Chris Geidner Profile picture
Subscribe to @lawdorknews for SCOTUS, LGBTQ, criminal law, and other legal news. / Email: lawdorknews@gmail.com / Sober. Queer. Bipolar. Buckeye. / He/him.
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Oct 9, 2018 8 tweets 4 min read
Breaking: #SCOTUS allows North Dakota voter ID requirement, which had been enjoined during the primaries, to be enforced during the general election. Here was the filing asking #SCOTUS to lift the stay that had been entered by the 8th Circuit of the district court's injunction: documentcloud.org/documents/4999…
Oct 9, 2018 12 tweets 4 min read
Off to #SCOTUS, where Justice Brett Kavanaugh has joined the court and will be hearing arguments in two criminal sentencing cases today. Another person to watch: Chief Justice John Roberts, who now gets to decide what to do with his Supreme Court. Read my story about that aspect of this change: buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/c…
Oct 8, 2018 9 tweets 3 min read
President Trump apologizes to Kavanaugh: “You, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent.” All other nine justices are sitting in the front row. EIGHT JUSTICES. SORRY.
Oct 8, 2018 5 tweets 3 min read
My latest —> Chief Justice John Roberts Now Gets To Decide What To Do With His Supreme Court buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg… #SCOTUS Back in January 2017, I wrote about how the chief justice had handled the 8-justice court after Scalia's death, a pattern I'd been watching since the marriage cases and have been slightly obsessed with since. —> buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg…
Oct 7, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
It’s ridiculously hot out for October. I also saw a buffalo today. I don’t know if they’re related. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (Yes, I’m taking the day off. A Star Is Born tonight! Back tomorrow.)
Oct 6, 2018 12 tweets 6 min read
The scene outside the Supreme Court right now is unreal. Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court Confirmation Vote Was One Of The Closest In US History buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg… #SCOTUS
Oct 6, 2018 8 tweets 3 min read
After the vote, and presuming all goes as expected, it's just a matter of paperwork passing hands until Judge Brett Kavanaugh could be sworn in. (Of course, neither the Supreme Court nor White House are saying anything about this until the vote is done.) Here's information about the two oaths — a constitutional oath and judicial oath — that Kavanaugh would need to take before "execut[ing] the duties of their appointed office," as the court puts it: supremecourt.gov/about/oath/tex…
Oct 5, 2018 15 tweets 3 min read
This is where it appears things stand. With Murkowski a no and Flake an all-but-certain yes, the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court will come down to the Republican senator from Maine and the Democratic senator from West Virginia. If confirmed, the best Kavanaugh could do, given what we know, would be a 51-49 vote — the closest Supreme Court confirmation vote of any sitting justice. Justice Thomas was confirmed on a 52-48 vote.
Oct 5, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
I’ve been thinking a lot about all of the people who have spent years or even decades in prison but then are released because their lawyers have been able to show their clients were wrongly convicted and are actually innocent. So often the underlying convictions have unsettling implications — or explicit proof — of racism contained within them. They often are poor and had little (or bad) help in their initial defense.
Oct 5, 2018 4 tweets 1 min read
[Narrator: They don’t have the votes.] (They could end up with them, but you don’t do this if you know you do.)
Oct 4, 2018 7 tweets 1 min read
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Grassley, with Tillis, Cornyn, Hatch, and Lee behind him: “Judge Kavanaugh should be confirmed on Saturday.” Hatch: “I’m disappointed in my Democratic colleagues for what they’re doing.”
Oct 4, 2018 4 tweets 2 min read
“[I]f I have to say what I think is right, it is to reject his nomination. Think of it as our country’s way of giving to Professor Ford the apology Judge Kavanaugh owes, but won’t give.” I’d missed this from @judgebobsmith yesterday evening. Retired from New York’s highest court, Smith was a prominent conservative on that bench. There’s a lot in that piece for all to take issue with, and I encourage folks to read it.
Oct 3, 2018 5 tweets 1 min read
Would definitely be interested in more information about this. Email in bio, DMs are open, available at this handle on Telegram and can give info via DM for Signal/WhatsApp. Note: Two Judiciary Committee Dems did not sign the letter to Grassley re: background investigation tweets. In addition to Sen. Chris Coons, who also did not sign the Dems' FBI letter urging 20+ potential witnesses to be interviewed, Sen. Amy Klobuchar did not sign onto this one.
Oct 3, 2018 5 tweets 3 min read
JUST IN: DOJ asks #SCOTUS to halt the ordered deposition of John Gore, among other discovery orders, in ongoing litigation over the Census citizenship question. documentcloud.org/documents/4953… Here was the earlier 2nd Circuit order allowing the deposition and discovery to proceed —>
Oct 2, 2018 7 tweets 3 min read
#SCOTUS, Oct. 2, 2018. Madison v. Alabama arguments were really interesting for reasons I’ll be writing about this afternoon, but as to the substance of the case, Alabama appeared to come across to the justices as having the weaker of the arguments, both procedurally and substantively.
Oct 1, 2018 12 tweets 2 min read
We're so far beyond dog whistles. The president is just saying that a woman reporter is "not thinking" and "never" does. And, now this, with another female reporter.
Oct 1, 2018 11 tweets 3 min read
#SCOTUS, Oct. 1, 2018. We’re back. This morning, the big, 75-page orders list is out. It's mainly denials of cert requests that came in over the summer. No new cases are granted (we got those last Thursday). #SCOTUS
Oct 1, 2018 5 tweets 2 min read
Tomorrow is the First Monday in October. It’s the start of the new term of the Supreme Court of the United States. It’s the second term of the past three to open with only eight justices on the bench. With Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement over the summe, this also will be the first term since October Term 1981 to open without a Reagan appointee sitting on the bench.
Sep 30, 2018 4 tweets 2 min read
Shot ... Chaser: It’s the Rhode Island “tip.” ... judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
Sep 29, 2018 4 tweets 2 min read
JUST IN: The ACLU, in a board vote, opposes Kavanaugh’s #SCOTUS confirmation. It took no position on Gorsuch, per the group’s policy. This is only the fourth time in the organization’s history it has opposed a Supreme Court nominee. From the resolution passed today: A board member explains further —> “From 1971 to 2006, ACLU had a different policy governing judicial nominees which allowed it to take a position on Supreme Court nominations (but nothing else). At that time, it opposed Rehnquist in 1971, Bork in 1987 and Alito in 2006.”
Sep 28, 2018 5 tweets 2 min read
Breaking: Emoluments Friday! Judge Emmet Sullivan, finding that members of Congress have standing to bring their Foreign Emoluments Clause claim. —>