Senate Republicans

Republicans Poised To Filibuster Liu Nomination

Susan Crabtree | May 18, 2011, 3:05PM

Goodwin Liu

Republicans in the Senate are poised to block one of the youngest and most promising liberal legal minds from ascending to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit more than a year after President Obama appointed him.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) Tuesday night filed a motion to limit debate on Liu's nomination. The motion requires 60 votes to pass, but Republicans are signaling strong opposition and may have enough votes to sink the motion and effectively filibuster the nomination when it comes to the floor Thursday.

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Heather Wilson

Wilson's Role In U.S. Attorneys Scandal Could Haunt Her Senate Bid

Susan Crabtree | March 7, 2011, 4:25PM

Former Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM)

Now that former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) is throwing her hat into the ring for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), expect a nasty, bitter race and plenty of ghosts turning up from Wilson's decade-long Washington career.

Wilson, a former Air Force officer and director at the National Security Council, was a rising GOP star and a standout on defense and intelligence matters post-9/11. But her Washington career ended in 2008 when she lost a GOP Senate primary to Rep. Steve Pearce, who then lost the general election to Democrat Tom Udall.

In the lead up to that primary, Wilson suffered a series of public relations blows for her role in the U.S. attorneys' scandal, improperly politicized firings of U.S. prosecutors by the Bush administration, which Democrats spent months investigating in 2007 and 2008. A lot of information about Wilson's role wasn't ever really scrutinized to the extent it could have been because she lost her first Senate bid.

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Melody Barnes

White House's Melody Barnes To Progressives: Don't Jump Off The Bridge!

Ryan J. Reilly | December 3, 2010, 9:03AM

You know that scene in "It's A Wonderful Life" where George Bailey is standing on the bridge ready to end it all? That's where White House Director of Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes sees liberals now, as they await the GOP takeover of the House. In her metaphor, Barnes is a guardian angel of sorts, trying her best Thursday night to pull progressives back from the brink.

Speaking at the American Constitution Society's holiday party at the Center for American Progress last night, Barnes drew parallels between the famous Christmas-themed movie (one of her favorite films) and the situation liberals find themselves in post-election 2010.

Yeah, it's bad, Barnes acknowledged. But, she implored, think of how much worse it would have been if Democrats hadn't been in power at all.

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Supreme Court

Leahy Floats Idea Of Bringing Former Justices Back To SCOTUS Bench

Christina Bellantoni | August 9, 2010, 4:40PM

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and current Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer.

Sen. Patrick Leahy has been floating the idea of bringing former Supreme Court justices back to the bench to help decide cases where current justices might have conflicts of interest.

It's an intriguing concept in the very early idea stages, according Leahy's aides on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy (D-VT) raised the idea of legislation allowing for the SCOTUS switcharoo first in the National Journal and again in more detail to the Washington Post.

Of course, the former justices in question would be more likely to side with the court's liberals.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Judiciary Committee Approves Elena Kagan's Supreme Court Nomination

Christina Bellantoni | July 20, 2010, 12:29PM

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan

The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved the nomination for Solicitor General Elena Kagan to serve on the Supreme Court, voting 13-6 and teeing up a floor fight over President Obama's second nominee for the high court. Her confirmation would mark the first time in history the court would include three women.

All of the committee's Democrats voted in favor of Kagan's nomination. All but one of the committee's Republicans opposed her. Sen. Lindsey Graham repeated his role from last summer's Sonia Sotomayor confirmation by being the lone Republican to back the nominee. Graham (R-SC), targeted by the tea party as a potential swing vote, said "There's plenty of reasons for a conservative to vote no, but there are plenty of reasons for a conservative to vote yes."

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Health care lawsuits

Sessions Challenges Kagan Over Health Care Reform Suits (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | July 15, 2010, 8:45AM

The Supreme Court building, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, the Caduceus, and Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

We saw this one coming, but Sen. Jeff Sessions finally has given the most explicit description yet of why he thinks Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has a problem when it comes to health care reform.

Sessions (R-AL), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee (which is tasked with Kagan's nomination next Tuesday), is now suggesting that Kagan can't sit on the bench and decide on state challenges to health care reform because as solicitor general, she must have spoken with the Obama administration about the lawsuits.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Tea Party Targets Lindsey Graham Over Kagan

Christina Bellantoni | July 14, 2010, 1:25PM

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Tea party activists are claiming victory over the one-week delay until Solicitor General Elena Kagan receives a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and one group is going after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) as the most likely GOP "Yes" vote to confirm Kagan to the Supreme Court.

