Following the unexpected death of Justice Scalia and retirement of Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court saw a swing to the right with the additions of Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh. Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are expected to be strong conservatives. According to fiverthirtyeight, Gorsuch is expected to be slightly more conservative than Justice Alito, making him as far right as Ginsburg and Sotomayor are left. Kavanaugh, on the other hand, is expected to be the second most conservative just slightly behind Justice Thomas, making him a very strong conservative. Because of this the socially liberal, especially pro choice groups, are worried that this new bench may overturn key decisions such as in Roe v Wade despite Kavanaugh claiming he "understands the importance of the precedent".
On Monday the 10th the Supreme Court declined to hear two cases related to Planned Parenthood. It was determined in appeals courts states may not revoke medicaid funding to certain programs for reasons other than healthcare quality and competence. It also determined that patients on Medicaid would be able to sue for termination of programs. Refusing to hear the cases essentially confirmed these decisions and is viewed as a win for Planned Parenthood and its supporters, and a shock for many. On a bench with five conservative judges in Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Thomas, it should have been easy for the Supreme Court to get the rule of four necessary for a writ of certiorari. However, in a twist Kavanaugh and Roberts voted no and only three yes votes were passed by Alito, Gorsuch, and Thomas.
The decision to vote no by Kavanaugh and Roberts are being questioned constantly. Some claim they voted no simply to keep a low profile after Kavanaugh's messy hearing, while some believe that it is a sign that Kavanaugh is not as conservative as he seemed. Justice Thomas publicly criticized and questioned the decision to not hear the case by Justice Kavanaugh and Roberts. In his dissent, Thomas asked "What explains the court’s refusal to do its job here? I suspect it has something to do with the fact that some respondents in these cases are named ‘Planned Parenthood.’”
Questions:
1. Why do you think Kavanaugh and Roberts voted against hearing it? Was it purely political, or was their vote genuine?
2. Is this truly a win for Planned Parenthood and a sign of the future, or are they doomed in the near future anyway due to this conservative Supreme Court Bench?
3. What do you think about the decision not to hear this case? Was it the right call?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/us/politics/planned-parenthood-supreme-court.html
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-conservative-is-brett-kavanaugh/
1) I think Kavanaugh and Roberts voted against hearing it because of Kavanaugh's messy appointment. For instance, Kavanaugh caused lots of public tension because of his rumors of sexual misconduct while in high school. He also has a known stance of conservatism and has been questioned a lot on the decision of Roe v. Wade. Therefore, he is more inclined to maintain his public opinion of him so I think it was more political.
ReplyDelete2) I think it is not a true win for Planned Parenthood because others might re sue again in order for it to go to the Supreme Court again. After Kavanaugh has established his positive reputation, he will probably accept the cause if it is brought up again. So, they could be doomed in the future due to the fact that the new Supreme Court is more conservative.
3) I think the decision to not hear the case is a win for abortion and planned parenthood so far. Depending on if you are conservative or liberal, it is a win or loose. For instance, if you are a liberal, it is a win for you and if you are a conservative, it would be a loss for you, but it could still be a win in the future due to the fact that the new court is conservative.
I think Kavanaugh and Roberts voted against hearing it for political reasons to keep a low profile after Kavanaugh's messy confirmation. By refusing to listen to these cases, Kavanaugh does not have to formally approve or disprove of Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court.
ReplyDeleteThis is not truly a win for Planned Parenthood, for even if SCOTUS continues to refuse to listen to cases concerning Planned Parenthood, the executive branch can still cut funding for Planned Parenthood. And, if the conservative Supreme Court does listen to one of these cases, with its current composition, it will almost certainly vote against Planned Parenthood.
I think it was the right call, as any decision on the case would have caused uproar on either side, and this way, Planned Parenthood remains safe.
1. I think Kavanaugh and Roberts chose not to hear the case because of Kavanaugh's recent conflict regarding the closely related topic of sexual misconduct. It would lessen the tensions between Kavanaugh and the media because his decision would probably make headlines.
ReplyDelete2. I would not call this a win because nothing was resolved, more like the issue is sitting and waiting to be decided on at a later time. Planned Parenthood is currently surviving so maybe they can be happy about at least that. The Supreme Court can doom Planned Parenthood in the future, but it will not doom them in the near future.
3. In terms of Kavanaugh's reputation and avoiding to increase tension in the media, it was a good call to not hear it right now. However, there needs to be a decision at some point. Planned Parenthood also survived so it was beneficial to them as well.
1. I think that Kavanaugh and Roberts voted against hearing planned parenthood cases because of the recent scandal with Kavanaugh's appointment and them wanting to keep a low profile until the public forgets about it. They do not support planned parenthood and have voiced many times how they wanted to reverse Roe v. Wade making their vote purely political.
