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Jump to: 2016; 2017; 2018; 2019;
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Undated note:
Judge Judy is an American
arbitration-based reality court show presided over by Judge
Judy Sheindlin, a retired
Manhattan
family
court judge.[2]
[Note that unlike what some Americans believe, not only is Judge Judy Sheindlin
not a Federal judge, she is not on the Supreme Court, either]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Judy
Undated: The Supreme Court of the United
States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the
acronym
SCOTUS[2])
is the
highest
federal court of the United States. Established pursuant to
Article Three of the United States Constitution in 1789, it has ultimate
(and largely
discretionary)
appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and
state court cases involving issues of
federal law plus
original jurisdiction over a small range of cases. In the
legal system of the United States, the Supreme Court is generally the final
interpreter of
federal law including the
United States Constitution, but it may act only within the context of a case
in which it has jurisdiction. The Court may decide cases having political
overtones but does not have power to decide
nonjusticiable
political questions, and
its enforcement arm is in the executive rather than judicial branch of
government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States
-- 2016 --
September 24: Trump's supreme court picks:
from Tea Party senator to anti-abortion crusader
Among 10 new names, one is an originalist, one a judicial traditionalist … and
one said firing a hygienist for ‘tempting’ a dentist was not unlawful
discrimination
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/sep/24/donald-trump-supreme-court-nominations-names
-- 2017 --
March 30: Democrats planning to filibuster Supreme Court
nominee Neil Gorsuch.
Republicans have said that could
force their hand to try one avenue to
get around a block: the nuclear option ...
a change in Senate rules that would lower the
threshold to end a filibuster to 51
from 60. Republicans, who number 52 in the Senate, could then easily end the
filibuster. ... Members on both sides of the aisle are worried that it's
all a slippery slope that leads to
lowering the threshold for legislation, which
would make it smooth sailing for whatever party is in power.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/republicans-on-nuclear-option/
April 3: Four Senate Democrats announced Monday they plan to oppose Neil Gorsuch, bringing the Democratic caucus to the 41 votes needed to sustain a
filibuster against the Supreme Court nominee.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/03/politics/neil-gorsuch-filibuster-senate/index.html
April 7: The Senate Thursday triggered the so-called "nuclear option"
that allowed Republicans to break a Democratic filibuster of Supreme Court
nominee Neil Gorsuch.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/senate-nuclear-option-neil-gorsuch/index.html
April 7: The Senate Friday morning confirmed
Neil Gorsuch, a 49-year-old federal judge who could help cement a
conservative majority on the bench for decades, to the Supreme Court, according
to a CNN count of the vote.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/07/politics/neil-gorsuch-senate-vote/index.html
Undated: Americans deserve elected
officials that are beholden to voters, not outside influences or their own
personal financial interests ....
http://www.commoncause.org/take-action/act/stop-donald-trumps-conflicts-of-interest-blind-trust.html?gclid=CP_MmsCPvtMCFQIQaQod3a4Kcg
November 17: President Donald J.
Trump’s Supreme Court List
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trumps-supreme-court-list/
December 4: Supreme Court allows full
enforcement of Trump travel ban
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to fully enforce a
ban on travel to the United States by residents of six mostly Muslim countries.
This is not a final ruling on the travel ban: Challenges to the policy are
winding through the federal courts, and the justices themselves ultimately are
expected to rule on its legality.
But the action indicates that the high court might eventually approve the latest
version of the ban, announced by President Donald Trump in September. Lower
courts have continued to find problems with the policy.
https://www.apnews.com/b8244def36484dfb93fd958962b7d649/Supreme-Court-allows-full-enforcement-of-Trump-travel-ban
December 20: Eight months into his lifetime
U.S. Supreme Court appointment, Neil Gorsuch has given every indication through
his votes in key cases and remarks from the bench he will be a stalwart of the
conservative legal agenda, as President Donald Trump promised.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gorsuch/trumps-supreme-court-appointee-gorsuch-plots-rightward-course-idUSKBN1EE0IJ
-- 2018 --
January 18:
Justice Dept. asks Supreme Court to
rule on Trump's right to end DACA ... during the
current court term, in which cases are typically decided by June.
The
filing argues that an order issued by a San Francisco-based federal
judge
last week requiring officials to resume accepting renewals from DACA
participants was legally flawed.
