I'm Elizabeth Slattery and I'm Tiffany Bates.

And welcome to SCOTUS 101 where we break down what's happening at the Supreme Court,

what the justices are up to, and other things related to our favorite branch of government.

This week we're talking about judicial nominations with the senior Senate staffer,

blue slips, and the retirement of Judge Janice Rogers Brown.

Although the justices are on their summer break right now, they issued an order in the

travel ban case out of Hawaii.

The Supreme Court left in place the Hawaii District Court's order ruling that will allow

grandparents and other close relatives of people in the U.S. to enter the country,

but it will allow the government to implement restrictions on refugees.

A bit of a split-the-baby ruling at this point.

The court has scheduled oral argument for the case in October, early October, October 10th.

So we have some new nominations and new confirmations to report on.

Just this afternoon, the Senate confirmed John Bush to the Sixth Circuit.

He had gotten into a little bit of hot water over some of his anonymous blogging, but he nonetheless got through.

The Senate has also confirmed David Nye to the district court in Idaho, and they're gearing up to confirm several others.

And these include Kevin Newsome to the 11th Circuit and our friend from the Pacific Legal Foundation, Damian Schiff, to the Court of Federal Claims.

He also got into some trouble for referring to Justice Kennedy in a blog as a, quote, judicial prostitute.

But we nonetheless think he is going to get through.

So the president has also announced his intent to nominate several other individuals to district

courts in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, and Oklahoma.

These states each have two Republican senators, so they shouldn't run into too much

...