Tag: Joe Biden

Salt Lake City federal courthouse to be named for Orrin Hatch

Congress can still agree on a few things, it seems. A bill to rename the Salt Lake City, Utah federal courthouse after retired Senator Orrin Hatch passed both houses of Congress unanimously this week. The bill has been sent to the President for signature.

Senator Hatch served Utah for 42 years in the Senate, and was a leading voice on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Much of that time overlapped with another old Judicary Committee hand, Joe Biden. It is a fitting tribute to name the Salt Lake City courthouse in his honor.

Experiential diversity on the Supreme Court is a pipe dream — at least for now

Lawrence Friedman’s recent post lays out a compelling case for achieving educational and experiential diversity on the Supreme Court. He looks to the states for guidance, noting that courts of last resort at the state level frequently feature highly qualified justices who graduated from a wide range of law schools and who feature an extensive variety of practice experience.

It’s a tantalizing analogy, which works well in some states but doesn’t translate to the federal level. Still, there are glimmers of hope for more experiential diversity in future iterations of the Supreme Court. More below. Continue reading “Experiential diversity on the Supreme Court is a pipe dream — at least for now”