LA Times' Supreme Court reporter, David Savage, discusses the Court
- By Gilien Silsby
David Savage, the Los Angeles Times’ Supreme Court reporter and one of the most respected legal journalists in Washington, D.C, spoke recently at USC Law about what lies ahead for the Court as they enter the second half of its term.
Co-sponsored by USC Gould School of Law, and the student chapters of the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society, “Midterm Reflections: U.S. Supreme Court Term” on Feb. 2 attracted a standing-room-only crowd of students, faculty and staff. Profs. Rebecca Brown and Scott Bice, faculty advisers to the ACS and Federalists, moderated the discussion.
During his 24-year tenure covering the Supreme Court, Savage has written extensively about many of the most controversial issues facing the court this term, including abortion rights, prison sentencing, immigration, affirmative action in schools and campaign finance.
“The justices are very intelligent and thoughtful but they have totally different views on just about everything,” Savage said. “They are clearly divided ideologically on the key issues.”
Savage said many cases come down to a 4-4-1 vote, meaning that Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor take one stand, while Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito take the more conservative stance.
“Kennedy is in the middle and the swing vote on all of these,” Savage said.
The recent Citizens United v. FEC was a case in point.
“This is a sea change in the law,” Savage said. “Every time campaign finance law has come up, there have been five skeptics on the Court, so this was no real surprise. Will it have a big affect on politics? We’ll have to see.”
Savage believes same-sex marriage will eventually be law, but “the big question is when – 2 months or 20 years?” he said.
Savage is the author of Turning Right: the Making of the Rehnquist Supreme Court, published in 1992, which tracked the court’s shift to the right that began with President Richard Nixon’s four appointments, and continued with three appointments by President Ronald Reagan and two by President George H.W. Bush.
He also writes a monthly column on the Court for the ABA Journal and offers regular legal commentary on National Public Radio’s "Talk of the Nation" program. Above all, Savage said his articles must address the significance of a ruling or issue facing the court and be accessible to a broad audience.
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