In an unusual move, Solicitor General Noel Francisco is asking the justices for
permission to bypass the usual process of appeal to the regional circuit court —
in this instance the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/18/trump-justice-department-supreme-court-daca-349083
January 19: Supreme Court to issue final
verdict on Trump travel ban
"The Supreme Court has the power to end a disgraceful chapter in American
history, during which President Trump has ignored the Constitution and our
fundamental values of religious freedom and fairness," said Richard Katskee,
legal director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which has
participated in various lawsuits challenging the travel ban.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/19/supreme-court-issue-final-verdict-trump-travel-ban/1038126001/
January 22: In a hit to the Trump
administration, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that cases litigating
the Clean Water Act should be heard by federal district courts.
The administration had argued those cases should be heard in federal appeals
courts.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case over an Obama-era regulation, known as
the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, back in January 2017, after debate
as to whether the U.S. Court of Appeals or federal district courts had the
authority to hear the lawsuits from industry groups and states that say the rule
went too far.
Dozens of parties had filed lawsuits over the regulation in both federal appeals
courts and district courts.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/370103-supreme-court-rules-against-trump-administration-on-clean-water
January 25: Will the Supreme Court Back
Trump’s Third Attempt at a Travel Ban?
Just days after his inauguration last year, Donald Trump took action to fulfill
his
campaign promise of “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the
United States.”
As word spread of the chaotic implementation of the cruel order, resistance
galvanized. Cabdrivers in New York City—many of them foreign nationals
themselves—boycotted international arrivals in solidarity with the detained
travelers.
Volunteer lawyers, both under the auspices of nonprofit organizations and acting
on their own, sped to the airports to lend assistance. Clients were signed up
and lawsuits filed. Court victories followed quickly.
http://www.newsweek.com/will-supreme-court-back-trumps-third-attempt-travel-ban-790740
February 1: After legal setbacks, Trump
administration races to Supreme Court
When President Donald Trump’s administration took its fight to end a
controversial immigration program directly to the U.S. Supreme Court last month,
skipping over a California federal appeals court in the process, Attorney
General Jeff Sessions said it was a “rare step” to ensure a quick and fair
resolution.
The Trump administration’s Supreme Court strategy has grown out of repeated
setbacks at the district and circuit court levels.
Many of Trump’s most significant executive actions, in areas including
immigration, transgender rights, energy and the environment, have been at least
temporarily blocked by courts. The rulings have often been applied nationwide,
not just where the lawsuits were filed.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-trump-analysis/after-legal-setbacks-trump-administration-races-to-supreme-court-idUSKBN1FL4TH
February 19: President Trump-appointed Neil
Gorsuch holds the key vote in a case to be heard next week over whether
public-sector unions should require people who don't want to be union members to
pay for collective bargaining,
the AP reports.
Why it matters: Unions are major financial backers of Democratic
candidates and causes across the country, and a rebuke from Gorsuch would deal a
crushing blow to organized labor. Even though Trump overwhelmingly won support
from white working-class voters, he had
expressed support for the right-to-work movement. Per Politico,
his administration sides with the plaintiff who's challenging the
"fair-share fees." The Supreme Court had reached a 4-4 deadlock in 2016 on the
issue following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
https://www.axios.com/neil-gorsuch-holds-key-vote-labor-union-fee-case-ac05dcdb-c4b3-45b3-94b5-d21761f0ea97.html
February 21: Supreme Court Gets Moving,
Issuing As Many Decisions In One Day As It Has In 5 Months
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/21/587733571/supreme-court-gets-moving-issuing-as-many-decisions-in-one-day-as-it-has-in-5-mo
February 26: Gorsuch
silent as court sharply divided on union fees ... The Supreme Court on Monday
appeared sharply divided in a case pitting organized labor against
conservative groups in a case that could deal a potentially crippling blow to
public sector unions -- and hurt their Democratic Party allies.
The court's four liberals seemed to back the unions' position. Conservatives,
including Chief Justice John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito,
appeared ready to rule against the unions and maybe even overturn the court's
41-year-old precedent. Justice Clarence Thomas didn't speak but he is expected
to rule against the unions.
But conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch did not ask one question.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/26/politics/unions-supreme-court/index.html
March 27: Supreme Court takes new look at
partisan gerrymandering
At issue: How much partisanship is too much in a process that has always been
manipulated by political parties in the majority?
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-takes-new-look-partisan-gerrymandering-n860121
May 14:
The
Supreme Court’s sports-betting ruling has major implications for states’
rights.
In a 7-2 decision on Monday, the justices
struck down a federal law that forbade most states from allowing gambling
on sports. The court held that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection
Act (PASPA) went too far by intruding on state legislative powers.
New Jersey, which challenged PASPA by passing a sports-betting law in 2012,
argued that Congress violated the Tenth Amendment’s “anti-commandeering”
principle by telling state legislatures which laws they could or could not
pass. The Supreme Court agreed. “Congress can regulate sports gambling
directly, but if it elects not to do so, each State is free to act on its
own,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court. “Our job is to interpret the
law Congress has enacted and decide whether it is consistent with the
Constitution. PASPA is not.”
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/148410/michael-avenatti-isnt-liberal-hero-hes-lawyer
May 21: In a victory for employers and the
Trump administration, the Supreme Court on Monday said that
employers
could block employees from banding together as a class to fight legal
disputes in employment arbitration agreements.
Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the opinion for the 5-4 majority, his first
major opinion since joining the court last spring and a demonstration of how
the Senate Republicans' move to keep liberal nominee Merrick Garland from
being confirmed in 2016 has helped cement a conservative court.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/21/politics/supreme-court-nlra-arbitration-gorsuch/index.html
May 29: The Supreme Court curbed law
enforcement's power to search automobiles without a warrant on Tuesday,
holding that if a vehicle is located on private property adjacent to a house
police will generally need to meet a higher burden before searching it.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
wrote the 8-1 opinion, sending the case back down to a lower court to
determine whether there may have been other justifications for the
warrant-less search.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/29/politics/supreme-court-curbs-ability-to-search-automobiles-without-a-warrant/
June 27: Justice Anthony Kennedy’s
decision to retire, announced Wednesday, will push an already-conservative
Supreme Court even further to the right if President Trump’s eventual nominee
gets confirmed.
Justice Kennedy’s decision rocked those who care about abortion rights, racial
discrimination, LGBTQ rights, and
many other issues.
https://thinkprogress.org/dems-respond-kennedy-retirement-6f900e7f355d/
June 28: President Trump met with a
bipartisan group of six senators at the White House Thursday night to discuss
the Supreme Court vacancy left by the looming retirement of Justice Anthony
Kennedy.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/28/trump-meets-with-lawmakers-to-discuss-supreme-court-vacancy.html
July 10:
Trump Picked Kavanaugh. How Will He Change the Supreme Court?
Top legal thinkers weigh the record of Brett Kavanaugh, the likely replacement
for Justice Anthony Kennedy.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/09/donald-trump-brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-218963
July 10: Judge Brett Kavanaugh's radically
expansive view of the power of the presidency
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/judge-brett-kavanaugh-radically-expansive-view-power-presidency/story?id=56488216
July 10: These Brett Kavanaugh
Presidential Power Quotes Might Be Music To Trump's Ears
https://www.bustle.com/p/these-brett-kavanaugh-presidential-power-quotes-might-be-music-to-trumps-ears-9711071
July 25: Democrats are struggling to find
an opening in their fight to sink Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.
They can’t block the nominee on their own, but they’re under intense pressure
from liberals to wage a full-scale attack against Kavanaugh as they try to
sway the one or two Republicans needed to sink
President Trump’s pick and score a major victory heading into the
midterm elections.
In the roughly two weeks since Kavanaugh was announced as Trump’s pick to
replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, Democrats have jumped from abortion and the
Affordable Care Act to what his past writings on executive authority could
mean for special counsel
Robert Mueller’s probe into potential collusion between the Trump
campaign and Russia.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/398704-dems-struggle-on-kavanaugh
July 29: Feinstein, other Senate Dems have
plan on Brett Kavanaugh nomination: Stall
https://www.sfchronicle.com/nation/article/Feinstein-other-Senate-Dems-have-plan-on-Brett-13115222.php
July 30: When a lawsuit challenging the
Affordable Care Act reached his Washington, DC, appeals court in 2011, Judge
Brett Kavanaugh was careful not to commit. He described the law requiring
people to buy health insurance as "unprecedented" and the breadth of Obama
administration's defense of it "jarring."
