1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,280 Speaker 1: Neil Gorsitch's nomination to the Supreme Court change the United 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: States Senate with Republicans eliminating the filibuster for Supreme Court 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:09,119 Speaker 1: nominations in order to put him on the court, and 4 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: following that Senate fight, Gorsitch was confirmed last week and 5 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: had very little time to prepare for his first day 6 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: on the bench, which was today. Today, he took the 7 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 1: seat as signed for the most junior justice and heard 8 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: and heard arguments in several cases. We're going to talk 9 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: about Gorsage's first day with Bloomberg Supreme Court reporter Greg Store, 10 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,559 Speaker 1: who's also our co host on Bloomberg Law. Greg, how 11 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,200 Speaker 1: did Gorsige do today? Did he dive right in? Oh, 12 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,239 Speaker 1: he definitely dove right in, Michael. He was in the 13 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: first argument, probably the most active questionnaire. Uh he uh 14 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: waited about ten minutes and then he dove in, and 15 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: essentially what he said was and this is a question 16 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 1: involving the rights of federal employees. When he basically said was, 17 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: as I read the statute, actually both of you, you 18 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: lawyers are wrong, and and it suggested that maybe some 19 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: previous Supreme Court cases were wrong as well. Well, that's 20 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: a bowl way to start on your first day, Greg. 21 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: That prompted, according to your story, Justice Elena Kagan to 22 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: say he was proposing revolutionary changes in the federal law. Yes, 23 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:13,960 Speaker 1: although she quickly filed it up by saying, in this 24 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: very obscure technical area of the law, Um, this was 25 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: the case. I'll try to explain it very explain it 26 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,680 Speaker 1: very briefly. But Justice, as we're joking about how complicated 27 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: the statute was and how little seemed to be at stake. 28 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: It's basically a question of of if an employee, uh 29 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: federal employee has both a claim that he was fired 30 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,960 Speaker 1: in violation of the federal civil service laws and in 31 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: violation of federal discrimination laws, where that claim can go 32 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: forward federal district court, federal appeals court. So highly technical, 33 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: but he did seem to be suggesting, and Justice Kagan 34 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: called him on it that he thought that some earlier 35 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: Supreme Court decisions might might be wrong. Is it unusual 36 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: for a justice on his or her first day to 37 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: jump in with the her He seems to have jumped 38 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: in with No. I looked back a little bit, and 39 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: both Justice Kagan and Justice so to Mayor, who are 40 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,239 Speaker 1: the next most junior justices on the Court on their 41 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: first days, which were at the beginning of Supreme Court terms, 42 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: they were very active as well, so it's not that unusual. 43 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: But it was really striking that he was proposing a 44 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,920 Speaker 1: way of reading the statute that seemed to go beyond 45 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,920 Speaker 1: what either of the lawyers were advocating for. What was 46 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: the tone of his questioning When I read part of 47 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: your story that described his questioning, some of it sounded 48 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,799 Speaker 1: a little bit sarcastic. There was a little bit of that, yes, 49 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: so it was um. There were a lot of questions 50 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: and there there were different tones. At one point he 51 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: apologized for taking up so much time, but there was 52 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: a point in the argument where the lawyer for the 53 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,399 Speaker 1: the employee, Chris Landau, said, we're not trying to break 54 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: any new ground here, and Justice Course it's shot back 55 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: by saying, uh that, no, you're just you wanna quote 56 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: just continue to make it up again, suggesting that that 57 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: is following some of these earlier Supreme Court decisions that 58 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: Justice Course has thought might have been wrongly decided on 59 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:14,959 Speaker 1: the statute. Well, Greg, now that we know that he's 60 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: not going to be a shy justice, it it appears 61 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: what what are the cases you know earlier on in 62 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: his tenure this week that um, he's going to get 63 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: a chance to weigh in on Well, the one that 64 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: is getting the most attention may actually go away. It's 65 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: a church state case involving UH Missouri. These things called 66 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: blame amendments that a number of states have in their 67 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: state constitutions, and Missouri UH interpreted its blame amendment as 68 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: as meaning that a funding program for school playgrounds, the 69 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: funding couldn't go to a church which had had a 70 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: school playground. And that case was supposed to come up 71 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: to the Supreme Court it's going to be argued on Wednesday, 72 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: But the governor there has just changed the way he's 73 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: implementing that funding program, so that case may actually go away. 74 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: So we may not see any of the or at 75 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: least not many of the big ideological classes this term. 76 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: But uh, the Court could agree soon to take up 77 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: a voter I D case, could agree to take up 78 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: a gun case. Uh. There are certainly many big issues 79 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: that are not for in Donald Trump's travel band could 80 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: come to the Supreme Court. Certainly some big issues that 81 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:19,600 Speaker 1: are sort of on the threshold of being considered by 82 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: the court. Great he did not take part in Friday's 83 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: last Friday's conference, but he will be taking part in 84 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 1: this Friday's conference. And do we have any idea what's 85 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: going on at the conference. So a couple of those 86 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: cases I just mentioned, You're right, he didn't take part 87 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,160 Speaker 1: in the conference. UH, and and the Spring Court spokeswoman 88 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: said he decided he was going to focus on preparing 89 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:43,159 Speaker 1: for the arguments this the court issued an orders list 90 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: that sort of deferred consideration of a lot of those 91 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,520 Speaker 1: cases that they were talking about at that conference. So 92 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: at the next conference at the end of this week, 93 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: there will be the voter id case I alluded to 94 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,359 Speaker 1: coming out of North Carolina. Very good chance the Court 95 00:04:57,440 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: in the next couple of weeks could say we're going 96 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: to take that case up. There's also a gun case 97 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:05,280 Speaker 1: out of California that UH concerns the right to carry 98 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: a weapon outside the home. UH. Some some California residents 99 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: say the state is being too strict in is limiting 100 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: too many is preventing people from having a realistic chance 101 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: to get a permit to carry a weapon outside the home. 102 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: Both of those are cases that court could take up, 103 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:24,839 Speaker 1: and they would consider those UH next term starting in 104 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,359 Speaker 1: October Greig, thank you. It's always great to talk with 105 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:29,920 Speaker 1: you about what's going on in the Supreme Court. And uh, 106 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,720 Speaker 1: I know you're gonna be busy following Justice Corsets as 107 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: he blazes his path as the ninth justice on the Court.