SCOTUS Losing Authority as Vacancy Persists, Former Judge Says

A former federal judge on Wednesday accused the Senate Judiciary Committee of dragging the U.S. Supreme Court into a “crass political argument” by refusing to hold confirmation hearings on Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination.

“What we have now is a situation where the [Supreme] Court’s authority and aura has been stripped away,” said Stephen Robinson, a former federal district court judge in Manhattan from 2003 to 2010, who is now a partner at Skadden. “The court is being seen as part of this rancorous political process.”

Robinson made his comments during a call organized by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to ...