"[T]here seems no good reason," wrote Kavanaugh, now President Donald Trump's
choice for the US Supreme Court, "that [the administration's] theory would not
ultimately extend as well to mandatory purchases of retirement accounts,
housing accounts, college savings accounts, disaster insurance, disability
insurance, and life insurance, for example."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/30/politics/brett-kavanaugh-obamacare-joe-manchin/index.html
September 1: Democrats on Saturday slammed
what they described as a “Friday night document massacre” after the White
House withheld more than 100,000 pages of Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett
Kavanaugh’s records, citing presidential privilege.
"... President Trump’s decision to step in at the last moment and hide 100,000
pages of Judge Kavanaugh’s records from the American public is not only
unprecedented in the history of Supreme Court nominations, it has all the
makings of a cover-up.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/01/democrats-decry-friday-night-document-massacre-as-white-house-withholds-kavanaugh-docs.html
September 2: The Senate’s final verdict on
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh – whose high-stakes, high-wire
confirmation hearing begins Tuesday – will hinge on the views of just a
handful of lawmakers.
As it stands, Republicans hold a razor-thin, 50-49 majority with one vacancy.
Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey will soon appoint a successor to the late
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., but even then the GOP majority can suffer few
defections.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/02/in-kavanaugh-confirmation-fight-just-handful-senators-hold-key.html
September 6: Brett Kavanaugh's views on
abortion received fresh scrutiny after leaked documents revealed President
Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee once suggested the high court could
reverse the landmark case ensuring the right to an abortion.
The email, which was previously off limits for the hearings, appeared to
undercut Kavanaugh’s attempts to sidestep one of the most sensitive issues in
his confirmation battle: whether he would provide the fifth vote to limit or
overturn Roe v. Wade. But halfway through his second and final day of
questioning from the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kavanaugh kept brushing aside
new questions about his approach to abortion.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/06/kavanaugh-leaked-documents-abortion-771591
September 6: Sen. Cory Booker told Brett
Kavanaugh during Thursday's hearing he was willing to "knowingly violate" the
rules of the Senate Judiciary Committee — and risk his position — in order to
make the public aware of an email from the Supreme Court nominee on the issue
of racial profiling.
Booker, D-N.J., again claimed the committee was "rushing" the hearings before
everyone was able to thoroughly read and digest thousands of Kavanaugh-related
documents provided to members, especially the batch of 42,000 released Monday
night, the day before the hearings kicked off.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/06/bookers-kavanaugh-email-release-during-supreme-court-hearing-draws-fiery-responses-from-senators.html
September 6: Some Democrats have suggested
that if Kavanaugh -- who is being questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee
this week -- is confirmed to the high court, it could spell the end of Roe v.
Wade and represent an assault on women's reproductive rights.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) even tweeted that it's not hyperbole to say
that "women are going to die."
"When you criminalize abortion and limit our reproductive health care, women
die," the rumored 2020 hopeful tweeted Wednesday.
http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/09/06/kirsten-gillibrand-women-are-going-die-if-brett-kavanaugh-confirmed-supreme-court
September 7: Report Finds Judge Kavanaugh
Ruled Against Public Interest in Almost All of His District Court Cases
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/9/5/report_finds_judge_kavanaugh_ruled_against
September 13: Committee vote delayed for
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to next week
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/13/politics/kavanaugh-nomination-judiciary-committee/
September 14: Supreme Court nominee Brett
Kavanaugh on Friday denied allegations made by a woman who reportedly said
that he had held her down at a party when they were in high school in the
1980s and tried to force himself on her.
According to a report Friday in The New Yorker by Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer,
the woman, who has asked not to be identified, described the incident in a
letter that was sent to the offices of two California Democrats, Sen. Dianne
Feinstein and Rep. Anna Eshoo.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/kavanaugh-denies-allegations-woman-who-says-he-tried-force-himself-n909626
September 17: President Donald Trump’s
first instinct after learning the identity of the woman who claims Supreme
Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her in high school was to fight back,
displaying what one Republican close to the White House described as a “bring
it on” attitude.
