Ed Whelan
14.7K posts
Ed Whelan
@EdWhelanEPPC
work @EPPCdc; blog @NRO Bench Memos; Confirmation Tales substack; co-editor (1) SCALIA SPEAKS, (2) ON FAITH, (3) THE ESSENTIAL SCALIA
D.C. Katılım Mayıs 2010
232 Takip Edilen50.6K Takipçiler
New in Confirmation Tales:
Sonia Sotomayor's not-so-wise reflection on "wise Latina" judge.
The intense controversy that Sotomayor’s comment aroused stands in sharp contrast to the lack of attention that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s incendiary positions received during her confirmation process sixteen years earlier. The difference arose from two dramatic and interrelated changes that had occurred in the meantime.
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According to @AdamSFeldman's data, KBJ alone accounts for more than 1/5 of the words spoken by justices at oral argument this term, and the three liberal justices account for nearly half (44%).
The Supreme Court’s Biggest Arguments This Term Reveal Who is Driving the Conversation open.substack.com/pub/legalytics…
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Ed Whelan retweetledi
How much is President Trump willing to forgive Putin? He’s helping the Iranians attempt to kill Americans, and Trump doesn’t seem all that bothered by it at all. It’s not even worth some harsh words. We’ve seen the president rage on Truth Social about Fed Chair Jerome Powell, actor and director Rob Reiner, or New York Times journalists who he keeps giving exclusive interviews. But no matter what Putin does, Trump never seems to get all that angry about him.
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On Trump's half-billion dollar defamation suit against CNN for describing his 2020 election challenges as "the Big Lie":
1. A federal district judge appointed by Trump dismissed the suit.
2. An Eleventh Circuit panel with two Trump appointees affirmed the dismissal.
3. Eleventh Circuit denied en banc review, with not a single judge requesting that there even be a vote on the matter.
4. Lindsey Halligan was Trump's lead lawyer.
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Ed Whelan retweetledi
ICE seizes DACA recipient on way to visit premature baby in NICU. Trump admin is not renewing "Dreamers" who were given legal status as children to stay in U.S. -- says they can now be detained and deported.
@lbarronlopez
ms.now/news/ice-detai…
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The "executive Power" that the Constitution vests in the president is not some general power of the president to do whatever he wants. It's a power (and a duty) to execute the laws that Congress has enacted. Those laws place obligations on the president, even as they also generally give some degree of discretion in how the president is to carry out those obligations.
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Trump's EO on reducing the federal bureaucracy recognized duty to ensure that federal agencies maintained "minimum presence and function required by law." Ruling in VOA case (by Reagan appointee) holds that VOA failed to maintain that legally required minimum. If you want to contest the judge's reasoning, go ahead. But there is nothing in the ruling that remotely implies that "the presidency is not real."
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We don't have a quadrennial plebiscite that vests all power in whoever is elected president. The president's primary duty is to execute the laws that Congress has enacted. So a more refined criticism of the judge's ruling is required.
Jeffrey A Tucker@jeffreytucker
If this can happen, the presidency is not real. Neither is the quadrenial plebiscite, nor the idea that the people are in charge at all. It's all fake. cnn.com/2026/03/17/med…
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@shipwreckedcrew I agree. But not sure what bearing that has here.
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Nor is the person elected obligated to accept the truncated authority handed to him by his immediate predecessor, and accept the general consensus that his authority is bounded by the neutered practices of those who came before him.
Ed Whelan@EdWhelanEPPC
We don't have a quadrennial plebiscite that vests all power in whoever is elected president. The president's primary duty is to execute the laws that Congress has enacted. So a more refined criticism of the judge's ruling is required.
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@CRTC_Nichols That's an unhelpful way to frame the issue. The Constitution authorizes Congress to enact laws that empower the courts (yes, absolutely including the lower courts) to block unlawful presidential action.
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@EdWhelanEPPC Does the Constitution vest more power in the judiciary, particularly the inferior courts, than it does in the President?
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Not sure how I missed this Trump insanity.
Republicans against Trump@RpsAgainstTrump
Trump: Our Country was unnecessarily RANSACKED by the United States Supreme Court, which has become little more than a weaponized and unjust Political Organization. The sad thing is, they will only get worse! They wouldn’t even call out The Rigged Presidential Election of 2020
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Ed Whelan retweetledi
The Judicial Conference of the United States just approved a step toward the creation of a sort of “defender general” to coordinate criminal defense strategy at the Supreme Court. 1/8
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Ed Whelan retweetledi
"MAGICAL THINKING" ON THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT
1) @Jeff_Jacoby dissects the @EqualMeansEqual lawsuit that challenges the male-only draft registration as a violation of the fantasy Equal Rights Amendment: "The Constitution is not amended by historical narrative or moral appeal [but] by following a specified legal process...that for more than a century has included a deadline set by Congress for ratification." Link in the first reply.
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Ed Whelan retweetledi
It is our pleasure to announce the winner of the 2026 Joseph Story Award – Prof. J. Joel Alicea!
The annual award recognizes a junior academic who has demonstrated excellence in legal scholarship, a commitment to teaching, a concern for students, and who has made a significant public impact in a manner that advances the rule of law in a free society.
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Judges consider all sorts of factors in deciding when to take senior status. My limited point is that insofar as a conservative judge wants to maximize prospect that successor is also a conservative, that factor weighs heavily in favor of going senior NOW.
Such a decision would need to be made promptly in order to ensure time to get successor confirmed this year. If Rs lose Senate in November elections, who knows when next opportunity might be? Perhaps over a decade away.
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