huffingtonpost by Elliot Mincberg 7/12/2017
As the first Supreme Court term including Justice Neil Gorsuch has come to an end, more and more observers are noting that Gorsuch has clearly lived up to right-wing hopes by emerging as one of the Court’s most conservative justices on issues ranging from the death penalty to LGBTQ rights to church-state separation. On two issues in particular, despite his defenders’ claims during his confirmation hearings, Gorsuch has already become one of the most far-right justices on the Court: deference to presidential authority, and money in politics and elections.
And as early as this year, Gorsuch has the potential to help do enormous damage on these and related issues.
As Donald Trump’s dangerous assertions of presidential authority on immigration and other matters unfolded during Gorsuch’s hearings, senators expressed concern as to whether a Justice Gorsuch would stand up independently and be willing to take action against abuse of such executive branch authority. Gorsuch’s defenders insisted that this would not be a problem. Look at his statements to senators about Trump’s criticisms of federal judges, they asserted. And his record of disagreeing with federal executive branch agencies and with judicial doctrines of deference to such agencies, it was claimed, meant that he would not defer to executive authority and would stand up against it when necessary.
We were not fooled.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/59663dbee4b0deab7c646d32
