In the News: Thomas M. Keck

"The Republican base has been more focused on that issue [Supreme Court] than the Democratic base has from Reagan forward, roughly," says Thomas Keck, professor of political science and Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics. "There’s some evidence that that’s shifting."

"Impeachment of a U.S. president is an unusual circumstance," says Tom Keck, Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics. "(The chief justice) is there to oversee a trial, which is something that should be well within his comfort zone. But it's a trial conducted by elected partisan officials. It's not a court, the U.S. Senate." 

Tom Keck, Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics, says drastic measures might be needed such as term limits for new justices and keeping open the possibility of expanding the [Supreme] court’s size. "It may be our least-bad option in restoring the court’s role as a democratic guardrail."

An ambitious project assessing courts across the globe and their approaches to protected speech also provides opportunities for student research.

Thomas M. Keck, professor of political science and the Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics at Maxwell, is a leading expert on the Supreme Court, American constitutional development, and the use of legal strategies by movements for social change. The Carnegie Fellows program is the most generous initiative of its kind, awarding researchers in the humanities and social sciences significant time to research, write, and publish.

"The size of the court is not specified in the constitution and it's changed multiple times…in the first 100 years it was a regular occurrence for Congress to change the size of the Supreme Court," says Thomas Keck, professor of political science and Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics.

"If Democrats want universal adult voter registration, nonpartisan electoral districting and mandatory disclosure of election-related spending, they would probably have to embed those requirements in the Constitution as well," writes Thomas Keck, Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics.

"The new Democratic majority in the House spells big trouble for President Trump, who will now be subject to substantial congressional oversight," says Thomas Keck, Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics.

"The situation we're in at this particular moment—in the Supreme Court and the American political system more broadly—is a moment of extreme partisan polarization which has clearly infected our other political institutions and has made its way into the court," says Tom Keck, professor of political science and Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics. 

Tom Keck, professor of political science and Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics, says the nomination of Kavanaugh is part of a "generation-long effort to stack the Supreme Court." 

Thomas Keck writes about shifting tax laws pursued by the GOP that will hit New Yorkers hard, as the tax burden shifts from some taxpayers to others. "One of its most controversial provisions establishes a cap of $10,000 for deducting state and local taxes, the primary source of funding government services and public education in New York.

"As far as the First Amendment is concerned, LGBT rights advocates should have the full and free right to advocate for their point of view and opponents of LGBT rights have the right to advocate for their point of view," Thomas M. Keck, Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics, says.

Thomas Keck, Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics, says that while constitutional conventions could help advance civil rights by allowing organized groups to propose and implement changes to the state constitution, there is a fear that the same issues that plague state legislatures, like corporate cash or politician corruption, could also influence the construction of a new constitution.

Tom Keck looks at the possibility and the effects of the Senate's 'Nuclear option', which would change the rules for Supreme Court nominees, while triggering heavy partisan fallout.

“Trump is not reading judicial decisions and criticizing constitutional arguments. He is denouncing a so-called judge and saying decisions are ridiculous. Those pointed attacks from a sitting president are for sure unusual," says Thomas M. Keck, professor of political science.

Tom Keck was featured in The Daily Orange article, "SU political science professor evaluates President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee." "(Gorsuch) has also publicly praised Justice Scalia and indicated his hope to follow in his footsteps," he says, and notes that many Democrats and independents are unhappy with the nomination.