Open Thread: SCOTUS Decisions

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[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

It’s desk clearing time at the Supreme Court with the end of its annual term looming ahead. SCOTUS will dump a bunch of decisions in a short time frame beginning today.

Decisions released today:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas
Justice Brett Kavanaugh has 6-3 decision. See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1300_b97c.pdf
With this decision SCOTUS overturned the Fifth Circuit which had vacated a license granted to a private waste handler that wanted to build a nuclear waste facility in Texas, permitted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This decision is contrary to Texas state law but hinged on challenge by a nonparty.

Environmental Protection Agency v. Calumet Shreveport Refining
Justice Clarence Thomas has the decision. See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1229_c0ne.pdf
summary to follow

Oklahoma v. Environmental Protection Agency
Justice Clarence Thomas has the decision. See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1067_6j36.pdf
summary to follow

United States v. Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter for Tennessee, et al.
Chief Justice John Roberts has the decision. See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-477_2cp3.pdf
This is revolting, allowing Tennessee to continue to undermine bodily autonomy of a small group of persons because they weren’t born into a false binary. The decision upholds the state of Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors because of wretched twistiness regarding “sex” versus “gender” identity.

Updates will follow as summaries are completed and additional information becomes available.

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49 replies
  1. Rayne says:

    Ugh. Every time I see Thomas has the majority decision I shudder. Same for Alito but thankfully not today.

    • harpie says:

      Even when they’re not the ones writing for the majority, their writing still reeks:
      [This is from the Geidner piece I link to below.]

      […] Notably, though, both Alito and Barrett [joined by Thomas] suggest in [each of] their [concurring] opinions that are generally in agreement that transgender status should not be subject to heightened scrutiny.

      Finally, Thomas, for himself alone, also wrote a concurring opinion, largely to strike out at “self-described experts“ supporting gender-affirming medical care, including with a section raising the “ethical” questions he sees involved in such care. […]

      • Palli Davis Holubar says:

        As if SCOTUS closed & locked-minded judges Thomas & Alito aren’t “self-described experts“ on most social & cultural issues that come before the court.

        [Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use the SAME USERNAME and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You attempted to publish this comment as “Palli Davene Davis” — one of two different names today — triggering auto-moderation; it has been edited to reflect your established username. Please check your browser’s cache and autofill; future comments may not publish if username does not match. **SEE MODERATOR NOTE YOUR COMMENT AT 2:26 PM ET TODAY.** /~Rayne]

    • drhester says:

      I have a ton of disdain for the 5 male members of the SCOTUS. My pathological fury is reserved for SJ Roberts. He, with tons of help continues to undermine the VRA . Also, and in particular I blame him for Citizens United, which totally fucked up Campaign Finance laws, again undermining voting. He’s the very worst of the bunch… and that’s saying something.

      [Moderator’s note: a typo in your email address — p instead of o — triggered auto-moderation. Check your comment for typos to avoid this in the future. I have corrected your email address on this comment. /~Rayne]

      • P J Evans says:

        As CJ, he should be capable of controlling the right-wing extremists. Instead, he lets them run.
        I’m inclined to think that we’re going to have to start ignoring the idjits in DC, in order to still have a country in two or three years.

    • Rayne says:

      It comes down to hardware versus software for SCOTUS’ rightwing. They think humans are defined only by the hardware evident at birth, rejecting what science has said about sex and gender being a spectrum and not a hardware binary.

      Intersex persons apparently don’t exist to fuzz up their pathetically uninformed reality.

      • Savage Librarian says:

        You said it so much more eloquently and succinctly than me, Rayne. But, fwiw, this is my input:

        Like Vance Boelter, the 5 men and Barrett are obsessive compulsive about social and cultural issues, in a very biased, abusive and negligent manner. They are so wrapped up in hypocrisy that they can’t see how lazy they are. They just can’t be bothered to exert the effort to see reality and how everything does not fit inside their lust for the power to control people who don’t have their privileges. Their pride prevents them from seeing truth. And their greed keeps them chugging along.

        • drhester says:

          I see it similarly but with another twist or two. Many people find it hard to hold 2 contradictory thoughts in their heads. Some of us have to do that all the time to resolve things internally and externally. Second point, which imho is more relevant to the social issues you allude to is this: these 6 cannot imagine a world in which a trans person has power, or teaches kids or has a full and lovely life. It is a failure of imagination, thought and worse, failure of humanity. They are knotted up in their own world full with bias and disdain.
          If they didn’t have so much power I would feel a kind of pity for them, but they have the power to literally wreck the lives of others…. so… no.