"This gives us more time and we must not fail. We must keep calling Senators and tell them to stop Kagan," Tea Party Nation wrote supporters in an email obtained by TPM Organizers misspelled Graham's name, then said he's "the most likely" to support Kagan's nomination.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Kagan: I'm Not A Socialist And Can't Remember All The Dumb Memos I Wrote

Christina Bellantoni | July 13, 2010, 1:33PM

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)

The Senate Judiciary Committee today agreed to delay the vote to approve Solicitor General Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court for another week. Republicans argued -- as expected -- they needed more time to review the answers Kagan submitted to their questions for the record after her hearings earlier this month.

TPM read through the dozens of questions and answers so you don't have to. While most of the answers were a little, well, dry, we've collected the Top 5 most noteworthy below.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Senate's Summer Session Gets Shorter: GOP Plans To Delay Kagan Vote

Christina Bellantoni | July 12, 2010, 4:13PM

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

Here we go. Despite the precious little time left for Congress to get anything done, Republicans tomorrow will ask for the committee vote on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan to be delayed for an additional week.

Hotline on Call reported this afternoon that Republican aides plan to ask for the delay tomorrow when the Judiciary Committee arrives for the planned vote on Kagan. GOP aides haven't yet confirmed this for TPM, but Sen. Jon Kyl may have tipped his hand yesterday on "Fox News Sunday."

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Elena Kagan

Hatch Will Vote Against Kagan Nomination

Jillian Rayfield | July 2, 2010, 10:20AM

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) will vote against Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court, according to a statement he released today.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Grilling Ms. Kagan -- The 7 Toughest Questioners At SCOTUS Hearings (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | July 1, 2010, 5:47PM

(Clockwise from top left) Senators Arlen Specter (D-PA), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) question Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan (center, inset).

It wasn't quite a supreme grilling, but some of the Judiciary Committee's members were surprisingly tough on Solicitor General Elena Kagan this week. Although at first the Republicans spent their time deriding Thurgood Marshall as a so-called "activist judge," by day three they took up all the hot button social issues they had largely ignored in the first round of questions.

Since Kagan's testimony is complete -- Chairman Pat Leahy told her it was "The last time you'll ever have to be in a public hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee." -- TPM rounded up the toughest questioners. They might just surprise you, since some Democrats gave Kagan as hard a time as their colleagues across the aisle.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Kagan Dodges Gay Marriage Question (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | June 30, 2010, 2:52PM

kagan confirmation hearing with Grassley

Social issues were noticeably absent from the first round of questions at the confirmation hearings, but it's been abortion and gay marriage hour so far in round two. A telling exchange came between Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Elena Kagan as he asked her if states can decide marriage issues.

Kagan said she didn't want to talk about something that may very well appear before the Supreme Court. "I want to be extremely careful about this question and -- and not to in any way prejudge any case that might come before me," she said.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Kagan Sounds More And More Like Safe Vote For Gun Rights

Christina Bellantoni | June 29, 2010, 2:46PM

Handguns and Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan

The first questions about gun rights during Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings today came not from Republicans -- who always attempt to make the Second Amendment an issue -- but from Democrats. Kagan quickly ended the line of inquiry by declaring citizens' rights to own guns as "settled law."

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Supreme Court

GOPers Who Slammed Marshall's Activism Can't Name A Case Typifying It

Brian Beutler | June 29, 2010, 10:26AM

Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

Republicans raised eyebrows yesterday when they criticized the first African-American Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall, as a way to attack nominee Elena Kagan, his former clerk. One would think that, to avoid any appearance of racial dog-whistling, the senators attacking Marshall's record would be able to name the decisions or opinions with which they so vociferously disagreed.

After the hearing broke last night, TPMDC asked three of the top Republicans on the Judiciary Committee which of Marshall's opinions best exemplified his activism. And while two of the three were careful to praise Marshall the man, none of them could name a single case.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Coburn Asks Kagan To 'Set A New Standard': Answer Questions! (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | June 28, 2010, 5:54PM

Coburn at Kagan confirmation hearing

Sen. Tom Coburn didn't mince words today when he acknowledged that Supreme Court confirmation hearings are often newsless snoozefests. Coburn (R-OK) said today during the Senate Judiciary Committee's opening session for Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination that the hearings can be a disservice to the nation since nominees just "dance" around their beliefs.

