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Supreme Court Nominee Battle: Hardiman vs Gorsuch


dUSt

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So, one of the reoccurring themes to those who opposed Trump and justified voting for Hillary instead was, "he's not really pro-life". Well, he seems pretty pro-life so far (Mexico City Policy, VP speaking at March for Life)

Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, his supreme court nominee has come down to either Judge Thomas Hardiman of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia or Judge Neil Gorsuch.

Hardiman

Gorsuch

In true reality TV fashion, Trump is making the announcement on live TV tonight.

DISCUSS!

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13 minutes ago, dUSt said:

Well, he seems pretty pro-life so far. . .

He wants to torture people and ban refugees.

13 minutes ago, dUSt said:

DISCUSS!

I don't know much about either of the two judges. Have either of them come out as openly pro-life?

Neither will be better than Scalia, or worse than whoever Hillary would have nominated.

It will be nice if Ginsburg or one of the other left-leaning judges retires. Things should get interesting then.

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Gorsuch is generally seen as more moderate of the two. Gorsuch is strong in protecting religious rights and supported Hobby Lobby in Theo fight against paying for abortion and contraception.

 Hardiman is considered more conservative, but it's interesting that he shared that one of his first and personally most important cases, he defended and got a Salvadoran immigrant an asylum judgement as shared in his confirmation hearing to be a federal judge in 2013. 

Either way, they will be hated by pro-abortionists as being too mean.  

3 minutes ago, Peace said:

He wants to torture people and ban refugees.

I don't know much about either of the two judges. Have either of them come out as openly pro-life?

Neither will be better than Scalia, or worse than whoever Hillary would have nominated.

It will be nice if Ginsburg or one of the other left-leaning judges retires. Things should get interesting then.

It isn't a ban in immigration.  It's a pause on immigrants from the 7 countries the Bush and Obama security administrations seemed as particularly dangerous.  

I'm happy that Trump picked an anti-torture head and has publicly backed his no torture stance.  I think it's pure politics, Trump gets both sides of the coin. 

Wikipedia:

Gorsuch is unknown on RvW, pro religious rights, anti euthanasia, and neutral on Death Penalty. 

Hardiman is unknown on RvW, pro religious rights, pro immigration, pro free speech, neutral on gender issues. 

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32 minutes ago, Peace said:

 

It will be nice if Ginsburg or one of the other left-leaning judges retires. Things should get interesting then.

Yes, it does seem quite possible that Ginsburg retires during this administration. Interesting shift in the balance of power.

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10 minutes ago, dUSt said:

So, when Trump met with these people, do you think he straight up asked them about Roe vs Wade?

 

NO.  I think he's more politically committed than  personally committed.  But the tendency of conservatives that are anti-abortion are supportive of State Rights and subsidiarity.   RvW really left a lot up to the States.  Later it was re determined  that abortion is about women's rights over ruling the rights of a non viable entity.  

Edited by Anomaly
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KnightofChrist

Gorsuch was pro-Little Sisters of the Poor, so that's a plus.

Quote

Neil Gorsuch naturally equipped for his spot on Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist

By Robert Barnes January 28 - Washington Post

[...]

Gorsuch has not ruled on the topic of abortion. But activists on both sides of the issue believe they know where he stands.

They point to language in his book “The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia,” in which he opines that “all human beings are intrinsically valuable and the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong.”

Additionally, his rulings on behalf of those who challenged the Obamacare mandate that employee insurance coverage provide all approved contraceptives seemed instructive. He noted that would require the objecting businesses to “underwrite payments for drugs or devices that can have the effect of destroying a fertilized human egg.”

Gorsuch’s opinions favoring the owners of the Hobby Lobby craft stores and the nonprofit religious group Little Sisters of the Poor took the same sort of broad reading of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as the Supreme Court’s conservative majority.

In Gorsuch’s words, the law “doesn’t just apply to protect popular religious beliefs: it does perhaps its most important work in protecting unpopular religious beliefs, vindicating this nation’s long-held aspiration to serve as a refuge of religious tolerance.”

 

 

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1 hour ago, dUSt said:

So, when Trump met with these people, do you think he straight up asked them about Roe vs Wade?

 

yep, wouldn't you if you were he

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joked that if Donald Trump wins the presidential election, she’ll consider moving to New Zealand.  

 

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/287179-ruth-bader-ginsberg-if-trump-wins-time-to-move-to-new

PS: she does not like Trump

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Gorsuch, is also best known for being on one of the courts in the Hobby Lobby decision, and wrote a concurring opinion affirming secular courts shouldn't be able to infringe on people's religious rights.  He also mentioned his faith just now in his acceptance.  (a small mention, but still!)

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Just now, Nihil Obstat said:

I heard he is Episcopalian. Must be the traditional sort.

I thought most of those guys came home already.

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1 hour ago, Peace said:

I thought most of those guys came home already.

There were some holdouts. I know of one Anglican parish local to me which ultimately voted to remain Protestant.

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I don't know Gorsuch's religious affiliation, but he attended Georgetown Prep School in Washington, DC. That's a very exclusive, rigorous Jesuit boarding school. So perhaps he's Catholic, perhaps he was raised Catholic and then turned Episcopalian, or maybe he was raised Episcopalian and his parents just sent him to an exclusive and rigorous school. I suppose these kinds of details will be more broadly available in the near future. 

His brief bio: http://www.stltoday.com/bio-neil-gorsuch/html_3a734701-e147-5ef0-954b-8e9e263fa5a2.html

Georgetown Preparatory School: http://www.gprep.org/

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