Open Thread: SCOTUS Decisions, Friday Edition

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

We’re still in the end-of-term desk clearing zone at the Supreme Court. SCOTUS released a whopping six decisions today.

Decisions released:

FDA v. R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.
Justice Barrett lead the 7-2 decision.
See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1187_olp1.pdf

Esteras v. United States
Justice Barrett also lead this 7-2 decision with Justice Alito and Gorsuch dissenting.
See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-7483_6k4c.pdf

McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates, Inc. v. McKesson Corporation
Justice Kavanaugh wrote the 6-3 decision.
See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1226_1a72.pdf

Diamond Alternative Energy LLC v. Environmental Protection Agency
Surprisingly, Justice Kavanaugh wrote this 7-2 decision and not Thomas who wrote Wednesday’s two decisions related to the EPA.
See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-7_8m58.pdf

Stanley v. City of Sanford, Florida
Justice Gorsuch lead this 7-2 decision, although concurrence and dissent are a bit of a mish-mash:

GORSUCH, J., delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I and II, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and THOMAS, ALITO, KAGAN, KAVANAUGH, and BARRETT, JJ., joined, and an opinion with respect to Part III, in which ALITO, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN, JJ., joined. THOMAS, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which BARRETT, J., joined. SOTOMAYOR, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. JACKSON, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SOTOMAYOR, J., joined as to Parts III and IV, except for n. 12.

See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-997_6579.pdf — you might want to read this one closely as it pertains to disability rights and nearly all of us at some point in our lives has been employed and been/will be disabled.

Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization
Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion.
See: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-20_f2bh.pdf

Of these six decisions I note that Justice Kagan wrote one dissent joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson in the matter of McLaughlin Chiropractic. She’s otherwise joined the conservatives. Hmm.

In my opinion, the big decision we are waiting for with the end of the term is Trump v. CASA Inc. regarding nationwide injunctions blocking executive orders, in this particular case related to birthright citizenship.

That this decision has not already been released disturbs me; it feels like Roberts is holding it off until SCOTUS can make a clean getaway at the very end of the term next week. But is Roberts preparing to flee the wrath of Trump and his Wormtongue Miller, or the wrath of the people?

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35 replies
  1. Peterr says:

    Re your last paragraph . . .

    It might also be the case that there are two draft opinions being written, and both are trying to capture the 5th vote they need to make theirs a majority opinion and not a dissent. Drafts fly back and forth, as they try to woo that fifth vote by tinkering with language and scope. “If I change it like this, would you sign on?”

  2. Amateur Lawyer At Work says:

    The key to Roberts is WWCCD, a variation on WWJD. What Would Chamber of Commerce Do. So, for the CASA case, I’d guess he’s going to be snarky as only a mean-girl-wrong-gender can be but uphold the nationwide injunction, lest the Chamber of Commerce see their employees have to start filing lawsuits in courtrooms instead of laboring for business owners’ profits.

    We might see some indication of the Fourth Circuit’s decision in National Association of Immigration Judges v. Owen, where the panel said that Trump’s intentional sabotage of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) system meant that judges should base their rulings on what the MSPB would do IF IT WERE NOT SABOTAGED. It’s a very innovative approach but one that is likely to head to SCOTUS next term.

  3. CaptainCondorcet says:

    Kagan’s an interesting one. KBJ and Sotomayor followed the “traditional” route of being judges at various levels, having to deal with all the lived experience of forming alliances, finding their rulings set aside (or supported) by higher courts, etc. Kagan was an academic for years and then the government’s lawyer for one (two?). I’ve had enough conversations with career practitioners vs career academics to know those differences pop up in so many obvious and subtle ways. I’m sure there are alternate universes out there where Kagan is a bit of a swing vote for a number of 5-4 cases.

    • Amateur Lawyer At Work says:

      Same with Barrett. But it cuts both ways, since the academics are likely to lose track of practical consequences while career political judges waffle between building coalitions and ruthlessly exploiting minor advantages in alliances.

  4. harpie says:

    Re: your observation about Kagan, maybe this Mark Joseph Stern idea makes sense of it:

    https://bsky.app/profile/mjsdc.bsky.social/post/3ls2bkfzgjk2d
    June 20, 2025 at 10:42 AM

    What you see in today’s opinions is the three liberals assuming different roles. Kagan is the conciliator, siding with the cons to assure them she’s reasonable. KBJ is ready to shoot flaming arrows and burn it all down. Sotomayor is in between them, trying to find middle ground and keep the peace.

