At Above the Law, David Lat: Handicapping Donald Trump’s Supreme Court Shortlist. It strikes me as a shrewd analysis. He notes Jan Crawford's earlier report of a five-person short-list:
- Judge Steven Colloton (8th Cir.) of Iowa
- Judge Thomas Hardiman (3d Cir.) of Pennsylvania
- Justice Joan Larsen of Michigan
- Judge William Pryor (11th Cir.) of Alabama
- Judge Diane Sykes (7th Cir.) of Wisconsin
He narrows it down to two — Pryor and Sykes — for variety of reasons including this:
4. They are both solidly conservative. They are conservative in terms of the outcomes they reach, writing opinions and casting votes striking down various Obamacare provisions and upholding voter ID laws. They are conservative in terms of methodology, emphasizing Justice Scalia’s themes of textualism, originalism, and judicial restraint. Not surprisingly, they are active in the Federalist Society, aka the legal profession’s vast right-wing conspiracy.
And then he explains why one is more likely than the other.
Probably right, though a bit predictable.
(Thanks to Mark Pulliam for the pointer).
Posted at 6:03 AM