        • Rayne says:

          “Many people find it hard to hold 2 contradictory thoughts in their heads.”

          When it comes to sex and gender this is bullshit. It’s learned, acquired because there are cultures in which acceptance of nonbinary members is the norm.

      • Konny_2022 says:

        This narrow and false view on gender has also international implications since some countries have amended their laws to acknowledge that not everyone fits the binary category. The concern among the trans and inter[sex] communities in some countries (I know for sure about Germany) is growing whether or not they might still be able to travel to the US.

        • P J Evans says:

          The World SF Convention is in Seattle this year and LA/Anaheim next year, and a lot of people are saying they won’t go to either, because of gender or CBP issues, along with the expense of a burner phone and maybe a burner laptop.

      • wa_rickf says:

        People who only see black and white, are literally color blind. The real world is actually made-up of many shades of gray.

        • Rayne says:

          Color blindness runs in my family — my grandmother was completely color blind and I have problems with specific colors.

          Grams, however, was the best birder I have been told many times by men who hunted with her. She could see birds others with normal sight couldn’t see and generally brought home more birds than anyone else.

          Color blindness shouldn’t be used to label people who can’t escape binary thinking; they are brainwashed or grossly ignorant and choose to remain that way.

  4. Matt Foley says:

    Fox and MAGA celebrating SCOTUS decision against Tennessee transgenders. Meanwhile, Trump has been emasculated by Putin.

    • FunnyDiva says:

      Please be careful.
      “transgender” is an adjective, not a noun.
      The use of “transgenders” here (as a noun to mean transgender people or trans folk) is considered a pretty serious slur.

      • Matt Foley says:

        News to me. Got a source? I checked several sources and did not find anything suggesting it is a slur. For example:

        https://transequality.org/issues/resources/understanding-transgender-people-the-basics

        Excerpt:
        ———-
        Transgender is a broad term that can be used to describe people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be when they were born. “Trans” is often used as shorthand for transgender.
        ———-

        If it is a slur I would think the organization for transgender equality would’ve said so. But my mind is open.

        • Rayne says:

          Matt, read the room. There are transgender persons in this community. When you’re told a pluralized adjective to use as a noun is a slur, just accept it.

          Read more closely the excerpt you shared — it literally says it’s a descriptive term. It does not say it’s a noun.

        • ToldainDarkwater says:

          I am not trans, but my daughter and multiple friends and acquaintances are. When I hear someone refer to “the transgenders” the best spin I would attach to it is that they don’t really know anything about the subject and don’t know any trans people.

          I mean, it isn’t as bad as calling them “trannies” or “mutilators”. It just comes off to those of us who are familiar with the group as not very knowledgeable.

          I say this to you not in a spirit of reproach, but of instruction. I invite you to find some opportunity to listen to, or read the writings of a trans person. They posses rare wisdom.

          And if you perhaps are thinking that this is something like “latinx”, let me assure you that the trans people I know and read and listen to don’t use the word “transgender” as a noun.

          This is not the hill to die on for me, just a heads-up about the impact your choice of terminology might have on people you otherwise appear to support. I appreciate that support.

          Because there are so few trans people in the culture, it is very easy for their voices to get drowned out. This is part of my effort to not let that happen.

        • Magnet48 says:

          This is in reply to Toldaindark. I really appreciate the clarity with which you commented. I only knew of one Trans person & was very confused by the premise even though I grew up very much aware of Christine Jorgenson. I will make it a point to read transgender authors to better understand. You are 100% correct that the small minorities need the most support.

        • Palli davis Holubar says:

          Transgender is an adjective not a noun. It may be helpful to use a pointed example: Democrat is a noun not an adjective or a verb. Democrats know the bad grammar is deliberately used by republicans as a slur. Democratic is the adjective: Democratic Party. Democrats don’t say Republic Party or Republic Sen. McConnell.

  6. harpie says:

    Chris Geidner’s [still “developing”] write up of the SKRMETTI Opinion is informative:

    Breaking: SCOTUS upholds Tennessee’s ban on trans minors’ gender-affirming medical care The 6-3 decision from Chief Justice John Roberts, issued along partisan lines,
    will serve to empower those seeking to discriminate against transgender people. https://www.lawdork.com/p/breaking-scotus-upholds-tennessees Chris Geidner Jun 18, 2025

    • harpie says:

      […] Roberts’s opinion makes a mess of equal protection law. In a final portion of her dissent only joined by Jackson, Sotomayor noted that Wednesday’s decision applying rational basis review to the court’s examination of S.B. 1 “marks the first time in 50 years that this Court has applied such deferential review, normally employed to assess run-of-the-mill economic regulations, to legislation that explicitly differentiates on the basis of sex.”