Instead, the president followed the advice of top White House attorney Don
McGahn and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and stayed out of the
rapidly escalating #MeToo scandal, which has thrown Trump’s second Supreme
Court nomination into turmoil just weeks before Republicans had hoped to have
Kavanaugh seated on the bench – and in the crucial run-up to the midterm
elections.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/17/trump-kavanaugh-defense-826312
September 17: Orrin Hatch Says Kavanaugh Was Not at the Party in
Question
https://www.redstate.com/tladuke/2018/09/17/breaking-orrin-hatch-says-kavanaugh-not-party-question/
September 17: Who Is Christine Blasey Ford, The Woman Accusing
Brett Kavanaugh Of Sexual Assault?
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/17/648803684/who-is-christine-blasey-ford-the-woman-accusing-brett-kavanaugh-of-sexual-assaul
September 17:
Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegations, but his accuser, [Professor] Christine Blasey Ford, says there was one other person in the room when the alleged
incident took place: Kavanaugh's then-classmate, Mark Judge.
Judge, a journalist and filmmaker, has also denied that the incident took
place.
Judge wrote the book "Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk," where he details his
experiences of extensive drinking while attending Georgetown Preparatory
School.
Judge writes that he is "shocked" about what he got away with in high school
-- recalling beach parties that hundreds of people would attend.
At another point he describes his high school as "positively swimming in
alcohol."
Judge also references a "Bart O'Kavanaugh," who he writes vomited in someone's
car. It has not been confirmed whether this is a reference to Kavanaugh.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/17/politics/mark-judge-brett-kavanaugh-high-school/index.html
September 17: President Donald Trump on
Monday defended Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after a woman accused
him of sexually assaulting her when the two were in high school, praising him
as "one of the finest people" and signaling that he supports a proposed
hearing on the allegations.
http://www.inforum.com/news/government-and-politics/4500443-trump-defends-kavanaugh-after-sexual-assault-allegation
September 17:
Kavanaugh And Accuser To Testify Publicly Before Senators Next Week
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/17/648663337/kavanaugh-vote-could-face-delay
September 19: Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford demands 'full
investigation' by FBI before testifying, in letter from her lawyers
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/19/kavanaugh-accuser-christine-blasey-ford-demands-full-investigation-by-fbi-before-testifying-in-letter-from-her-lawyers.html
September 20: White House aides who
steeled themselves for what President Donald Trump would say when he finally
addressed the sexual assault allegation against his Supreme Court nominee
Brett Kavanaugh were quietly stunned
when Trump said the process should be followed and the accuser should be
heard.
In recent days, Trump has bragged about the positive coverage he's received
for his response, according to multiple sources. That response has contributed
to him continuing to say Christine Blasey Ford should come forward with her
story, they said.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/20/politics/donald-trump-kavanaugh-accuser/index.html
September 21: President Donald Trump, in a
series of tweets Friday, deviated from his previously measured comments about
the woman who has accused his Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh of sexual
assault, claiming that if the attack she alleges "was as bad as she says,
charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement
Authorities".
Those who work closely with the President say he has privately voiced
suspicion about the #MeToo movement and complained that decades-old
allegations could ruin men's lives in an instant. The President himself stands
accused of various levels of sexual misconduct by 15 women, all of which he
has denied
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/21/politics/donald-trump-brett-kavanaugh-accuser-tweets/index.html
September 22: A press adviser helping lead
the Senate Judiciary Committee’s response to a sexual assault allegation
against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has stepped down amid evidence
he was fired from a previous political job in part because of a sexual
harassment allegation against him.
Garrett Ventry, 29, who served as a communications aide to the committee
chaired by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, had been helping coordinate the
majority party's messaging in the wake of Christine Blasey Ford’s claim that
Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 36 years ago at a high school party. In a
response to NBC News, Ventry denied any past "allegations of misconduct."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/spokesman-gop-kavanaugh-nomination-resigns-has-been-accused-harassment-past-n912156
September 23: Sen. Mazie Hirono on Sunday
suggested that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's "outcome-driven"
conservative judicial philosophy directly undermines the credibility of his
denials that he sexually assaulted California professor Christine Ford at a
house party more than three decades ago.
"I put his denial in the context of everything that I know about him in terms
of how he approaches his cases," Hirono told host Jake Tapper, in response to
a question about whether Kavanaugh was entitled to a presumption of innocence.
