Page 16 - CLT070620

16 ¦ JULY 6, 2020 NEWS

¦ From CONSERVATIVES on PAGE 15 progressives to get comfortable. If Trump is able to
the Supreme Court. President Trump, assisted by nominate an additional justice, that person will vote
the pro-life Senate majority, is keeping his promise like Brett Kavanaugh, not John Roberts. It could not
to appoint constitutionalist Supreme Court justices be more clear that the future of the court is hanging
and other federal judges,” read one such statement in the balance this year.”
from Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti- Biden has not gone as far as Trump in releasing
abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, which called a list of possible Supreme Court nominees, but has
the abortion ruling a “bitter disappointment.” said he would tap a Black woman for the court.
“This is evidenced by Justices Gorsuch and Kavana- The Supreme Court rulings haven’t all been bad
ugh, who joined with Justices Thomas and Alito and for conservatives. The court on Monday rejected a
dissented from today’s ruling,” Dannenfelser added. challenge from federal death row inmates over U.S.
Liberal groups on Monday took the win on abor- Attorney General William Barr’s new federal execu-
tion access, but warned future victories may not be tion protocol, which was upheld earlier this year by
achievable if Trump is allowed to fill future court a pair of Trump appointees on the U.S. Court of Ap-
vacancies. peals for the D.C. Circuit.
While Monday’s decision threw Roberts on Monday also wrote a
out the Louisiana abortion law, majority opinion that said Trump
Roberts leaned on the court’s Legal conservatives point has the power to fire the director

prior ruling against a nearly iden- to recent rulings on DACA, of the independent Consumer Fi-
tical Texas law where he was in LGBTQ rights and abortion nancial Protection Bureau at will
the minority. He invoked stare and not solely for cause as origi-
decisis—the legal doctrine against to argue that, despite nally required.
overturning prior precedent—in While the chief justice included
authoring his concurring opinion, President Trump’s best
splitting from the court’s liberal efforts, not enough has an interpretation of severability—
arm’s reasoning finding the law been done to shift the “It has long been settled that ‘one
unconstitutional. Supreme Court in their section of a statute may be repug-
nant to the Constitution without
favor.

“The Louisiana law imposes a rendering the whole act void’”—
burden on access to abortion just that liberals viewed as a sign the
as severe as that imposed by the justices won’t strike down the entire
Texas law, for the same reasons. Therefore Loui- Affordable Care Act in a separate case pending before
siana’s law cannot stand under our precedents,” the court, they still decried the CFPB ruling as a whole.
Roberts wrote Monday. “The far right just scored a victory in its decades-
Left-leaning groups pointed to Roberts’ opinion to long battle to destroy the social safety net,” Marge
argue he might not rule their way in future abortion Baker, executive vice president for policy and
cases, and that presumptive Democratic nominee program at the progressive group People For the
Joe Biden must win in November to guard the court American Way, said in a statement. “It’s critical that
from going even further to the right. we vote in November for a president and senators
“The increased public pressure on the court has who will nominate and confirm fair-minded judges
once again caused Roberts to side with the liber- who won’t rule exclusively in favor of big corpora-
als, but his opinion walked a very fine line and may tions in this way.”
pave the way for a much less favorable outcome on ¦

abortion rights in the very near future,” Brian Fal- Jacqueline Thomsen, based in Washington, is a re-
lon, executive director of the progressive group porter covering D.C. federal courts and the legal
Demand Justice, said in a statement. “None of the side of politics. Contact her at jathomsen@alm.
victories this term leave enough breathing room for com and follow her on Twitter @jacq_thomsen.

CONNECTICUT
Law Tribune