      Kagan noted that she did not join the final part of Sotomayor’s dissent because it delved into the application of heightened scrutiny. Given that the Sixth Circuit had not applied heightened scrutiny at all, she noted that the challengers and United States under the Biden administration had only asked the Supreme Court to hold that intermediate scrutiny applies and allow the lower courts to consider the law under that standard. As such, she wrote, she would “start and stop” there. […]

  7. earlofhuntingdon says:

    I recently came across this description of a major world figure from a century ago, and wondered how similar it might be to the personality of a major world figure today.

    In his early history, “we can discern a series of personality traits that would be significant…: his retarded emotional development and inability to form close ties with others; his lack of empathy and of a private self which he compensated for by constructing a ‘public image’ fed by grandiose plans and complex fantasies; his intense anxiety about losing control, which expressed itself…in his refusal to be tied into structures of any kind; his exaggerated fear of humiliation which made defeat intolerable and was the reason why he responded to real or supposed threats with excessive aggression to the point of annihilation.”

        • Mooserites says:

          Don’t make the same mistake I did! My old paperback copy of Shirer’s “Rise and Fall…” was falling apart, so I asked my wife to purchase another one. She got me a very nice 50th anniversary edition, which I started rereading just as Trump was installed in the Presidency.
          That is not a good thing to do, and can do a number on one’s equanimity in short order.

  9. Matt Foley says:

    Ted Cruz to Tucker Carlson: “I want to stop a lunatic who wants to murder us from getting nuclear weapons that could kill millions of Americans. You say ‘I can’t see how that benefits America in any way.’ That is bizarre.

    So…Ted Cruz is pro-vaccine now?

    • Matt Foley says:

      Last night out of curiosity to see how two Trump worshipers go about fighting with each other I watched the entire 2 hour interview (at 1.75 speed to minimize exposure time). Both Carlson and Cruz checked all the MAGA boxes (worship Trump, love Jesus, America First, hate Biden) but what was most striking was how much of a obnoxious asshole Tucker Carlson is. Yes, we all know this already but I’d never watched him for more than a few minutes until now. The guy simply can’t help himself. At one point Cruz got fed up and asked Carlson to knock it off and Carlson apologized and admitted that being “snarky” is a personal tic of his. Carlson was controlled for a couple of minutes then his asshole tic flared up again.

      This is not to say I am on Cruz’s side; not at all. Believe it or not it is possible to hate two MAGAs at the same time.

      • gruntfuttock says:

        How many MAGAs does it take to change a lightbulb?

        None.

        They have an undocumented alien change the lightbulb then have them deported.

  10. Matt Foley says:

    Salem Media, the national broadcasting company focused on Christian and conservative content that owns several Colorado stations including 710 KNUS, issued an undated apology to former Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer.

    Last year, Salem issued an apology and said it would halt distribution of the conspiracy film “2,000 Mules” and remove both the film and book from its platforms.

    https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2025/06/salem-media-apologizes-and-issues-retraction-over-election-denier-promotion-again/70711/

    Fun fact: KNUS rhymes with ANUS.

    Damn, Coomer’s on a roll!
    https://www.denverpost.com/2025/06/16/mike-lindell-verdict-liable-defamation-eric-coomer-dominion-voting-systems/

    • xyxyxyxy says:

      “IMPERFECT”, after spending billions, really?
      Should have bought a $500 drone.
      “Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, though most have been shot down by Israel’s multi-tiered air defenses, which detect incoming fire and shoot down missiles heading toward population centers and critical infrastructure. Israeli officials acknowledge it is imperfect.”

      • Palli Davis Holubar says:

        Sen Kelly told Hegseth trump’s copycat delusional golden dome this: “Israeli officials acknowledge it is imperfect.” Doubt Hegseth listened since a completing a working product is not the objective. Corruption is.

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    • PeteT0323 says:

      Perhaps a bit like Ukraine too.

      It’s the kind of mass attack that really sux if you only shoot down a lot or even most of them. You will not get them all. It’s the ones that get through that kill – and they do.

      Is the whole world nuts or just a few key players (rhetorical)?

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