Monthly Archives: February 2016

Republican Senators Are Rolling the Dice and the Odds Are Not In Their Favor

By Elliot Louthen, contributor

The GOP half of the Judiciary Committee announced earlier this week that they will not engage in any aspect of the nomination process to fill Justice Scalia’s seat. Though this is not entirely surprising — hearings were unlikely from the outset let alone an actual vote on a nominee — it is bewildering to consider the leverage Republicans are leaving on the table. Even more concerning for the average party member, this decision seems like a cleavage between the party’s conservative platform and the party’s political fortunes.

By blocking any Obama nominee, the apparent GOP strategy is to hedge their bets on winning the presidency, thereby ensuring a champion of conservativism fills Scalia’s vacant seat. A major problem with this strategy, however, is that their prospects of taking the White House in 2016 are seemingly growing slimmer and slimmer. Continue reading →

So long, Justice Scalia

Cara L. Gallagher, Weekend Contributor

Last week, the internet of trolls solace public opinion melted for a few days grounding every other political story to a halt. Justice Scalia suddenly died and a confluence of voices, both allies and foes, shouted loud enough to practically awake him from the dead. Once they quieted, the memorials began. Moments and stories told by those who knew him, Scalia “best-of” lists, and the resurrection of “argle-bargle” – Just when I thought we’d finally buried that phrase – dominated the news cycles, stealing the spotlight from Donald Trump. So many charming Scalia moments pointed to the complexity of a man I myself had complex feelings about.

My Scalia moment happened in July of 2012, my first year working at C-SPAN. My boss and mentor, Brian Lamb, knew my affinity for the Supreme Court and invited me to join him at the taping of a Q&A interview with the Justice, who’d just written his book Reading Law. After the interview, Justice Scalia’s handler shot me daggers as I hovered outside the green room. Had Mr. Lamb not intervened by introducing us, the picture below would never have happened. Here’s how one of my greatest celebrity moments went down:

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Continue reading →

What happens after race-based admissions policies lose in the Supreme Court?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABy Cara L. Gallagher, weekend contributor

This year, Groundhog Day will be celebrated on Wednesday, December 9th. That’s the day Fisher v. The University of Texas at Austin – a case that tests the use of race in admissions processes – returns to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case heads back to the SCOTUS Wednesday only two years since Fisher I. The University received a warning shot last time when a 7-1 majority remanded the case back to the lower court ordering the UT prove the only way to achieve a “critical mass” of diverse students was to do so using race as a factor in their admissions process.

That was in June of 2013. Since then UT hasn’t changed its admissions processes and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled again last summer that the school’s use of race passed constitutional muster. Continue reading →

Thanksgiving follies: Go ahead, talk politics at the dinner table.

fingerpointingBy Cara L. Gallagher, weekend contributor/holiday survivalist

Gaming the table talk at Thanksgiving when the participants include long-lost, rarely seen family members and friends requires much the same strategies as one’s approach to eating that day: Take control of the situation. Go in with a plan. Never attack. Take it one bite at a time and digest a bit before going farther.

Talk of the Republican candidates, the debates, and/or Hillary’s emails are the assumed political traps this Thursday. If those are the topics your turkey table is doomed to dwell on, consider switching the conversation to the no-less controversial but more scholarly topics: Supreme Court and its new term. Continue reading →