DALLAS – The nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court has been met with unprecedented controversy and politicization. Why?
At the Institute for Policy Innovation’s Hatton W. Sumners Distinguished Lecture Series lunch on October 22, Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick will address the crux of what’s at play regarding this high-stakes Supreme Court nomination.
“This is the Kennedy seat,” said Bolick. “Although a swing vote who voted with liberals on some important issues, Kennedy often sided with originalist judges, whose opinions and rulings over time have slowly narrowed the scope of the Commerce Clause and returned power to the states. A Justice Kavanaugh could fuel this momentum,” said Bolick, creating a ruling majority on the Court with generational implications for the following:
- Potentially abandoning the Chevron doctrine, in which the Court defers to unelected agency bureaucrats to decide the meaning of various statutes;
- A willingness to reconsider precedents in a number of areas; and
- A return to an original, textual understanding of the Constitution, as opposed to a more flexible “living Constitution.’”
“We are delighted to bring Justice Bolick to Dallas,” said IPI president Tom Giovanetti. “A great communicator and passionate defender of the U.S. Constitution, we welcome his important insights on this historic moment for the Court.”
“But beyond the Kavanaugh nomination, we know we can look forward to similar fights over nominations in the future, perhaps even in the near future,” said Giovanetti. “This raises all kinds of questions about the power of the federal government and the Supreme Court over the civic life of the country, and indeed whether we can even preserve civility when so much power is available to whomever can manage to grab it.”
IPI’s Hatton W. Sumners Distinguished Lecture Series featuring Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolicktakes place at the Belo Mansion in Dallas on Monday, October 22, 2018.
The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) is an independent, nonprofit public policy organization based in Dallas. Media passes available. For more information regarding IPI’s Hatton W. Sumners Distinguished Lecture Series, visit IPI.org or contact Erin Humiston at (972) 874-5139, or erin@IPI.org.
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