Legalities

Supreme Court Puts Chrysler’s Sale to Fiat on Hold

Kristina Wong — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:53:26 -0400

Justice Ginsburg’s ruling today, putting on hold the sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat, does not mean that the deal is off. While the ruling may put the sale in temporary turmoil, Ginsburg's action is really the safe, prudent...

White House Contacted Sotomayor Before Souter Announced His Retirement

Theresa Cook — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:35:51 -0400

The Senate Judiciary Committee has released a completed questionnaire submitted by Supreme Court nomine Sonia Sotomayor. There's a lot to sift through, but here's one interesting bit: She reveals the White House contacted her about the "possibility of a future Supreme Court vacancy" four days before Justice David Souter announced he would resign.

Becoming Nominee Sotomayor

Jan Crawford — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:48:32 -0400

From the moment David Souter announced his retirement, his seat on the Supreme Court was Sonia Sotomayor's to lose. President Obama had been “very interested” in her from the start, said one top adviser, and almost immediately, his political advisers--led...

Judge Wood Goes to Washington

Theresa Cook — Wed, 20 May 2009 09:20:00 -0400

Just two days after Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s sudden appearance in Washington set off a flurry of speculation about Supreme Court interviews, here’s something that actually could be significant: Federal Appears Court Judge Diane Wood, one of the leading contenders to replace David Souter, is in Washington today.

Obama: Fortifying Bush's policies on terror

Jan Crawford — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:24:03 -0400

There's a must-read piece in The New Republic this week by Jack Goldsmith, the former head of the Office of Legal Counsel, outlining specific differences in the Bush and Obama approaches to the war on terror. In the article, Goldsmith...

The Pitfalls of Politics

Jan Crawford — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:29:25 -0400

President Obama, like Bill Clinton before him, has indicated he would like to tap a politician for the Supreme Court—someone like the iconic and influential Chief Justice Earl Warren, the former governor of California. But there are two big problems...

A Stealth Nominee?

Jan Crawford — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:17:42 -0400

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs revealed a little more than usual today when asked about the process for selecting a Supreme Court nominee. He was asked a relatively innocuous question about whether the White House will be able to...

Who's on the Way to the Court: Chart the Course

Jan Crawford — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:32:19 -0400

When selecting a Supreme Court nominee, White House officials essentially plot the prospects out on a graph. On the x-axis, you measure how closely the nominee fits with what you want in a justice; on the y-axis, you measure how...

A Justice Who Has Juggled

Theresa Cook — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:38:42 -0400

I found myself praying for sun today making the kids’ breakfast--a dozen second- grade boys are descending at 3:30 for my son’s birthday party, which by all accounts should be outside in a moonbounce and not, under any circumstances, indoors....

White House Formalizes Supreme Court Short List

Theresa Cook — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:43:29 -0400

The White House has formalized its short list of Supreme Court contenders and asked six prospects to provide personal background information, with an intensive vetting process now underway, according to sources close to the process.