  5. harpie says:

    Re: Diamond Alt…:

    The Corporate Court In a stunning critique, Ketanji Brown Jackson nails the Supreme Court’s egregious big business bias. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/06/supreme-court-corporate-bias-ketanji-brown-jackson.html Mark Joseph Stern June 20, 2025

    In an extraordinary and unusual dissent on Friday, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a stark warning to the nation: The Supreme Court is favoring “moneyed interests” over all other parties, contorting the law to favor big business while locking the most vulnerable out of court.

    Jackson’s remarkable opinion was a protest against the court’s decision in Diamond Alternative Energy v. EPA, a case brought by the fossil fuel industry to weaken environmental protections.[…]

    • harpie says:

      The end of the essay:

      Here, Jackson has clearly decided that the time for compromise is over and the need for truth-telling is too urgent to ignore. As the court winds up its term in the following days, Jackson’s dissent may well start to look like a dark warning of further favoritism yet to come.

    • P J Evans says:

      I’m ready to ignore rulings that favor corporations (and power and money) over people and precedent.

  6. harpie says:

    Re: Stanley:

    […] JACKSON, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SOTOMAYOR, J., joined as to Parts III and IV, except for n. 12. […]

    LOL…Jackson’s solo footnote 12 is getting a lot of attention:

    https://bsky.app/profile/evanbernick.bsky.social/post/3ls2axmrwhk23
    June 20, 2025 at 10:32 AM

    Whoa. Spicy footnote from Justice Jackson, dissenting in the ADA case.
    [link][screenshot]
    […]
    But yeah, both Gorsuch and Jackson are unambiguously accusing one another of policy-driven interpretation. Gorsuch: “to secure the result they seek.” Jackson: well, just read it.

  7. harpie says:

    Mahmoud KHALIL is finally back with his family!

    https://bsky.app/profile/acyn.bsky.social/post/3ls5h44vvgc25
    June 21, 2025 at 5:00 PM

    AOC: Being taken is wrong, it is illegal, it is a violation of his First Amendment rights, it is an affront to every American, and we will not allow—and will continue to resist—the politicization and the continued political persecution that ICE is engaged in. [VIDEO]

    https://bsky.app/profile/merovingians.bsky.social/post/3ls5f7npfxk2b
    June 21, 2025 at 4:27 PM

    the single image every genuinely freedom-loving american has been waiting for [PHOTO]

  8. harpie says:

    THOSE SCOTUS FVCKERS

    Vladeck:
    https://bsky.app/profile/stevevladeck.bsky.social/post/3lscgl7cl222k
    June 23, 2025 at 4:34 PM

    #BREAKING: Over a (sharp) public dissent from the three Democratic appointees, #SCOTUS clears the way for the Trump administration to remove migrants to third countries *without* giving them an additional opportunity to contest whether they face persecution or other forms of mistreatment there: [link][THREAD]
    […]
    Sotomayor [Dissent]: “Given its conduct in these proceedings, the Government’s posture resembles that of the arsonist who calls 911 to report firefighters for violating a local noise ordinance.”

    • harpie says:

      Geidner:
      https://bsky.app/profile/chrisgeidner.bsky.social/post/3lscgu5svr22e
      June 23, 2025 at 4:39 PM

      BREAKING: SCOTUS over liberals’ dissent, blocks district court order requiring process before carrying out third country removals. SCOTUS’s order allows Trump admin to carry out third country removals without the protections required—notice and opportunity to raise a challenge. No reason is given.

      Sotomayor, joined by Kagan and Jackson, do not mince words:

      “[T]his Court now intervenes to grant the Government emergency relief from an order it has repeatedly defied. I cannot join so gross an abuse of the Court’s equitable discretion.” [THREAD]

      Reichlin-Melnick:
      https://bsky.app/profile/reichlinmelnick.bsky.social/post/3lscgpkfpks2e
      June 23, 2025 at 4:36 PM

      DISASTROUS. This means they will send people to horrific situations with no due process — in direct violation of promises the Solicitor General made to the Court in previous cases.

      This greenlights sending people to be enslaved in Libya or tortured in any random foreign country.

      Today the GOP justices on the Supreme Court endorsed migrants being sold into slavery.

      They’ll claim otherwise, but that’s the reality — today’s decision permits Trump to send people from countries around the world to any global hellhole that accepts a U.S. financial incentive. [THREAD]

      • harpie says:

        This whole Reichlin-Melnick THREAD is really worth a read.