Coburn framed his request to Kagan that she "set a new standard where you really answer questions" around an appeal to her patriotism and a desire to change what many say is a broken process. "Why should we have this dance if we're not going to find out real answers about real issues about what you really believe?"

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Elena Kagan

Leahy: Conservative Judges Are The True Activists On Today's Court (VIDEO)

Megan Carpentier | June 28, 2010, 3:42PM

leahy, kagan confirmation hearing

In his opening statement in Elena Kagan's confirmation hearing today, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) took a moment to reflect on who he believes are the real activist judges on the Supreme Court. And his determination was, as one would expect, rather different than what Republicans would have Americans believe.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Kagan Will Promise To Keep An 'Open Mind'

Christina Bellantoni | June 28, 2010, 12:12PM

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan today will introduce herself to the Senate Judiciary Committee by promising she would adhere to the law, respect the "choices made by the American people," and keep an "open mind" while serving on the nation's highest bench. Kagan will talk about deference to politicians and the democratic process.

"The Supreme Court, of course, has the responsibility of ensuring that our government never oversteps its proper bounds or violates the rights of individuals. But the Court must also recognize the limits on itself and respect the choices made by the American people," she will say today, according to excerpts distributed by the White House. Kagan planned to talk about the phrase engraved on the Supreme Court building just down the street from the hearing room: "Equal Justice Under Law."

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Supreme Court vacancy

Supreme Snooze Or Surprising Sass? TPM's Guide To The Kagan Hearings

Christina Bellantoni | June 28, 2010, 9:10AM

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan

Solicitor General Elena Kagan this afternoon will sit down before nineteen senators, dozens of snapping cameras and the entire political world, prepared to dodge questions rather than reveal any personal leanings and charm the Senate Judiciary Committee with her knowledge of Supreme Court precedent. Senators will talk (and talk), make political points about their own pet issues and milk their moments on a national stage.

There will be plenty of discussion of precedents, but if precedent is any indicator, Kagan's confirmation hearings will either be supremely boring or extremely interesting. We handicap the possibility of either, after the jump.

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Supreme Court vacancy

WH On Kagan Docs: Transparentest Administration Ever!

Christina Bellantoni | June 18, 2010, 11:45AM

President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan

Today, the Clinton Presidential Library will release thousands of pages of emails written by Elena Kagan during her service at the White House, completing a document dump the Obama administration swears is unprecedented for a Supreme Court nominee. Former President Clinton waived executive privilege on memos bearing his own writing, giving the Judiciary Committee members dealing with Kagan's nomination hearings what the White House says is a clear view of her work style.

The National Archives and Records Administration, a nonpartisan group run by civil servants, will release all 70,000 emails this afternoon. The committee has already received nearly 90,000 pages of documents that include Kagan's writings on topics ranging from Don't Ask, Don't Tell to adoption policy.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Bipartisan SCOTUS Experts: Confirmation Hearings A 'Joke'

Christina Bellantoni | June 8, 2010, 5:11PM

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

Legal experts and former administration officials from both parties said today the Supreme Court confirmation hearings have become far too circus-like and substance-free, resembling a law school exam cram session more than an important test of a nominee's judicial philosophy.

Panelists at an American Constitution Society for Law and Policy luncheon this afternoon differed on the right sort of justice, but agreed the televised Senate Judiciary Committee hearings have dramatically shifted the types of nominees presidents put forward. They predicted that Solicitor General Elena Kagan will give similar bland answers to those put forth last summer by Sonia Sotomayor and by John Roberts during the Bush presidency.

You know the scene: Senators who don't often get to speak freely on television give long-winded opening statements that don't leave the impression they haven't already made up their mind on how'll they vote on the nominee in question. Meanwhile, the nominees offer little to no insight into their own personal preferences, dazzling the group instead with their vast understanding of judicial precedent and saying all the right things, thanks in part to weeks of coaching from a White House war room.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Clinton Library Releases Thousands Of Kagan Documents

Christina Bellantoni | June 4, 2010, 1:18PM

Clinton-era Elena Kagan

The Clinton Library this afternoon released thousands of documents related to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's service on President Clinton's Domestic Policy Council in the 1990s, including memos related to hot-button issues of abortion and gays serving in the military.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have requested more information given that Kagan, currently the solicitor general of the United States, has no judicial record. She was dean of the Harvard Law School until she took the current job in the Obama administration. Her confirmation hearings begin June 28.

