Top 10 News Items on the Supreme Court Vacancy Going Into July 4th

10.  President Trump will announce his decision on the evening of Monday, July 9th.

9.  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will follow the “Kennedy Rule” and oppose any nominee. Senator Ted Kennedy gave an infamous speech condemning Judge Robert Bork as soon as he was announced.  The partisan attack helped lead to Bork’s defeat.  Kennedy gave a similar speech when Justice David Souter was nominated.  Justice Souter turned out to be a vote for the liberal wing of the court.  The Kennedy rule many Senate Democrats have lived by states regardless of the person’s record, if he is nominated by a Republican, he must be portrayed as an extremist that would bring back segregation, back-alley abortions, etc.

8.  CNN will report fake news.  CNN’s legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin has already lost it as Ari Fleischer points out:

If you want to see what it looks like when someone has lost their mind, here it is... https://t.co/TyeCPn9MPQ

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) July 1, 2018

7.  The Left’s attacks are not limited to unhinged insanity.  They also include Religious bigotry.

Dragging Amy Barrett for her Christian faith is 1) unconstitutional if used as a religious test for office; 2) ignorant; and 3) often malicious and bigoted. She lives a life very similar to the lives of millions of her fellow citizens: https://t.co/p1Vu8Z3fvo

— David French (@DavidAFrench) July 2, 2018

6.  And unbounded hypocrisy:

I didn’t realize that the minority leader was such a fan of Citizens United and DC v Heller. https://t.co/qZXrvogE56

— Ilya Shapiro (@ishapiro) July 2, 2018

5.  President Trump is reportedly personally interviewing five finalists.  David Latt says four of those finalists are:

I can CONFIRM (multiple sources) that President Donald Trump personally interviewed these four #SCOTUS candidates today: Judges Amy Barrett (7th Cir.), Brett Kavanaugh (D.C. Cir.), Raymond Kethledge (6th Cir.), & Amul Thapar (6th Cir.). #AppellateTwitter

— David Lat (@DavidLat) July 2, 2018

4.  The fifth person is a woman, as President Trump has stated two of the five potential nominees are women.  Possibilities include: Margaret Ryan, Joan Larsen, or Allison Eid.

3.   While much has been written about the qualifications of Judge Barrett and Judge Kavanaugh, Judge Kethletdge has largely flown under the radar.  Here is a great piece by RNLA Board of Governors Member Chuck Cooper on Kethledge. 

2.   Another potential nominee not receiving as much attention is Judge Thapar.  For his appellate nomination, RNLA endorsed Amul Thapar and worked on his judicial confirmation.

1.  The "judge whisperer" Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society summed up President Trump's Supreme Court shortlist well: "The list is really good," Leo said, adding, "You can throw a dart at that list and in my view you would be fine."

The RNLA is very excited to support the nominee in the mold of former RNLA Member Justice Neil Gorusch.  Stay tuned for more information here and buckle your seat belt for Monday.

Chuck Cooper to be Presented RNLA's Highest Award

The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) is pleased to name Charles “Chuck” Copper as the recipient of the 2016 Ed Meese Award.  Cooper was selected for the Ed Meese Award, named after the 65th United States Attorney General, as he has upheld the rule of law in the face of adverse political challenges. 

Charles J. Cooper is a founding member and chairman of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC. Named by The National Law Journal as one of the 10 best civil litigators in Washington, he has over 35 years of legal experience in government and private practice, with several appearances before the United States Supreme Court and scores of other successful cases on both the trial and appellate levels.

Shortly after serving as law clerk to Judge Paul Roney of the Fifth (now Eleventh) Circuit Court of Appeals, and to Justice (later Chief Justice) William H. Rehnquist, Mr. Cooper joined the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in 1981. In 1985 President Reagan appointed Mr. Cooper to the position of Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. Mr. Cooper reentered private practice in 1988, as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of McGuire Woods. From 1990 until the founding of Cooper & Kirk in 1996, he was a partner at Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge where he headed the firm’s Constitutional and Government Litigation Group.

Mr. Cooper’s practice is national in scope and is concentrated in the areas of constitutional, commercial, and civil rights litigation. He is currently representing private clients in a variety of commercial cases, including antitrust, intellectual property, and contract disputes. Mr. Cooper also represents a number of state and local government bodies, as well as private clients, in a wide range of constitutional and federal statutory cases.

In 1998 Mr. Cooper was appointed by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to serve as a member of the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Mr. Cooper is a member of the American Law Institute and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and he has spoken and published extensively on a wide variety of constitutional and legal policy topics.

Mr. Cooper is a lifelong Republican who has been active in numerous local, state and national election campaigns.  He served as National Co-Chairman of Lawyers for Bush-Cheney 2004, the last successful Republican Presidential Campaign.  Mr. Cooper’s firm has employed numerous leaders in the Republican and conservative legal movement including Senators Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz.  Mr. Cooper has also been previously honored by the RNLA with the 2010 Republican Lawyer of the Year Award.