OA191: Fact and Fiction About Brett Kavanaugh
Today's Rapid Response Friday does\xa0not take a victory lap about our successful prediction that Brett Kavanaugh would be Donald Trump's next nominee to the Supreme Court (but seriously, we called that right, y'all.)\xa0 Instead, Andrew and Thomas break down some of the current stories surrounding Kavanaugh to separate\xa0 fact from fiction and try and articulate the best mainstream case against confirming Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In the pre-show, we give a shout-out to everyone who made the Opening Arguments Wiki possible -- go check it out!\xa0 It's amazing! After that, Andrew Was Wrong returns with a clarification from Episode 187 where Andrew misspoke.\xa0 And also, the guys have a slight laugh at Andrew's inability to pronounce locations of things. The main segment tackles a bunch of current stories surrounding Judge Kavanaugh, including:\xa0 (1) the allegation that Judge Kavanaugh has concluded that sitting Presidents can't be indicted; (2) the Yale open letter opposing his nomination; (3) a truly stupid article in\xa0The Hill arguing for a lawsuit to block Kavanaugh; (4) the potential conflict of interest with Kennedy's retirement; and (5) the notion of "packing the Court" in 2020.\xa0 Phew! Next, Andrew gives us an eight-second sneak peek at a court's refusal to permit the Trump administration to modify the\xa0Flores settlement and why that's good news. Finally, we end with an all new Thomas Takes The Bar Exam #83 involving spousal privilege.\xa0 If you'd like to play along, just\xa0retweet our episode on Twitter or share it on Facebook along with your guess and the #TTTBE hashtag.\xa0 We'll release the answer on next Tuesday's episode along with our favorite entry! Recent Appearances Andrew was just a guest co-host on Episode 75 of the Skepticrat podcast; go check it out!\xa0 Also, Andrew will be discussing Judge Kavanaugh with conservative talk show host Chuck Morse.\xa0 If you'd like to have either of us as a guest on your show, drop us an email at openarguments@gmail.com. Show Notes & Links
- For starters, here is the Tweet from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez we criticized, along with the pretty funny humor piece from Andy Borowitz.
- You should definitely read Kavanaugh's 2009 Law Review article \u201cSeparation of Powers During the Forty-Fourth Presidency and Beyond\u201d in the Minnesota Law Review.
- This is the Yale Open letter.
- This is the dreadful Ken Levy article in\xa0The Hill that Andrew debunks.
- These are the actual Senate Rules, and remember that we broke down the "nuclear option" way back in Episode 59.
- On Anthony Kennedy's negotations, check out Rule 3(C)(1) of the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges, which we previously discussed in Episode 129.
- As homework for next week, read the Court's order denying the Trump Administration's request to modify the\xa0Flores settlement, which we first covered in Episode 184.
- Finally, NEVER ENDING FAME AND FORTUNE goes to:Paul Duggan, Zach Aletheia,\xa0Eric Brewer,\xa0Teresa Gomez, Andrew Hamilton,\xa0Robin Hofmann, and Beverly Karpinski-Theunis for creating the OA Wiki!