The documents can be found here.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Here Comes Kagan! Dems Mount PR Offensive With Hearings Starting Next Month

Christina Bellantoni | May 19, 2010, 4:12PM

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan meets with (clockwise, from top left) Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

With the big Super Tuesday primary elections out of the way, the White House and the Democratic National Committee have mounted a public relations offensive to sell Supreme Court nominee Solicitor General Elena Kagan to voters and the senators tasked with her confirmation. Meanwhile, key Democrats are asking for more information on her record on abortion rights.

Judiciary Committee hearings will begin June 28, the panel announced today. It's an earlier start than ranking member Sen. Jeff Session (R-AL) had sought, and Leahy said he wants to wrap the hearings by July 4. Staffers from both parties are poring over Kagan's 202-page questionnaire detailing her record. Kagan herself has done a charm offensive while doing the standard in-person meetings with senators on Capitol Hill.

Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, a co-chair of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, sent Leahy a letter asking for more information on the nominee's pro-choice stance. Slaughter (D-NY) argued that Kagan's position is relatively unknown given her lack of a judicial record.

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Elena Kagan

Republicans Prepare Tough Questions For Kagan

Brian Beutler | May 14, 2010, 1:38PM

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), SCOTUS nominee Elena Kagan, and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

If Elena Kagan's going to be a Supreme Court justice for the rest of her career, Republicans want to know as much about her ideology as they can. There's just one problem: She's a mystery to almost everybody. For that reason, they say they may spice up her confirmation hearing when she comes before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In interviews, three of the top Republicans on the Judiciary Committee told me they're likely to approach the Q&A a bit differently than they usually do. They're just not saying--or don't know--how.

"I think there's gonna be some, yes, absolutely, gonna be some difference in the approach," said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)--the committee's ranking member. "I'm not sure how that'll play out."

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Elena Kagan

Will Kagan Get The In-Depth Hearing She Advocated In '95?

Rachel Slajda | May 10, 2010, 3:54PM

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan

Fifteen years before she was nominated to the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan wrote in a book review that the confirmation process for justices had become a "farce," and that senators should press for detailed accounts of a nominee's views.

"When the Senate ceases to engage nominees in meaningful discussion of legal issues," Kagan wrote in a review of The Confirmation Mess by Stephen Carter, "the confirmation process takes on an air of vacuity and farce, and the Senate becomes incapable of either properly evaluating nominees or appropriately educating the public."

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Barack Obama

White House: Kagan Is A Worthy Successor To John Paul Stevens

David Kurtz | May 10, 2010, 2:28PM

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan

The White House is moving quickly to portray Elena Kagan as a worthy successor to the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, emphasizing that her "leadership qualities" are what set her apart from the other contenders on the Supreme Court short list. The implication is that the President sees in Kagan someone who can be an intellectual counterweight to Chief Justice John Roberts.

"You can't overnight replace 34 years of experience," presidential adviser David Axelrod told reporters, but Kagan "shows the prospect over time of stepping into those shoes and being a leader on the court."

Axelrod and White House Counsel Bob Bauer briefed a small group of reporters in the Old Executive Office Building next door to the White House about an hour after President Obama publicly unveiled Kagan in a ceremony in the East Room.

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Supreme Court

Leahy: Obama Could've Nominated Moses, And Republicans Would Be Asking For His Birth Certificate

Brian Beutler | May 10, 2010, 11:07AM

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

Sometimes it's just too easy. In the course of defending the record of Supreme Court Nominee Elana Kagan at a press conference today, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy broadsided Republicans, who, he said, could find a reason to oppose even the purest of nominees.

"We have some Republicans who would automatically oppose anybody who was nominated," Leahy said. "The President could nominate Moses the Law Giver. In fact I told the President, I said you realize if you'd nominated Moses the Law Giver, somebody would raise, 'but he doesn't have a birth certificate! Where's his birth certificate!'"