ReplyDelete2.I do not believe that Planned Parenthood would call this a win because the conservative justices have stated how they wanted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Planned Parenthood case is just stalled until Kavanaugh's bad reputation is forgotten about. I think they are doomed in the future because conservatives are the majority in the Supreme Court and they will most likely vote against Planned Parenthood when they have the chance.
3.I think it was the right call to decide not to hear the case. Liberals would be outraged at any decision the conservatives on the Supreme Court made against planned parenthood and would overturn their ruling once they got the majority back in the Supreme Court.
1. I think it is because of Kavanaugh. Due to the public's negative views on him due to the scandal, they did not want to draw more attention to him at the moment. I belive that once the public forgets about the situation, they will want to hear more cases but they are trying to keep him out of the public eye at the moment. It would be large in the media, something that they don't want.
ReplyDelete2. Nothing was resolved so this wasn't technically a win. It will most likely come to the Supreme Court again and due to the highly conservative views in the Supreme Court, I would say that Planned Parenthood is doomed.
3. I actually do belive it was the right call not to hear this case. There would have been an outrage of media and hatred so it is better to reopen the case later in time, when people are not as focused on Kavanaugh and his scandal.
-Tovia Sobel
Delete1. I believe that Kavanaugh voted against hearing the case due to his messy confirmation and the sexual nature of the accusation leveled against him. He was avoiding getting labeled so early on in his time as judge. As for Roberts, he may want to save the court from hearing to many decisions about Planned Parenthood, and instead focus on other issues.
ReplyDelete2. In the end, this is not really a win for Planned Parenthood because they did not actively make any advancements in achieving their political goals. Instead, their issues were just postponed till a later time basically, when it will face a conservative court that could strike down their goals.
3.I think the decision to not hear the case was the right call at the moment because it preserves Planned Parenthood for the time beings and prevents political turmoil from seeping into the court for the time being.
1. I believe that Kavanaugh is under an enormous amount of pressure to support women's rights after he was accused of violating them. In order for him to slowly regain his reputation and respect of the people, Kavanaugh needed to publicly support Planned Parenthood.
ReplyDelete2. This is a battle won for Planned Parenthood but they haven't won the war. Groups will continue to sue them and with a conservative bench, a decision against PP is seemingly imminent. Not hearing this case at this moment is a literal postponement for a later date since another case in inevitable.
3. I think not hearing the case is a mere dodge by the court. The Kavanaugh hearings are still relatively recent and people are still mad about the nomination. In lieu of this, it's not the time to make any decision again Planned Parenthood and will wait until the timing is better.
1. I think that Kavanaugh voted no because of his confirmation and because he is a new justice and did not want this to be on him so early in his time as a justice, especially because he is young. I think that Roberts said no because he has said that he believes that Roe v Wade has set a precedent.
ReplyDelete2. I think that this is neither a win nor a loss because nothing truly happened. In the future Kavanaugh may vote to hear a case involving planned parenthood and who knows what would happen then.
3. I think the decision not to hear the case prevented tension, however it may bring more tension in a future case.
1. Kavanaugh's confirmation brought up questions regarding his character and respect for women. I think he voted no because he wanted to avoid having to bring up these questions again by making formal statements in the Planned Parenthood case.
ReplyDelete2. No, this is not a win for Planned Parenthood because this issue will come up again and will eventually have to face Supreme Court. The conservative bench dooms its future.
3. It was a good decision to not hear the case because the climate regarding Kavanaugh's confirmation is still bad and deciding to hear the case would only aggravate people from both sides. However, the Supreme Court will eventually have to address this issue, so it's only a matter of time before the case is reopened.
1. Considering that Kavanaugh and Roberts are Supreme Court justices, they had better be voting genuinely and not politically, or they should not be on the Supreme Court. I am not clear on their reasons, however. Perhaps they felt that the cases were not good enough examples to be able to argue their case properly and are waiting for a better opportunity, or that the cases were not relevant enough or weren't different enough from Roe v. Wade.
ReplyDelete2. I don't know why Kavanaugh and Roberts did not vote to hear the case, but assuming that this does not imply that they have a pro-choice stance, it is possible that future cases will not go in favor of abortion. It can be considered a win for now, but if I'm pro-choice I wouldn't get too excited.
3. The decision not to hear this case was rather odd, but it was probably the right call. The precedent regarding abortion has already been established, so if Kavanaugh and Roberts knew that hearing another case wasn't really necessary and decided not to hear the case despite their personal opinions, this was the right decision.