        Vladeck and Geidner wrote articles linked in my comment below.

    • harpie says:

      There’s a comment in the pokey here re these two THREADS:

      https://bsky.app/profile/chrisgeidner.bsky.social/post/3lscgu5svr22e
      June 23, 2025 at 4:39 PM

      BREAKING: SCOTUS over liberals’ dissent, blocks district court order requiring process before carrying out third country removals. SCOTUS’s order allows Trump admin to carry out third country removals without the protections required—notice and opportunity to raise a challenge. No reason is given.

      https://bsky.app/profile/reichlinmelnick.bsky.social/post/3lscgpkfpks2e
      June 23, 2025 at 4:36 PM

      DISASTROUS. This means they will send people to horrific situations with no due process — in direct violation of promises the Solicitor General made to the Court in previous cases. [THREAD]

      • Rayne says:

        Could you do me a favor and confirm that comment was freed? I don’t see any comment in pending as of 8:30 pm ET. Thanks!

    • harpie says:

      The Court’s Disastrous Ruling in the Third-Country Removal Case The majority did not just greenlight an especially odious immigration policy without any explanation; it did so in a case in which the government defied the district court—twice—with no consequence. https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/161-the-courts-disastrous-ruling Steve Vladeck Jun 23, 2025

      Breaking: SCOTUS allows Trump admin to deport people to random countries with no notice Justice Sotomayor called the order a “gross … abuse” of the court’s authority. Also: Law Dork in the media. https://www.lawdork.com/p/breaking-scotus-allows-trump-admin Chris Geidner Jun 23, 2025

    • harpie says:

      Evan Bernick:
      https://bsky.app/profile/evanbernick.bsky.social/post/3lscvg7h4e225
      June 23, 2025 at 8:59 PM

      I encourage everyone to actually read the dissent. The description of what this government is doing should shock anyone with a conscience. It is unfathomably cruel, indeed sadistic. And yes, *this* is being enabled by the highest court in the nation.
      [Link to Vladeck]

      I’m not going to screenshot it. It’s that bad.

      This is an administration that intentionally and unlawfully deports people to places where they may be tortured or killed. There is every reason to think that it will act to make that happen. I think it fair to say that this order will leave the court with blood on its hands.

      The administration is doing this with all due deliberation.
      It’s not an accident. They want people to suffer.
      This intervention will encourage them.

  9. harpie says:

    Marcy just RePosted this account:

    https://bsky.app/profile/gbrockell.bsky.social/post/3lseajqvlpk2y
    June 24, 2025 at 9:47 AM

    [THREAD] Bottom line: ICE has THREE business jets doing deportations to Africa right now. $27,000 an hour is “worth it” to our government to expel brown and Black people. [link]

    Links to:
    https://bsky.app/profile/jjindc.bsky.social/post/3lsdzzljyec2d
    June 24, 2025 at 7:54 AM

    CE AIR FLIGHTS—24 JUN 2025

    Overnight, this ATS Gulfstream 4 on an ICE mission out of Phoenix arrived in Dakar, Senegal after a brief refuelling stop in Puerto Rico

    Follow this thread for ICE Air updates [THREAD]

    • harpie says:

      Speaking of Senegal…this happened the other day:

      https://bsky.app/profile/nanjala.bsky.social/post/3lrxfv2domk25
      June 19, 2025 at 7:22 AM

      The US has denied the visas of all 12 members of the Senegalese women’s basketball team who were scheduled to travel to the country as part of their preparation for the Afrobasket tournament that begins in August. Afrobasket is also the African qualifiers for the Olympics.

      #wnba

  10. harpie says:

    And, speaking of TRUMP DOJ VIOLATING COURT ORDERS:

    Marcy’s also commenting about this NYT article [I’ll try to get a gift link]:

    Justice Dept. Leader Suggested Violating Court Orders, Whistle-Blower Says
    Emil Bove III, a Trump judicial nominee, voiced his intent to disobey court orders as others stonewalled and misled judges, according to a complaint. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/us/politics/justice-department-emil-bove-trump-deportations-reuveni.html Devlin Barrett June 24, 2025 Updated 9:29 a.m. ET

    Here’s their link to the document [I don’t know if this will work w/o a gift link]:
    https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/e285ec96adf8d443/5868d536-full.pdf

    There should be NO Presumption of Regularity for ANY of these crooks.

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