Jackson Tangles With Gorsuch In Her First Oral Argument Appearance

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made her first oral argument appearance Monday in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court’s first case of the term. It centers on whether certain wetlands warrant federal government protection.

-snip-

In one exchange, she jumped in to rebut a lengthy cross examination by Justice Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch had been building the argument that property owners, bedeviled by EPA standards under the Clean Water Act that grant some wetlands protection but not others, could be exposed to stiff penalties if they unknowingly build on protected lands.

-snip-

“Is there a process by which a homeowner can ask?” she inquired.

Brian Fletcher, deputy U.S. solicitor general, answered in the affirmative, that the Army Corp of Engineers will do a jurisdictional determination for free.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jackson-tangles-with-gorsuch-in-her-first-oral-argument-appearance/ar-AA12xR5I

Gorsuch's mother was head of the EPA under Reagan. In 1983 she tried to dismantle the EPA.

[lindysalsagal]

1. That's it. I'm in love.

With Justice Brown! ❤❤❤

[paleotn]

2. Gorsuch would see the Cuyahoga River catch fire again

so some poor, downtrodden business owner can make an extra buck.

[2naSalit]

5. +1

[underpants]

3. Goodread. Seems like she saying that ignorance of the law isn't an excuse, or lack of due diligence

“I thought they went into it knowing this might be a wetland,” she said.

Schiff responded that there had been an assessment done by a prior owner determining that the land was a wetland, but said that the Sacketts didn’t know about it.

“Shouldn’t they have gathered information about the property prior to purchasing it?” Jackson asked with a wry chuckle.

“You keep talking about notice and fair notice and property owners not being able to tell or know about this issue,” she said. “I’m just trying to clarify with respect to the Sacketts — there seems to have been a prior determination that the land was wetland before they bought it. And whether or not they knew, they could have known, I presume, so why is this unfair in this situation with respect to the government now asserting that authority?”

[Skittles]

4. "with a wry chuckle"

I have a feeling she is going to be a real force to be dealt with.

[2naSalit]

7. I like her spunk!

[ShazzieB]

16. Yes!

And that's just what the court needs right now.

[Skittles]

17. absolutely it is

she impresses me greatly

[Buckeyeblue]

19. She was actually a trial judge where logic is important

It's interesting how she brings it back to the actual case to make her broader point that the classification of property as a wetland is not a secret. And there is a free process to determine if your property is considered one.

[Mr.Bill]

6. Wasn't it like around 20 years

before Clarence Thomas spoke a single word at a hearing?

I like this lady.

[spudspud]

21. . Eh? /nt

[Hekate]

23. You didn't know he was called Silent Cal? Just sat there and stewed and wrote long opinions

[2naSalit]

8. This has always been a case of...

"Gee we didn't know it was a sensitive water table near a protected waterway so we just want to fill it in so we can build our McMansion on the lake too."

I remember when this whole pile of poo got flung. It's a deliberate attempt to manufacture a case that would be "ripe" for the court when it became favorable. This case is so old it has a rind on it, now these clods might be looking at it as a retirement home. I was residing right across the state line when this all got started and I was very involved in the state and federal environmental agencies in the region. My nonconservative cohorts were rolling their eyes at the time.

[reACTIONary]

14. +10 nt

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Neal Katyal argued today and thought KBJ was great

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. His mom worked for Reagan?

Makes total sense.

A family of jagoffs…

[Aviation Pro]

11. I want to know what happened to Jesse Greenberg

….

[Pinback]

20. +1

Probably a super cool guy who became a museum director or works at a nonprofit arts org.

[irisblue]

15. From a WaPo on her

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/01/neil-gorsuchs-mother-once-ran-the-epa-it-was-a-disaster/

snip-"But her short, tumultuous tenure was marked by sharp budget cuts, rifts with career EPA employees, a steep decline in cases filed against polluters and a scandal over the mismanagement of the Superfund cleanup program that ultimately led to her resignation in 1983."

more there

[czarjak]

24. DAMNED proud of it too? Clap-Back Time. 1967, remember it. Catholic Q-uoting a Jew?

Theological nitwits. ALL!

[Lonestarblue]

12. The Republican appointees look for excuses, the Democratic appointees look to the law to flush

out excuses. I’ve read that one of the first maxims that every law student learns is that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it. I hope Justice Jackson holds their feet to the fire and points out the convoluted reasoning the radicals on the Court use to justify their bad decisions.

[iluvtennis]

13. We love ya Judge KBJ! n/t

[UTUSN]

18. Well, aw-rhyty then!

[DET]

22. Love It!

Judge Jackson is not going to let these self-important men intimidate her. And on her first day! Using common sense! She didn’t get this far by putting up with any crap.

[ancianita]

25. "A great presence." "A great legal mind." "Today the United States changed for the better."

"She was the third most vocal justice in today's oral arguments."

She's not only got a seat at the table, she's all about presence, greatness of legal mind, and making the U.S. better.

The nation has a real champion of rule of law.


(just a graph, since there's no repostable formal portrait of this sessions' justices yet, unless someone here can )

[Baitball Blogger]

26. MAN! This is the heart of the problem we're dealing with today!

Property rights vs. Wetlands

Ketanji Brown Jackson is hitting it on the nail. THESE PEOPLE KNOW WHERE THE WETLANDS ARE. They even seek plats with huge swaths of land and by the property as an investment. You know why? Because they don't have to pay property taxes on wetland property.

In fact, is there a difference tax for wetlands vs undeveloped property? If there is, the Sacketts knew.

[crickets]

27. With both this and the arguments made by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

in the AL 14th Amendment case, I am loving her! Good choice, Mr. President. Ketanji Brown Jackson is a breath of fresh air and showing exactly the common sense the SCOTUS desperately needs.