Tuesday, April 20, 2021

DJ & other articles of note


 Today's DJ has Justice Hoffstadt's Icarus' D-I-Y Guide to Gliders about California's efforts to transmogrify its criminal justice system.

And Fix the Court's Gabe Roth has AFP spent loads of money to get a justice confirmed. Now AFP is a litigant. No one’s recusing. That’s a problem. He notes that on Monday, SCOTUS will hear Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Rodriguez, but in his view: "only eight of the nine should be hearing the case. That's because, after President Donald Trump nominated then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court last fall, Americans for Prosperity launched a national campaign urging her confirmation comprising a 'robust mix of targeted direct-mail, layered digital ads, and other tactics to supplement activists' efforts across the country'-- and costing more than $1 million."

The Brennan Center has posted State Supreme Court Diversity — April 2021 Update, concluding: "Across the country, state supreme courts fail to reflect the diversity of the communities they serve and the diversity of the legal profession."

  • In 22 states, no justices publicly identify as a person of color, including in 11 states where people of color make up at least 20 percent of the population.
    • There are no Black justices in 28 states.
    • There are no Latino justices in 40 states.
    • There are no Asian American justices in 44 states.
    • There are no Native American justices in 47 states.

  • No coin flip this time around. In a rare move, the high court used a lottery to determine which lawyer would argue for Native American tribes at Monday's hearing over hundreds of millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief.