016 7:44:08 AM PST by PJ-Comix (DUmmie Skinner: Bought & Paid For By Hillary)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well despite America historically being a WASP nation there is not even one Protestant on the Supreme Court.

And since Political Correctness mandates that the historic American people must be replaced with imports from the Third World, it is logical that Sri Srinivasan be the next Supreme Court justice.

Our neoconservative overlords stress that America is A Proposition Nation, and not a cultural and historic nation created by our ancestors. So Sri Srinivasan and his ilk will dictate the future of the United States.


10 posted on 02/25/2016 7:44:28 AM PST by Pelham (Marco Rubio (R-Amnesty). the GOP elite's cabana boy.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog
From The Guardian;

"US circuit judge was confirmed by Senate in 2013 by 97-0 vote, is known for being 'balanced' and was described by Ted Cruz as an old friend. Many believe his nomination would 'reveal whether the Senate is being obstructionist' "

11 posted on 02/25/2016 7:44:32 AM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: The_Victor

I caught Bill O’Reilly saying that he would like to see another Justice Kennedy.

And yet another reason why I avoid the bloviater.


12 posted on 02/25/2016 7:45:02 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress (http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/BYTOPICS/tabid/335/Default.aspx D)
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To: BenLurkin
potential replacements who would find friends in both parties is Sri Srinivasan, but worth noting is whether the president himself would be in favor of putting Srinivasan's credentials to a Senate vote. Do Obama and Sri Srinivasan have a history? It certainly looks like the president has been grooming the judge for a SCOTUS appointment for years.
13 posted on 02/25/2016 7:46:27 AM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: knarf
I haven't read through (yet) ... but I'm looking for the Visa and citizenship citation(s)

If he came here in the late 60's he is certainly a Naturalized US Citizen by now.


14 posted on 02/25/2016 7:47:07 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: knarf

If he were really “balanced” Obama would NOT be nominating him. Take that to the bank.


15 posted on 02/25/2016 7:48:59 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog
When my Filipina wife receives HER citizenship .... we're throwing a party, announcing it in every local paper and her locals in the Philippines, with a killing of the pig and rice and veggies for everyone !

Sri and family are silent .... all information I have read so far jumps right in to their professional stati and accomplishments ....

which for me is a red herring ....

razzle dazzle them with "accomplishments" to (perhaps) cover the fact that they came here as privileged aliens and started making money .... and they were happy with that ... why bother with citizenship ?

16 posted on 02/25/2016 7:55:56 AM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: SeekAndFind

There is no candidate. Fin.


17 posted on 02/25/2016 7:56:12 AM PST by inkfarmer
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To: knarf

RE: I haven’t read through (yet) ... but I’m looking for the Visa and citizenship citation(s)

According to my Indian friends who know about him, he was NATURALIZED when he turned 18.

His parents came here LEGALLY.


18 posted on 02/25/2016 7:56:18 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

OK


19 posted on 02/25/2016 7:57:23 AM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: Pelham

No kidding

The entire court is now Catholic or Jewish

Put a Charismatic or primitive Baptist up there

Just meet that criteria

You won’t have to know a thing else about them


20 posted on 02/25/2016 8:01:59 AM PST by wardaddy (its over ..... Trump won....nothing wrong with Cruz either)
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