Justice David Stras
[B]y refusing to allow Stras to advance, Franken is succeeding in another, more ignoble way. He is mimicking and hence normalizing the Republicans’ treatment of Garland and Gorsuch. In so doing, Franken is deepening the infusion of the judicial branch with a corrosive partisan taint, and that is putting public trust in the courts at risk.
— The editorial board of the Star Tribune, the largest newspaper in Minnesota, criticizing Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) for attempting to block the nomination of Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras to the Eighth Circuit. The board also criticized Republicans for denying a hearing to Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland and for junking the filibuster for SCOTUS nominees to get Neil Gorsuch confirmed to the Court. (Gavel bang: How Appealing.)
Pursuing The Pro Bono Story: A Conversation With Alicia Aiken
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David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at [email protected].