Free Republic

President George H.W. Bush had two nominees to the Supreme Court: Clarence Thomas, who has been ferociously principled and profoundly consequential, and David Souter, who during his time on the court traveled from being mildly conservative to becoming the leader of the court’s left wing. Souter had served on the New Hampshire Supreme Court and was a Harvard graduate and a Rhodes scholar. He has a high intellect, but nothing in his judicial record demonstrated even a whit of conservative instincts. He had just been appointed and confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, where he...

No doubt about it. The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a godsend for the Republican Party. It's just what President Trump needed to come back from the dead. It gives him a chance to tilt the court to the far right for decades, with the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the bench. It energizes the Republican base. It locks up the Catholic vote. And, most importantly, it changes the subject! Nobody will talk about the coronavirus anymore. From now on, all they'll talk about is getting Barrett confirmed before Nov. 3. That's what Trump believes. That's...

For six months, the rules for how Americans can vote during the coronavirus pandemic have been locked in court battles while states across the country rushed to embrace mail ballots. Now, with just weeks to go before the Nov. 3 election, voting rights advocates and Democrats have advanced on key fronts in the legal war, scoring victories that make mail voting easier, ensure votes cast by mail are counted and protect the wide distribution of mail ballots in some states.

Eminent law professor David Flint is among four Australian law professors who are nominating US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize on the basis of the “Trump Doctrine”. Only members of a national parliament or law professors are able to nominate others for the Nobel Peace Prize with President Trump already receiving two nominations for his promotion of peace in the Middle-East.

For the Supreme Court announcement today, the Rose Garden is made to look similar to June 14, 1993 — the day Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s nomination to the high court. SEE...

Rioting in New York, threats of court-packing, promises of arson at the thought of Trump replacing its demi-god with a justice who actually believes in the Constitution. The left is rabid. Even character assassination (a la the Bret Kavanaugh inquisition) is no longer enough. When will the hostage-taking start? The President has Article II power to nominate “judges of the Supreme Court.” Donald Trump’s power doesn’t extend to the next election, but to the next inauguration -- still four months away. The composition of the United States Supreme Court was a major issue in the 2016 election. Voters balked at...

As Democratic senators begin mapping out how they will wield their limited procedural weapons in the fight over President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, they are grappling with a central question: How much legitimacy do they give his candidate?

Which is more politically advantageous for the election just six weeks from now? Ramming the nominee through before November 3 or having it hanging out there and confirming sometime between Election Day and Inauguration Day? If the Democrats go after the nominee the way they did after Kavanaugh, it will hurt them at the polls -- bigly. But which is better for Republicans?

WATCH: Daily Show’s Trevor Noah in 2016: ‘Biden Messed Up’ When He Argued Against Considering a Supreme Court Nominee in That Election Year watch the video...

Biden makes it clear that for the sake of our Nation, everyone must do their job. That's why the President [Obama] did his job by nominating Chief Judge Merrick Garland. Now, it's time for the Senate Republicans to do their job... EVERY NOMINEE, INCLUDING JUSTICE KENNEDY—IN AN ELECTION YEAR—GOT AN UP OR DOWN VOTE BY THE SENATE. NOT MUCH OF THE TIME. NOT MOST OF THE TIME. EVERY SINGLE TIME. THAT’S THE CONSTITUTION’S CLEAR RULE OF ADVICE AND CONSENT. FOR THE SAKE OF THE COUNTRY WE LOVE—WE ALL HAVE TO DO OUR JOB. THE PRESIDENT HAS DONE HIS. SENATE REPUBLICANS...

In June 1983, I arrived in Judge Roger Robb’s chambers to begin a clerkship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. But Robb had suffered a stroke. He was gone from chambers for many months. So Judges Robert Bork, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Spottswood Robinson and Antonin Scalia got together and agreed to keep my co-clerk, Terry Ross, and me occupied. They each gave us multiple cases to research, brief and help with their opinions before Judge George MacKinnon returned from a long vacation and “adopted” us until his closest friend on the court, Robb, recovered...

The virtual Democratic National Convention had an unconventional nominating process for former Vice President Joe Biden. Since holding a physical convention in Milwaukee was scrapped due to the coronavirus outbreak, Democrats held their roll call nationwide with delegates from each state and territory putting Biden officially over the finish line. Dozens of Democrats offered virtual applause from their own living room to the tune of Kool and the Gang's classic hit "Celebration" as both Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden were surprised by their grandchildren who popped in with flying streamers.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo emphatically ruled out speculation that he could replace Joe Biden on the Democratic presidential ticket — or join the ticket as a vice presidential candidate. “That is on one hand flattering," Cuomo said. "On the other hand, it is irrelevant.” He brushed off rumors that some Democratic insiders believe he could be a stronger candidate than Biden to oust President Trump in November. “I’m not running for president. I’m not running for vice president,” he said. “I am staying here.”

Senator Bernie Sanders’s (I., Vt.) presidential campaign on Tuesday announced that Sanders would participate in an April debate with former vice president Joe Biden, if it is held. The Democratic National Committee had planned to hold a debate on an unspecified date in April, but the committee has not yet announced a site or broadcaster for the debate. “Senator Sanders is still running for president,” Mike Casca, communications director for the Sanders campaign, told the New York Times. “If there is a debate in April, he plans to be there.” Sanders has refused to drop out of the presidential race...

The Democrats and their allies in the Mainstream Media outlets have spent the last quadrennial trying to maintain a narrow balancing act. On one hand, they want Bernie Sanders, avowed socialist and "Independent" Senator from Vermont to be a viable politician and treat him as a strong voice on the left. On the other, they are doing everything they could to ensure that Bernie would not be the Democrats’ nominee in either 2016 or 2020.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) celebrated with supporters in his home state of Vermont on Tuesday, proclaiming that he is absolutely confident that he will secure the Democrat nomination, despite Joe Biden (D) racking up victories on Super Tuesday. Bernie Sanders celebrated on Tuesday evening, holding a rally in Vermont and proclaiming that he will win the Democrat nomination, despite the fact that Biden had, at the time of his speech, secured victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, and Minnesota.

Thursday in an interview with Fox News, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) predicted his former U.S. Senate colleague, former Vice President Joe Biden would win this weekend’s South Carolina Democratic presidential primary. However, he said he still thought that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) would capture the nomination.

The Iowa and New Hampshire results have begun to clarify the choices Democratic voters will have in picking their candidate to face President Trump in November.....The biggest loser has been former Vice President Joe Biden. As in his first two runs for the presidency (both of which he ended early), Biden once again proved he is not an effective campaigner....The polls in South Carolina already show substantial slippage for Biden. If the intervening Nevada caucus becomes yet another defeat (and the evidence so far leans toward Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and maybe Sen....

Mike Bloomberg defended stop and frisk: "I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little. It's exactly the reverse of what they're saying. I don't know where they went to school but they certainly didn't take a math course or a logic course." ...

Elizabeth Warren admitted defeat in New Hampshire Tuesday night. She claimed to be still plotting a path forward for her presidential campaign, but, at this point, it has nowhere left to go. With results still coming in, MSNBC has projected that Warren will come out of the primary with zero delegates. At best, she'll be in a distant fourth, well behind Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, and Amy Klobuchar. This was a disastrous night for Warren on top of an already lackluster showing in Iowa last week.