Bench Memos
Features news, commentary and criticism mainly involving the judiciary and confirmation process. Contributor Ed Whelan adds a daily "This Day in Judicial Activism" post highlighting opinions, injunctions and judicial appointments from years past that are sources of disappointment to him.
Author: Bench Memos is a group blog of the National Review Online, with contributors including Ed Whelan, who is president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.; Case Western Reserve School of Law professor Jonathan Adler (who also contributes to The Volokh Conspiracy); and Matthew J. Franck, professor and chairman of political science at Radford University in Virginia.
Blawg Related Categories: Judiciary • Legal History • U.S. Supreme Court • Legal News Publication
Recent Posts from Bench Memos
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David Hamilton's Yes to "Allah" and No to "Jesus" -- By: Ed Whelan
In Newsweek, Dahlia Lithwick contends that Newt Gingrich “was factually true but hopelessly misleading” when he said that David Hamilton, President Obama’s recently confirmed pick for the Seventh Circuit, had ruled that “saying the words…
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Hamilton Confirmed -- By: Ed Whelan
By a 59-39 vote, the Senate has confirmed President Obama’s controversial (see here, here, here, here, and here) nomination of David Hamilton to the Seventh Circuit. The only Republican to vote in favor of Hamilton…
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Masquerading as a Judge -- By: Ed Whelan
In another brazen abuse of his judicial office, Ninth Circuit judge Stephen Reinhardt yesterday purported to issue an order requiring the Office of the Federal Defender for the Central District of California to make an…
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Joan Biskupic's Biography of Justice Scalia-Part 4 -- By: Ed Whelan
It’s true, as I put it in my Part 1 post, that Joan Biskupic’s American Original is “in many places more evenhanded than I expected.” But my expectations were low, and Biskupic’s book is decidedly,…
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Joan Biskupic's Biography of Justice Scalia-Part 3 -- By: Ed Whelan
In the prologue (p. 9) of American Original, Joan Biskupic presents the rhetorical questions that she says “go[] to the heart of Scalia’s legacy”: Is his brand of originalism simply a way to achieve…
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This Day in Liberal Judicial Activism-November 18 -- By: Ed Whelan
2003—By a vote of 4 to 3, the Massachusetts supreme court (in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health) imposes same-sex marriage on the benighted citizens of Massachusetts, as the court rules that a state statute…
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Joan Biskupic's Biography of Justice Scalia-Part 2 -- By: Ed Whelan
Justice Scalia’s influence derives heavily from his promotion of the interpretive methodology of “original meaning,” which holds that the various provisions of the Constitution are to be interpreted in accordance with the public meaning they…
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Joan Biskupic's Biography of Justice Scalia-Part 1 -- By: Ed Whelan
I’ve read through USA Today reporter Joan Biskupic’s new biography of Justice Scalia, American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In this and a few additional posts, I’ll offer my…
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Re: President Obama's Nominations Pace -- By: Jonathan Adler
My own take on President Obama's slow pace of nominations can be found on the VC here.
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Re: Summary Reversal of Ninth Circuit Judge Reinhardt -- By: Ed Whelan
A few follow-up points to my earlier post (as well as thanks to the reader who called them to my attention): 1. As Jack Dunphy highlights on The Corner, the unanimous Supreme Court in…