Open Thread: SCOTUS End of Term Releases
This is an open thread focused on Supreme Court orders and decisions released this week, the final week of the court’s term.
Check these Twitter accounts for more updates and analysis:
SCOTUS updates: https://twitter.com/USSupremeCourt – Updates
SCOTUSblog: https://twitter.com/SCOTUSblog – Analysis
Steve Vladeck: https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck – Dedicated thread with updates and analysis
Chris Geidner: https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner – Dedicated thread with updates and analysis
If you want to suggest any other Twitter accounts to follow for SCOTUS news and analysis, please share in comments.
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Any updates will appear at the bottom of this post; please bear with any content burps as this page may be edited as the day progresses.
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28-JUN-2022
Ardoin, LA Secretary of State, et al. v. Robinson, Press, et al.
Certiorari Granted
Stay granted 6-3 by SCOTUS, essentially fucking over Black voters in Louisiana for this mid-term election by way of the shadow docket.
#BREAKING: Over dissents from the three liberal Justices, #SCOTUS issues unsigned, unexplained shadow docket order putting Louisiana’s congressional maps (which a district court blocked) back into effect and adding the case to the merits docket for next Term: pic.twitter.com/mIpuV1JskV
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) June 28, 2022
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29-JUN-2022
Oklahoma, Petitioner v. Victor Manuel Castro-Huerta
5-4 decision, Kavanaugh majority opinion, Gorsuch with dissent
Against hundreds of years of congressional action, against solid #SCOTUS precedent, and hundreds of years of history, the Supreme Court held today that states have jurisdiction over certain crimes in Indian Country by judicial fiat. A devastating result for our democracy. pic.twitter.com/D7H75l0nhZ
— Maggie Blackhawk (@MaggieBlackhawk) June 29, 2022
Blackhawk’s next tweet encapsulates much of the problem with this particular SCOTUS iteration:
There is little to say here other than the fact that our Supreme Court has become a superlegislature. Precedent, statutes, separation of powers, reason, the rule of law, these things all mean nothing.
— Maggie Blackhawk (@MaggieBlackhawk) June 29, 2022
This court is not legitimate because it fails to recognize previous SCOTUS decisions, undermines fundamental human rights, and tears at democracy, while re-colonizing Native American nations without the express approval of U.S. legislature, or the re-colonized by nation, or by bodily autonomy.
It is a superlegislature supplanting the role of the legislative branch while frustrating the executive branch’s ability to fulfill functions outlined in legislation.
Given what it has already done this term, what are the odds this same court further destroys the executive branch’s long-recognized functions in its last decisions on West Virginia v. EPA and Biden v. Texas this term?
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29-JUN-2022
Le Roy Torres, Petitioner v. Texas Department of Public Safety
5-4 decision, Breyer majority opinion, Kagan concurring, Thomas dissent
SCOTUS finds in favor of U.S. veterans’ rights. Texas agreed upon becoming a state that its sovereignty was subordinate to federal policy; this will tweak the noses of Texas secessionists.
In 5-4 opinion, SCOTUS rules Le Roy Torres — @trooper1999 — can sue Texas in effort to get his old State Police job back. Here’s @johnyangtv‘s powerful piece as the case went to argument. @Burnpit360 https://t.co/DPuzniUScJhttps://t.co/O0pRZbkrHI
— Kyle Midura (@KyleMidura) June 29, 2022
The disturbing part of this decision:
Lots of awful SCOTUS drops today, but the fact that Torres v. Texas Dept of Public Safety is a 5-4 opinion is terrifying.
— Amy (@moogacat) June 29, 2022
And by that I mean that four people voted in the dissent. That case should not have been a close call.
— Amy (@moogacat) June 29, 2022
It’s as if the four dissenters don’t realize they’re arguing against their own legitimacy. If federal law isn’t supreme, why is their court supreme?
Or is that the point, they’re making yet another argument for states’ rights?
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