"His credibility is already very questionable in my mind. ... When I say that
he's very outcome-driven, he has an ideological agenda, and I can sit here and
talk to you about some of the cases that exemplify his, in my view, inability
to be fair."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/23/top-democrat-cites-kavanaughs-outcome-driven-legal-philosophy-as-reason-to-deny-him-due-process.html
September 24:
Just as negotiators reached agreement on an extraordinary hearing for Brett
Kavanaugh and his accuser, a second allegation of sexual misconduct by the
Supreme Court nominee put the White House and Senate Republicans on the
defensive and fueled calls from Democrats to postpone further action on his
confirmation.
https://apnews.com/ca62798d66554461876a42cceb6eac19
September 24:
Both allegations against Kavanaugh involve incidents that allegedly occurred
when he and his accusers were heavily drinking as teenagers.
Psychology researcher and Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey
Ford, 51, alleges that Kavanaugh and his Georgetown Preparatory School
classmate Mark Judge locked her in a bedroom at a party in 1982. She said
Kavanaugh held her down, put his hand over her mouth to silence her, and tried
to remove her clothes. Ford's attorney Debra Katz said her client considers
the alleged incident to be an "attempted rape."
Deborah Ramirez, a Yale University classmate of Kavanaugh's, claims that he
exposed himself to her and shoved his penis in her face at a dorm room party
in their freshman year at the Ivy League school. She said they were playing a
drinking game at the time and admits there are gaps in her memory of that
night.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/09/24/brett-kavanaugh-allegations-what-we-know-supreme-court/1408474002/
September 24: [Ramirez] recalled another male student shouting about the
incident. “Somebody yelled down the hall, ‘Brett Kavanaugh just put his penis
in Debbie’s face,’ ” she said.
A classmate of Ramirez’s, who declined to be identified because of the
partisan battle over Kavanaugh’s nomination, said that another student told
him about the incident either on the night of the party or in the next day or
two. ... “I’ve known this all along,” he said. “It’s been on my mind all these
years when his name came up. It was a big deal.”
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-new-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct-from-the-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaughs-college-years-deborah-ramirez
September 24: Brett Kavanaugh launched a
bold effort to save his nomination to the US Supreme Court on Monday, lashing
out at "smears" and a "grotesque and obvious character assassination"
following the emergence of a new allegation of inappropriate sexual behavior.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/24/politics/kavanaugh-new-allegation-supreme-court-future/index.html
September 24:
Supreme
Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh listed himself as a “Renate Alumnius” in his
Georgetown Preparatory School’s high school yearbook — an apparent reference
to Renate Schroeder Dolphin, who attended a Catholic girls’ school nearby.
After Kavanaugh was first accused of sexual misconduct by Christine Blasey
Ford, Dolphin joined more than 60 other women who knew Kavanaugh in high
school and signed a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee saying “he has
behaved honorably and treated women with respect.”
But now Dolphin has seen Kavanaugh’s yearbook page.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/woman-furious-with-brett-kavanaughs-renate-alumnius-listing-in-high-school-yearbook
September 24: Kavanaugh included "Renate
Alumnius" as an entry in his high school yearbook page, and two of Kavanaugh's
classmates told the Times the mentions of "Renate" were part of the high
school football players' unsubstantiated boasting about their conquests.
When Dolphin, who attended a nearby Catholic girls' school and was then known
as Renate Schroeder, signed the September 14 letter, the Times reports, she
wasn't aware of the "Renate" yearbook references about herself on the pages of
Kavanaugh and his football teammates.
"I don't know what 'Renate Alumnus' actually means. I can't begin to
comprehend what goes through the minds of 17-year-old boys who write such
things, but the insinuation is horrible, hurtful and simply untrue. I pray
their daughters are never treated this way. I will have no further comment."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/24/politics/new-york-times-kavanaugh-renate-high-school-yearbook/index.html
September 24:
Avenatti says more Kavanaugh accusations will go public within 48 hours: 'I
state facts and have evidence to back it up'
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/24/avenatti-says-more-kavanaugh-accusations-will-go-public-within-48-hours-state-facts-and-have-evidence-to-back-it-up.html
September 24: National Sexual Assault
Hotline Sees Sharp Surge In Calls Amid Kavanaugh Allegations
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) reported a 42 percent
increase in calls on Friday and Saturday.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rainn-national-sexual-assault-hotline-kavanaugh_us_5ba8b9a2e4b0375f8f9ebb02
September 25: Trump Defends Kavanaugh: ‘I
Understand College Very Well’
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/09/trump-defends-kavanaugh-i-understand-college-very-well.html
September 25: With Supreme Court nominee
Brett Kavanaugh facing multiple accusations of sexual assault and misconduct,
President Donald Trump finds himself in a familiar place, falling back on
familiar rhetoric.
“Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is
under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the
answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter.” the
president tweeted Friday.
This is rich coming from a guy who has made
more than 5,000 false or misleading claims since he took office.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/09/25/brett-kavanaugh-sex-allegations-donald-trump-denies-defends-column/1421084002/
September 26: The Senate Judiciary
Committee is reviewing a statement from a third woman who has come forward
with sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett
Kavanaugh.
The allegations, from a woman identified as Julie Swetnick, were made public
by attorney Michael Avenatti on Wednesday morning.
Avenatti posted Swetnick's three-page sworn declaration on Twitter.
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/651797758/judiciary-committee-review-new-sexual-misconduct-allegations-against-kavanaugh?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20180926&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews
September 26: Attorney Michael Avenatti,
on the eve of Brett Kavanaugh's high-profile hearing to address sexual
misconduct allegations, identified and released a "sworn declaration" from a
woman who claims the Supreme Court nominee was involved in "gang" rapes in the
early 1980s.
Avenatti’s client was identified as Julie Swetnick, who further claims in the
statement that Kavanaugh and a friend were "present" when she became a "victim
of one of these 'gang' or 'train' rapes" in 1982.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/26/avenatti-releases-graphic-kavanaugh-allegations-calls-for-new-delay.html
September 26: Dem senator filing suit
asking court to halt Kavanaugh confirmation
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/26/dem-senator-filing-suit-asking-court-to-halt-kavanaugh-confirmation.html
September 28: Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, set a committee vote on Kavanaugh for Friday
afternoon, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., planned a full
floor vote for early next week.
Kavanaugh is poised to at least make it out of committee, with the
late-breaking support of GOP Sen. Jeff Flake -- after the panel heard dramatic
testimony from the nominee and Christine Blasey Ford, who accuses him of
sexually assaulting her in 1982.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/09/28/kavanaugh-threatened-anew-with-impeachment-as-supreme-court-vote-nears.html
September 29: Liz Swisher, former Yale
classmate of Brett Kavanaugh, told CNN's
Chris Cuomo she
never saw Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh be sexually aggressive, but
said that he lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his drinking habits.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/09/29/liz-swisher-yale-classmate-sloppy-drunk-bts-cuomo-vpx.cnn
September 29: Senate Judiciary Committee
refers false Kavanaugh allegation to FBI, DOJ for criminal investigation
The office of Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat who sits on the
Judiciary Committee, received a call on Monday concerning an allegation -- now
found to be false -- of a 1985 incident in Newport where a woman was sexually
assaulted on a boat by two heavily inebriated men she referred to as "Brett
and Mark."
The committee said after the transcripts of the interview became public on
Wednesday, the individual "recanted" and apologized for the claim through a
social media post.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/29/politics/senate-judiciary-committee-kavanaugh-fbi-false-allegation/index.html
October 3: FBI has not contacted dozens of
potential sources in Kavanaugh investigation
With the investigation winding down, multiple individuals who have tried to
contact the bureau have not heard back.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/dozens-potential-sources-information-have-not-been-contacted-fbi-kavanaugh-n916146
October 2: Trump mocks Kavanaugh accuser
Christine Blasey Ford at campaign rally
After saying last week that her Senate testimony was "very credible," the
president on Tuesday night repeatedly ridiculed the woman who says she was
attacked.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-mocks-christine-blasey-ford-mississippi-campaign-rally-n916061
October 2: The audience laughed as Trump
ran through a list of what he described as holes in Christine Blasey Ford's
testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She testified that Kavanaugh
pinned her on a bed, tried to take off her clothes and covered her mouth in
the early 1980s, when the two were teenagers. Kavanaugh has denied Ford's
allegations.
