Posted on 05/03/2017 8:06:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
He hasn’t been wearing the robes very long, but Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch (and I swear I will never get tired of typing that phrase) is striking out on his own path at the nation’s highest court. The Daily Caller put up this report yesterday and it deals with a somewhat controversial decision that Gorsuch made pretty much as soon as he’d taken his seat. It has to do with what’s referred to as the “cert pool” which is the method the court uses to determine which of the thousands of petitions they receive every year are granted a hearing. They are typically spread out among the clerks of the various justices who review them and pass on a recommendation to the justices as to whether they merit granting a hearing or should be rejected.
Gorsuch has declined to participate in this traditional process and will instead have his own clerks review all of the petitions individually. That begs the question of precisely why he wants to take on this additional work.
In choosing not to join the pool, Gorsuch is flashing an independent streak. By having his own staff review each petition, he may be signaling misgivings about the judgements of other chambers, or of pool memos prepared by clerks who don’t share his interpretative commitments. Under the cert pool system, the justices must accept that a significant portion of petitions are reviewed by young clerks who may not share their opinions on a wide range of legal issues.
On the other hand, it may simply reflect a preference for the work product of his own clerks, an inclination shared by other federal judges including Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He may also feel that opting out of the pool ensures greater scrutiny is given to each petition.
This might be seen as a bit of a insult to the rest of the judges because it could be interpreted as calling into question the competency of their clerks. Or, as the DC notes, it may just be a case of Gorsuch wanting to be absolutely thorough in discharging his duties even if it eats up a lot more cycles in his own office. Either way, it’s definitely a signal that he’s not ready to settle into the status quo.
But the existence of the cert pool actually should be worrying in the first place. Getting a position as a clerk to a SCOTUS judge isn’t easy and I’m sure they’re not just grabbing people off the street, but that’s still not the same level of experience as an actual justice on the high court. And the justices no doubt choose clerks who are ideologically in their own orbit. How many petitions show up which might be of great interest to a particular subset of justices but never see the light of day because they got a thumbs down from the clerk of one of the other members? Yes, the court can override the recommendation in the memo, but given the volume of applications, how often does that happen?
This could be a very positive signal from the court’s newest member. If he’s willing to take on the work of having his own office review every single petition which is received, he may wind up overruling the call made by (for example) one of Sotomayor’s clerks. Well… he can’t “override” it on his own, but he could at least make the case for granting or dismissing from one of the nine seats.
I’m going to take this as a positive sign for the time being. The man has been granted some of the most awesome power in the country and he has a responsibility to wield it wisely. Sounds like he’s off to a good start.
Having been a clerk in that court, Gorsuch probably knows the downside of the cert pool, and finds it to be significant.
He’s reverting to the process used from the beginning until the Burger court.
Perhaps he is not satisfied with getting the coffee and answering the door?
If nothing else, it will be good for the “pool clerks” to know that somebody else will be independently looking over their conclusions as to what is worthy of Supreme Court examination.
Well said. My thought was similar.
He knows that some cases shouldn't have made it to the Court while others should have made it. He knows that there are highly partisan leftist clerks selecting cases. At present, there are any number of cases which he might select which would otherwise be trashed by a partisan clerk. Yeah, he's shaking things up, and that's a good thing.
Well, he’s now the only non-Catholic, non-Jewish person on the court. Maybe its the good old protestant work ethic. (are we still allowed to use that term?)
Precisely
This is a great learning tool for him. Do your own thing, compare with the results of “the system.” he doesn’t have to stick to this method. I’ve done similar in my jobs, undertake to understand some business function by running parallel with it for awhile. Usually started because “the system” burned me.
Roberts voted with the 4 liberals to allow Miami to sue banks because banks gave unfavorable loans to low income residents of Miami. The conservatives said basically that Miami isn’t one of those low income residents and it isn’t even representing one. It wants the money for the city.
That strikes me as a wildly liberal point of view.
I'm impressed! Who did you clerk for?
Think was referring to Gorsuch having been a clerk on the court in the past. Gorsuch is familiar with the process and may not like it.
I suspect he’s not keen on allowing clerks for Sotomayor or Kagan to have a thumbs up or down to interfere with what is forwarded to him for review, so he’s using his own clerks to make that determination.
Ah, I see! Thanks!
bfl
Actually, the rule in grammar is that the modifying clause be related to the noun that is closest to it.
I wrote: “Having been a clerk in that court, Gorsuch probably knows...”
The clause relates to Gorsuch. It is not a dangling modifier.
The pronoun “I” does not appear anyplace in the sentence.
I stand corrected! So, who did you clerk for? Just kidding! Thanks!
When I was a young PFC, I clerked for a while for 1LT Robert E. Waller.
Still remember the signature block.
:>)
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