The biggest question that was left in limbo is the next big challenge: how to balance these new-found constitutional rights and a long-standing and explicit right to exercise religion. That’ll be the next battleground. Carrie Severino More Quotes by Carrie Severino More Quotes From Carrie Severino I think what we have seen here is a pattern of delay. This seems to be a moving of the goalposts again, sen. Grassley has bent over backwards to offer every possible thing they want. Carrie Severino top-news Thirty years ago, a different Republican Senate rejected Senator Sessions’ nomination to a federal judgeship. In doing so, that Senate affirmed that there can be no compromise with racism; no negotiation with hate. Today, a new Republican Senate must decide whether self-interest and political cowardice will prevent them from once again doing what is right. Carrie Severino politics They are two good indicators, telling examples and adequate evidence. Carrie Severino latest-headlines It is possible that Thomas was asking a question that he thought Scalia might have brought up. Carrie Severino top-news When Thomas took the bench, Justice Scalia felt like he was the first line of reinforcement after years of fighting alone in the trenches to defend the original understanding of the Constitution, neither Justice Samuel Alito, nor Chief Justice John Roberts have the same level of commitment to the theory. Carrie Severino politics This president, who has shown such contempt for the Constitution and the laws, is the last person who should be appointing [Scalia’s] successor. Carrie Severino politics This President has been brazen about his willingness to take action that is normally reserved to Congress, the fact that the Court added the constitutional question means that some justices recognized that this is not a run of the mill act of prosecutorial discretion, but a novel and controversial power grab. Carrie Severino politics As Justice Kennedy observed, forcing nonmembers to subsidize a union they disagree with doesn't make them free riders, it makes them compelled riders. Today it seems like the court is finally ready to let them get off that train. Carrie Severino latest-headlines What Justice Scalia is referring to is the 'mismatch theory' popularized by Stuart Taylor and Richard Sander in their book, the idea is that if a student is admitted to a school they are not academically prepared for then they will not perform up to their own potential. This is a theory -- contested of course -- but I don't want people to get the idea that it means that all black students are not as smart as white students, or even that they are not as well prepared across the board. Carrie Severino politics If a state did attempt to challenge this decision, they would simply be struck down by the federal court that has jurisdiction over the state. It would be a beyond uphill battle. Federal courts are directly controlled by this decision. Carrie Severino latest-headlines We wanted to be supportive, but there were these nagging doubts, you can’t assume someone is going to go south, but it appears the concerns were warranted. It’s what happens when you nominate someone who doesn’t have a clear record. Carrie Severino politics The next president could replace Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg or possibly [Justices] Kennedy and Scalia, it would be World War III in terms of the amount of influence that president would have. Carrie Severino politics There's nothing 'moral' about attempting to bully the Supreme Court by presenting a false choice between the rule of law and love for one's neighbor. Carrie Severino politics