July 17, 2022 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm PDT
Supreme Court: Justice for the Party or the People?
Location: Online
The Constitution states that the President should appoint Supreme Court justices with the “advice and consent” of the Senate. Yet the picking of justices has become more partisan in recent decades. Scalia, Kennedy, and Ginsburg were confirmed with 98, 87, and 96 Senate votes, but the Senate has appointed recent justices by only a slim majority, split along party lines. Many believe this to be an indication that partisanship is now bleeding over into the Supreme Court.
President Madison wrote that constitutional interpretation must be left to the reasoned judgment of independent judges, rather than to the tumult and conflict of the political process. Supreme Court justices themselves say the institution must be nonpartisan, taking care to avoid sharing their personal views during their confirmation hearings.
At this meeting, we’ll explore such questions as:
- How can we distinguish between partisanship and honest dissension due to a difference in values and beliefs?
- What does it mean for a judge to be “independent”? Especially when how they interpret the Constitution depends, at least in part, on beliefs about the intentions of the Founders?
Join the Crossing Party Lines discussion and have a voice in our Nation’s Conversation! People of all views are welcomed, appreciated, and heard.
Links
– With divisive cases coming, Barrett says ‘Read the opinion’ (AP News) | https://apnews.com/article/ketanji-brown-jackson-us-supreme-court-amy-coney-barrett-7aa20b34d9a3e133bf1e2e2a899476f2
– The Court and Constitutional Interpretation | https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/constitutional.aspx
Please do your best to arrive at the beginning of the meeting – once we are in breakout rooms and the conversations have started, the meeting doors close to new arrivals. The breakout rooms open (and the doors close) approximately 15 minutes after the hour.
Sign up here or through a chapter near you:
https://www.meetup.com/pro/crossingpartylines
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