"How did you get home? 'I don't remember,'" Trump said at the rally in
Southaven. "How did you get there? 'I don't remember.' Where is the place? 'I
don't remember.' How many years ago was it? 'I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know.'"
Imitating Ford, he added, "But I had one beer — that's the only thing I
remember."
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/in-mississippi-trump-mocks-fords-claims-against-kavanaugh
October 5: Brett Kavanaugh moves towards
Supreme Court confirmation after Susan Collins, Joe Manchin pledge support
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/05/brett-kavanaugh-senate-vote-determine-supreme-court-nominees-fate/1527037002/
October 9: Kavanaugh Debuts On Supreme
Court, Pledging To Be A 'Team Player'
"The Supreme Court is an institution of law. It is not a partisan or political
institution," Kavanaugh said. "The justices do not sit on opposite sides of an
aisle. We do not caucus in separate rooms. The Supreme Court is a team of
nine, and I will always be a team player on the team of nine."
Trump, however, began the ceremony with a sharp partisan rebuke.
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/09/655572566/kavanaugh-debuts-on-supreme-court-pledging-to-be-a-team-player
November 3: Trump challenges Democrats
after Kavanaugh accuser admits to making false rape accusation
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley
referred Judy Munro-Leighton to authorities after his office said she
alleged that Kavanaugh and a friend raped her in the backseat of a car -- only
for that story to fall apart.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-challenges-democrats-after-kavanaugh-accuser-admits-to-making-false-rape-accusation-where-are-the-dems-on-this
November 3: Senate Judiciary Chairman
Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who presided over Kavanaugh's contentious
confirmation hearings, requested
in a letter to the Justice Department and the FBI on Friday that the
agencies investigate Judy Munro-Leighton for making false statements to
committee investigators and obstructing committee investigations.
Grassley has also referred for investigation another Kavanaugh accuser, Julie
Swetnick, as well as her attorney, Michael Avenatti — best known for
representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her suit against President
Donald Trump.
Avenatti fired back at Trump in a tweet Saturday, writing: ".@realDonaldTrump
- my client Ms. Swetnick and I are still waiting on the supposed 'criminal
investigation' that Chuck 'I Never Went to Law School' Grassley demanded. I
have only heard from the FBI once - to tell me I was a target of your MAGA
bomber. You are a complete fraud."
Trump has sought to make Kavanaugh's bitter confirmation process a
campaign-trail issue in the run-up to the midterm elections.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/03/trump-kavanaugh-accusers-fbi-doj-959452
November 7: Supreme Court Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg fractures 3 ribs in fall
https://www.foxnews.com/us/supreme-court-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-fractures-3-ribs-in-fall
November 20: Supreme Court Chief Justice
John Roberts offered a rebuke on Wednesday to President Trump's description of
a judge who ruled against Trump's new migrant asylum policy as an "Obama
judge."
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,”
Roberts said in a Wednesday statement provided to Fox News. “What we have is
an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal
right to those appearing before them."
Roberts added: “That independent judiciary is something we should all be
thankful for.”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chief-justice-roberts-rebukes-trumps-obama-judge-complaint
November 28: Supreme Court Appears Ready
To Make It Harder For States To Confiscate Property
At the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday, a majority of the justices seemed ready
to make it more difficult for states to confiscate cars, houses and other
property that is even tangentially used in the commission of a crime. It's a
process legally known as civil asset forfeiture.
That would be a victory for Tyson Timbs, whose $42,000 Land Rover was seized
by the state of Indiana after he was arrested for selling a small amount of
heroin to undercover cops for $400. A trial judge ruled that taking the SUV
was a grossly disproportionate punishment, on top of other fines and a year of
house detention.
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/28/671268444/supreme-court-appears-ready-to-make-it-harder-for-states-to-confiscate-property
December 16: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Draws
Sold-Out Audience In New York
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ruth-bader-ginsburg-draws-sold-out-audience-in-new-york_us_5c15e44fe4b049efa752ebd0
December 21: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Undergoes Surgery For Lung Cancer
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/21/679065534/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-undergoes-surgery-for-lung-cancer?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20181221&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews
-- 2019 --
January 22: Supreme Court lets military go
ahead with transgender restrictions
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/01/22/supreme-courts-lets-military-go-ahead-with-transgender-restrictions/
-- 2020 --
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