• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • WATCH NEWS
    • WHAT’S ON FOX
  • ABOUT
    • Meet Our Team
      • Our Journalists
      • Sales & Programming
    • Contact WSFX
      • Sales & Programming
  • Montford Point
  • Welcome Home

Fox Wilmington WSFX-TV

Wilmington, NC | Local news Weather and Sports

  • Local News
    • Unsung Heroes
      • Nominate an Unsung Hero
  • Local Weather
  • National
  • Sports
    • Carolina Panthers
    • Panthers Game Schedule
  • Politics
    • NC Voter Information
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • What’s on TV?
  • MORE…
    • Technology
    • Science
    • Lifestyle
    • What’s Happening Wilmington

Liberals push 2020 Dems to release Supreme Court shortlist

October 15, 2019 By Paul Steinhauser

A progressive group has released a shortlist of 32 potential Supreme Court nominees in an effort to convince 2020 Democratic presidential candidates to do the same, copying a tactic that helped President Trump shore up his conservative base ahead of the 2016 election.

Demand Justice, the organization behind the list, said in an accompanying statement that Democrats should produce similar lists, not only to emphasize how much they value the Supreme Court — progressives have assailed Democrats recently for not talking about it enough — but also to signal a move toward staunchly progressive nominees.

“In releasing this list, we also hope to make clear that the next Democratic president ought to approach the task of nominating judges with a new playbook,” the statement read, “one that prioritizes unabashedly progressive lawyers and legal thinkers, who have all too often been pushed aside.”

In this Feb. 15, photo, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra speaks at a news conference in Sacramento, Calif. Becerra, who has approached his job as an unabashed progressive, made the Demand Justice shortlist for possible Supreme Court picks, in the event that Democrats take back the Senate and the White House in 2020.

In this Feb. 15, photo, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra speaks at a news conference in Sacramento, Calif. Becerra, who has approached his job as an unabashed progressive, made the Demand Justice shortlist for possible Supreme Court picks, in the event that Democrats take back the Senate and the White House in 2020.
(Associated Press)

KAVANAUGH CONTROVERSY: SENATE REPUBLICANS WANT UPDATE ON CRIMINAL REFERRALS OVER DUBIUS ACCUSATIONS

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in an appearance with former White House Counsel Don McGahn at a Federalist Society event in Kentucky earlier this month, praised the Trump campaign for releasing its list at a time when many in the GOP were deeply concerned about the future of the high court.

“The significance of it was, here was a guy who was about to become our nominee who was doing fundraisers for [Rep. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.] four years ago. There were a lot of us saying, ‘What are we getting here?'” he said. “Fast forward a little farther and by the fall the single biggest issue that brought nine out of 10 Republican voters home to Donald Trump, just like nine out of 10 voted for Mitt Romney, was the Supreme Court.”

While only a quarter of the names on the Demand Justice list have experience as judges, many have argued cases before the Supreme Court or clerked for high court justices. The list does not include any current or former corporate lawyers, which the progressive organization says was intentional.

“Instead, our list boasts a wide range of former public defenders, public interest lawyers, academics, and plaintiff’s lawyers,” it says.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Many of the names on the Demand Justice list have experience with progressive groups, like Nicole Berner, general counsel to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Dale Ho, director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project.

The group also notes that McConnell’s removal of the 60-vote threshold for confirming Supreme Court justices — a move he made after Democrats chose to filibuster nominee Neil Gorsuch — will allow Democrats to push through more progressive jurists with only 50 votes.

“In the past, Democratic presidents were bound by the need for 60 votes, leading them to look for “safer” picks who could draw Republican support,” the statement reads. “If Democrats win back the Senate and are able to confirm a pick with just a simple majority, there is all the less reason to confine ourselves to those more traditional types of nominees.”

Notably absent from the list is Merrick Garland, a moderately liberal judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, who was nominated to the Supreme Court by former President Barack Obama in 2016 in hopes that he could draw enough votes from the GOP-controlled Senate to be confirmed before the presidential election that year. He never received a confirmation vote in the Senate.

Filed Under: Politics

Primary Sidebar

 

Follow Us On Facebook



TRENDING NOW

Here’s your chance to give back on #GivingTuesday

Cowboys’ Micah Parsons rips critics for his praise of Eagles ahead of Super Bowl: ‘You people are sick!’

Vanilla Ice says he was shocked by Madonna’s proposal in the early ‘90s: ‘I’m way too young for this’

Nebraska Capitol sees crowds gather for ‘heartbeat’ bill hearings

Arkansas House passes trans bathroom ban for schools

Priscilla Presley speaks out on what would have been Lisa Marie’s 55th birthday

Footer

PUBLIC FILE INFO

Individuals with disabilities who have questions about the content of our public file or website may contact Isabella Gano by phone at
(910) 343-8826 or by email at Isabella.gano@foxwilmington.com

 
 » WSFX FCC Public File
»EEO Report
»Closed Captioning

SITE MAP

  • Local Headlines
  • Coronavirus
  • Local Weather
  • National Headlines
  • Sports
  • Politics
  • Health

WSFX TV

  • Livestream Newscast
  • Meet Our Team
  • Sales & Programming
  • WELCOME HOME
  • Go With The Pros
  • Medically Speaking
  • WHAT’S ON FOX

Copyright © 2023 · American Spirit Media LLC · WSFX TV · Wilmington NC · Terms of Service · Privacy Policy