On Thursday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump v. Anderson, the case arising out of a state supreme court ruling finding Donald Trump ineligible to run for president again based on his participation in an insurrection—the attacks on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Anderson is the most significant election-related matter since Bush v. Gore nearly 25 years ago. 

Specifics? Colorado’s Supreme Court found Trump's barred from appearing on that state’s presidential primary ballot by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. That provision, passed after the Civil War, precludes former office holders who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the federal government—a la the Confederacy—from retaking office.  

Seeking more context? Check out AFJ President Rakim H.D. Brooks’s Democracy Docket column from Monday: 

To reach the right answer in a case of this magnitude, the justices need only perform a simple task, one they have admonished lawyers to perform for more than a generation: stick to the text. The question raised on appeal, as prescribed by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, is: Did President Trump “engage in insurrection or rebellion” or “provide aid or comfort” to “enemies” of the Constitution?  

See also Rakim’s statement on the case after the justices’ disappointing—if not surprising—participation in oral arguments. The party-line performance of the conservative uber-majority augured well for former President Donald Trump and poorly for democracy. 

Fortunately, Thursday also brought good news in the form of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for some of our ‘phenominees’—namely, Amir Ali, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 

As befits a storied civil rights attorney and successful Supreme Court litigator, Ali rolled with the punches and let senate Republican jabs roll right on off. While a few senators tried to paint Ali as a proponent of defunding law enforcement, the nominee stood his ground, calmly and clearly rejecting those mischaracterizations, and Senator Mazie Hirono cited a letter of support for Ali from the Law Enforcement Action Partnership. 

#ImNotCryingYoureCrying: Ali paid tribute to his parents, who immigrated from Egypt to the United States in search of opportunities for their future children, in the audience. 

After Ali came Judge Melissa DuBose, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Judge DuBose, who will be the first non-white judge and the first LGBTQ+ judge on that court upon confirmation, made short work of Senator John Kennedy’s effort to label her a Marxist based on an interview from undergrad. Zinger of the day goes to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who asked Judge DuBose if perhaps it had just been “a long time ago,” “perhaps during the time when...Senator Kennedy was a Democrat?” 

Not coincidentally, Senator Kennedy then retired the set of now-predictable “gotcha” variety mini-bar exam questions he’s lobbed at nominees in the absence of substance. 

Next up: Judge Sunil Harjani, a magistrate judge now nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Like Ali, Harjani is a first-generation American. Senator Hirono asked Judge Harjani about presiding over his parents’ naturalization ceremony before the court to which he is nominated. His response: Naturalization ceremonies are among “the proudest moments for us judges. I tell them that anything is possible in America. It’s proof of the American dream. Those days are days I remember.” 

Not to be forgotten: Jasmine Yoon, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, who will be the first non-white judge to sit on that court. Yoon thanked God and her parents, who moved the family from South Korea to the United States when Yoon was 14. 

Wish you’d been in the room? Check out the video from the hearing at the SJC website. 

More Good News

AFJ celebrates the advent of nine confirmations over the past two weeks, including six district court judges, one circuit court judge—Joshua Kolar of the Seventh Circuit—and two judges to the United States Court of International Trade, including Lisa Wang.

In the vein of professional diversity, AFJ is delighted to celebrate the confirmation of Judge Amy Baggio a former public defender, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. We also take special pleasure in the confirmations of Judges Cristal Brisco and Jacquelyn Austin on January 24: Judge Brisco is the first person of color to sit on the District Court for the Northern District of Indiana while Judge Austin is the only Black woman on the District Court for the District of South Carolina and only the third Black woman to serve on that court ever even though more than a quarter of South Carolinians identify as Black. 

We were pleased to see six additional nominees proceeding through markup before the Senate Judiciary Committee but must return to the urgent need for Senate allies to vote on nominees already out of committee, including Nicole Berner, nominated to the Fourth Circuit; Adeel Mangi, nominated to the Third Circuit; Judge Mustafa Kasubhai, nominated to the District Court for the District of Oregon; Eumi K. Lee, nominated to the District Court for the Northern District of California; and Sarah Russell, nominated to the District Court for the District of Connecticut. 

What's Next

Holding Court: Black Grief/White Grievance 

Please join us on Wednesday, February 21 at 3pm ET for a conversation between AFJ President Rakim H.D. Brooks and Dr. Juliet Hooker, Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence in Political Science at Brown University and author of the new book, Black Grief/White Grievance: The Politics of Loss.  

Black grief and white grievance are not new concepts in our society. Dr. Hooker explains how current events, like the Black Lives Matter protests, continue a historical pattern of Black citizens making heroic sacrifices to expand U.S. democracy.  

You can sign up ahead of time to tune in to this upcoming edition of Holding Court or check it out day-of on StreamYard or AFJ pages on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. 

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