Leahy dismissed both conservative and liberal critiques of Kagan, trumpeting her experience outside the judiciary, and highlighting her years of scholarship. "It would be hard to find people in this country who would stand out as a greater legal scholar than she does," Leahy insisted. "She will be confirmed." Kagan's critics, particularly her liberal ones, have focused on her thin publishing history as an academic, and her substantive political views remain a mystery even to long-time friends.

In fairness to Republicans, they'd also likely characterize Moses as a judicial activist who foisted Ten Commandments on the people.

Supreme Court vacancy

It's Kagan -- Obama Makes Supreme Court Selection

Christina Bellantoni | May 9, 2010, 11:59PM

Solictor General Elena Kagan

President Obama Monday will officially nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the vacant seat on the Supreme Court, his second selection for the high court. Multiple news outlets and the Associated Press are reporting that Kagan, 50, is Obama's choice to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

She has never tried a case in court but was considered an early favorite for the job, causing intense speculation Friday as the White House defended her record and some publications said it was highly likely she'd be his pick. Kagan served as a clerk in the late 1980s for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and was a clerk for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. She worked at a private Washington law firm before taking a job in the Clinton administration.

Kagan is the first woman to hold the solicitor general post and until she took that position she was dean of Harvard Law School, also the first female to hold that job. Under her six-year tenure Kagan helped the law campus open new buildings and she updated the curriculum. She also was recognized for fundraising prowess. But Kagan banned military recruiters from campus, a sure lightning rod issue the GOP will focus on during her confirmation hearings.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Obama Nears Decision On Supreme Court Nominee

Christina Bellantoni | May 3, 2010, 10:43AM

President Barack Obama reflects during a meeting in the Oval Office

President Obama is nearing the final stages of review for selecting a Supreme Court nominee, summoning candidates for in-person meetings, pulling more documentation and focusing on a handful of prospects for the vacancy. Congressional and White House sources told me they think it's possible there will be a nominee by the end of this week, but certainly in the coming two weeks.

For weeks the White House stressed the process was "very early" in, but aides said today that "it's moved along quite a bit in the last week." Obama's short-ish list of nine candidates (detailed here) hasn't expanded, but "he's not at a place where he's crossed people off the list," an administration official told me today.

"We're well into this. We're getting there," the official said.

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Supreme Court vacancy

Obama Seeking Nominee In Stevens Mold And Asking Senate Leaders For Their View

Christina Bellantoni | April 21, 2010, 9:36AM

President Barack Obama meets bi-partisan U.S. Senate Leaders

President Obama, already speaking with potential Supreme Court picks, today will huddle with key members of the Judiciary Committee tasked with confirmation hearings for his future nominee.

Administration aides tell me he'll solicit their ideas for names he should add to his (longish) short list for consideration, and that Obama will tell members he wants the schedule for his nominee to be just as speedy as the one they followed last spring with Sonia Sotomayor.

A White House official told me that Obama is looking for someone "with a similar set of skills" to Justice John Paul Stevens, known for his ability to win over the other justices using compelling arguments and never backing down from a fight. The official said a nominee with a political background, such as a governor, would have the skills that could help build "a constructive 5-person majority and not just write articulate dissents."

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Supreme Court vacancy

White House: Obama Won't Make Cautious Court Pick Because GOP Will Oppose Whoever He Nominates

Christina Bellantoni | April 20, 2010, 11:14AM

President Barack Obama

President Obama thinks Republicans will engage in a full battle over his Supreme Court nominee regardless of the person's ideological leanings, and in some ways "that realization is liberating for the president" to choose whomever he pleases, an administration official told TPMDC.

In comments that are at odds with the conventional wisdom about what Obama needs to do to make sure the Senate confirms his nominee to replace John Paul Stevens, a White House official involved in the confirmation process tells TPMDC that the President isn't taking a cautious approach to selecting a nominee. Despite having one less Democrat in the Senate than when Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed last year, the administration isn't limiting itself to reviewing only centrist candidates for the court vacancy, the official said.

"It doesn't matter who he chooses, there is going to be a big 'ol fight over it. So he doesn't have to get sidetracked by those sorts of concerns," the official told me. The GOP has attempted to obstruct "anything of consequence" put forth by the Obama administration since he took office, the official said. "The president is making this decision with a pretty clear view that whoever he chooses is going to provoke a strong reaction on the right," the official added.

The White House seems confident that because Democrats allowed votes on President George W. Bush's nominees, the 41 Senate Republicans won't stand in the way with the highly unusual judicial filibuster this year. After all, nine GOPers voted in favor of Sotomayor last summer in a relatively smooth fight for the president's first Supreme Court nominee. But this is a different year. Obama isn't just down one Democrat in the Senate, he's facing a frustrated electorate, a polarized nation and looming midterm elections that have Democrats from both chambers on the ropes.

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Health care lawsuits

Conservative SCOTUS Group: Health Care Lawsuits 'New Blood' For Confirmation Hearings

Christina Bellantoni | April 19, 2010, 11:43AM

The U.S. Supreme Court building and President Barack Obama

Note to President Obama's future Supreme Court nominee: get ready for questions about whether it's legal to mandate health insurance coverage. Conservatives geared up for a fight on the confirmation of Obama's choice to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens are increasingly saying they want to make health care the big issue.

There is agitation on the far-right to push these state lawsuits challenging health care reform as the next litmus test for a nominee, especially given the looming midterm elections that are likely to be fought over the sweeping health care overhaul Democrats passed this spring.

"This is the new blood for this public policy battle," Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told me in a recent interview.

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Health Care

Graham: GOP Should Press SCOTUS Nominee On Health Care Constitutionality

Brian Beutler | April 13, 2010, 3:55PM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Add Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to the list of GOP Senators who think the constitutionality of health care reform should become an issue when President Obama picks a Supreme Court nominee.

"Sure you can ask about that," Graham told reporters off the Senate floor this afternoon, in response to a question from TPMDC. "Yeah, I think that'd be a good area to inquire in. But they're not going to be able to pre-judge a pending case."

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Supreme Court vacancy

Top Judiciary GOPer Signals Health Care Could Be Next Court Nominee's Litmus Test

Christina Bellantoni | April 9, 2010, 2:53PM

The U.S. Supreme Court building and President Barack Obama

Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee tasked with hearings for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, today offered a strong hint about the direction Republicans may take toward the president's choice.

Sessions (R-AL) used his statement to criticize Obama's "empathy" standard for selecting Sonia Sotomayor last year for the high court.

But one sentence especially stood out: "There is much at stake, as the court's interpretation of the Constitution in the coming years could significantly affect the implementation of domestic polices approved by the president and Congress over the past year."

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Ben Nelson

Landrieu, Nelson Win Goodies As Reid Seeks Their Vote On Reform

Brian Beutler | November 20, 2009, 9:27AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)

Sen. Mary Landrieu's state of Louisiana is still ailing years after Hurricane Katrina devastated its largest city. So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could be killing two birds with one stone by including in his health care bill $100 million in federal Medicaid aid for any states (aka, Louisiana) that have suffered a natural disaster in the last seven years. That's much needed help for the poor in Louisiana, and also a sweetener for Landrieu, whose support for health care reform has never been terribly certain.

That appears to be a more justifiable offer from Reid than a separate concession to Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), another health-care fence sitter. In a move that appears designed to win Nelson's initial procedural votes, Reid decided not to include a measure ending anti-trust exemptions for the insurance industry.

Reid originally fought hard to lift the exemption, even testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the need to end insurance companies' monopolistic practices. But his decision may be paying political dividends, as Nelson inches toward supporting a key health care test vote on Saturday.

The only remaining question: What's in it for Arkansas?

Chuck Grassley

Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Ventures Into Tentherism

Brian Beutler | November 13, 2009, 9:02AM

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)--the highest ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee--is unclear about the Constitutionality of current health care legislation, and he's turning for clarity to the Federalist Society.

"I think that's a good question," Sessions said on a panel at the Federalist Society's National Lawyers' Convention. "Matter of fact I met with my staff...we were talking about, and you know what I said Leonard? I said we ought to ask Federalist society folks what they think too. I said let's begin to think about that question and what's the constitutional thing...can the government require to do what we think is in your best interest if you don't think it's in your best interest?"

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who also sits on the Judiciary Committee, once said there was a bipartisan consensus in favor of individual mandates. But he too seems to have joined the tenther fringe.

You can see the video here. The exchange occurs about 27 minutes in.