SCOTUS

• 
• SOURCE: The Washington Post
  11-20-18
  

  How the Supreme Court fractured the nation over slavery — and how it threatens to do so again

  by H. W. Brands

  The issue: abortion. Those who would outlaw abortion today are as convinced of the morality of their position as the abolitionists were of the morality of theirs.

• 
• SOURCE: The Washington Post
  11-19-18
  

  The Supreme Court justices control whether court-packing ever happens

  by Thomas M. Keck

  They must give the elected branches room to address societal needs.

• 
• SOURCE: The Harvard Gazette
  11-14-18
  

  Sotomayor: Judges should pull together

  “If we, as an institution, don’t find the way to find that middle, we stand a chance of going the way that our other branches of government have gone, and losing the respect that is at the core of our institution.”

• 
• SOURCE: Rolling Stone
  10-9-18
  

  Sean Wilentz says the Supreme Court’s legitimacy is now at stake

  by Sean Wilentz

  "After Kavanaugh’s performance and his strong-armed confirmation, the 5-to-4 decisions that ensue will at least clarify exactly what the long-term right-wing campaign has been all about.” (It’s not originalism.)

• 
• 10/21/18
  

  What Historians Could Teach Senators on the Judiciary Committee

  by Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor and Lisa G. Materson

  Women’s voices matter; those who want to know their experiences must train themselves to hear them.

• 
• SOURCE: The Daily Tar Heel
  10-10-18
  

  N.C. State historian Charles Ludington reflects on his Kavanaugh testimony

  "It was my civic duty.”

• 
• SOURCE: The Washington Post
  10-6-18
  

  The Senate has lost its way

  by Dov Weinryb Grohsgal

  With Sens. Jeff Flake and Susan Collins’s decision to vote for Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on Friday, ensuring his confirmation, the case of Clement Haynsworth offers another important comparison.

• 
• SOURCE: The Washington Post
  10-8-18
  

  The Kavanaughs of the Founding generation

  by Laura Ellyn Smith

  Even in the nation’s early days, accusations of sexual misconduct were treated as a political smear.

• 
• 10/14/18
  

  These 9 Justices Failed to Vote the Way Their Party Expected

  by Ronald L. Feinman

  But have we seen the last of their kind?

• 
• SOURCE: The Washington Post
  10-8-18
  

  ‘Moral dry-rot’: The only Supreme Court justice who divided the Senate more than Kavanaugh

  Before Brett M. Kavanaugh, there was Stanley Matthews, whose confirmation was so fraught and divisive that it took a second nomination to cement his place on the Supreme Court.

• 
• SOURCE: Balkinization (blog)
  10-6-18
  

  The Vicious Entrenchment Circle: Thoughts on a Lifetime with a Republican-Controlled Court

  by Marty Lederman

  By the time the Court’s current Term ends in June, it will have been more than 50 years of GOP-appointed control.

• 
• SOURCE: NYT
  10-7-18
  

  Was the Kavanaugh Hearing the Worst Supreme Court Fight? You Be the Judge

  In the centuries since the court was established, about 16 percent of candidates submitted to the Senate never donned the coveted black robe — whether by outright rejection, withdrawal or deferring of the nomination.

• 
• SOURCE: Forbes
  10-6-18
  

  Brett Kavanaugh's Confirmation Vote Is The Most Partisan In Modern History

  The 50-48 tally continues a trend in which confirmations have devolved into strict party-line votes.

• 
• SOURCE: Business Insider
  9-3-18
  

  Republican Sen. Ben Sasse (a historian) drops a bombshell on the debate over Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court

  "I urged the president to nominate a different individual," Sasse said. "I urged the president to nominate a woman."

• 
• SOURCE: NYT
  10/3/18
  

  Kavanaugh Proceedings Drive a Senate Once Governed by Decorum Into Rancor

  Even during the debates over civil rights in the sixties senators on opposite sides of the issue remained civil. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Washington Post
  10-2-18
  

  How the FBI’s flawed investigation of Clarence Thomas became a model for Kavanaugh’s

  And why it shouldn't.  For one thing, the FBI never talked to — or even knew to look for — four potential witnesses who had knowledge of Anita Hill’s complaints about Thomas.

• 
• SOURCE: The Washington Post
  9-30-18
  

  Women are deeply divided on Brett Kavanaugh

  by Michelle Nickerson and Emily Suzanne Johnson

  Here’s why.

• 
• SOURCE: The News & Observer
  9-30-18
  

  Kavanaugh's Yale classmate, historian Charles Ludington, says judge was a heavy drinker

  Kavanaugh was “a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker,” in college, says the North Carolina State University professor.

• 
• 9-29-18
  

  Can a Supreme Court Justice Be Impeached?

  by Kevin Gannon

  Here's the answer historian Kevin Gannon provided on Twitter.

• 
• 9/30/18
  

  People Love “What If” Moments. Are We Living Through One Now?

  by Ed Simon

  If Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed will Americans 50 years from now wonder how different our politics would have been if he had not been?