I’ve been thinking about this myself.
The most important news from the Supreme Court this month?
Sure, we’ve had landmark rulings in Hobby Lobby, Canning and several other cases. But the non-retirements of the court’s two senior liberal associate justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, might overshadow any of those decisions in the longer run.
Perhaps the most unfortunate moment for presidential authority was a comment by Justice Stephen G. Breyer that modern Senate-White House battles over nominations were a political problem, not a constitutional problem. Senators of both parties have used the Constitution’s recess appointment provisions to their own advantage in their “political fights,” Breyer said, but noted that he could not find anything in the history of the clause that would “allow the president to overcome Senate resistance” to nominees.
Background: obviously, this is about the Supreme Court reviewing the President’s abuse of the recess appointment privilege – well, admittedly, it’s about what I’m calling the President’s abuse of the recess appointment privilege. The problem for the Obama administration is that the above quote suggests that even some of the liberal members of the US Supreme Court may be agreeing with me on that. This may end up being very, very bad for the executive branch’s ability to make any recess appointments, ever again*… Continue reading Quote of the Day, …Justice STEPHEN BREYER said that?
(H/T: Hot Air Headlines.) Then again, so does everybody else.
The most anonymous member of the court, according to the survey, was Stephen Breyer, with 3% of respondents naming him. Justices Anthony Kennedy (10%), Samuel Alito (5%) and Elena Kagan (4%) each were named by 10% or fewer of the people surveyed.
Seriously… what the heck has Stephen Breyer done, while on the Court? Even his Wikipedia entry can’t come up with anything interesting. He’s the Herb Kohl of the Supreme Court! Continue reading #rsrh I admit it: I blanked on Stephen Breyer.
And while there may be some situational irony in the fact that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer – a guy who once wrote that “there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas” – just got robbed at swordpoint*, his wife and guests didn’t write that particular US Supreme Court dissent. We should show some delicacy towards them, at least.
Yes, I’m a big meanie.
Moe Lane
*Well, it’s not a knife and it’s not an axe. Sword is about as close as you’re likely to get.
