SCOTUS Watch

Order List 

Chief Justice Roberts granted an administrative stay recently. 

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to block a ruling by a federal appeals court that would allow a Native American tribe in Florida to take online sports bets. In a brief unsigned order, the justices turned down a request by two casinos located in Florida to put a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on hold while the casinos seek Supreme Court review.

Kavanaugh had a brief statement in part suggesting the possibility of favoring one Native American tribe. If that happened, he said it would raise equal protection issues. The idea that tribal policy would raise that issue is not really something that should be blithely tossed out as an aside.

Anyway, since he wrote something, the order is on the "Opinions Relating to Orders - 2023" page on the website. I don't claim my comment to the web administrator is the reason, but two errors on the case list were fixed. One had the most recent Missouri case dated incorrectly. The second had "BK" (Kavanaugh) as the author when he only submitted the order to the full court.  

[I was promised an email to confirm I submitted a comment. I never received one. Blah.]

William Speer Execution 

On the day William Speer was scheduled to be executed, he obtained a stay so that the Texas courts could examine various due process claims.

Speer has received some sympathy for his good conduct in prison (at least after he murdered a prisoner there to join a gang) and a horrible childhood.  Also, the victim's daughter opposed the execution. 

I was ready to sigh about another case of someone in prison for over twenty years (death row) before they were executed, seeing it all as a waste. It might still happen.  But, not yet.  Yes, even Texas holds up executions. 

Thomas Again 

A Senate committee, investigating something flagged in news coverage, raised red flags regarding a loan forgiven that benefits Justice Thomas.

This is old news -- the whole thing was completed over a decade ago -- but it covers stuff that has been cited repeatedly. Disclosure problems that raise ethical and maybe criminal implications. Sweetheart arrangements with rich people (atypical here is that an actual old friend was involved). 

The theme usually is that conservative rich people are trying to get in with Justice Thomas. This doesn't seem to have that aspect. It does have the now standard theme of Thomas liking nice things and rich friends helping. 

BTW, can these articles, at times long-form magazine articles, help a guy out by providing bullet points? Some "tl;dr" quality here.  

Book Review

I already read Cliff Sloan's smaller book on Marbury v. Madison and thought it provided a good basic account. 

The Court At War is a longer volume about the Supreme Court during WWII. It isn't that long -- the main text is around 350 pages. A lot of endnotes. 

A chunk of it is focused on a few standard cases (flag salute, Japanese internment, etc.). I didn't need an extended chapter on the moribund attempt to get Douglas on the ballot in 1944. But, that overall aspect of it is again a good standard account. Well written.  

The book had some interesting stuff that is a bit less known, including the length of the justices' coziness with FDR (Stone and Roberts mostly accepted). A few important but lesser-known cases such as the white-only primary case are also covered. I did hope for a bit more there.

Overall though it was not the GREAT BOOK one law professor who got an early copy made it out to be (did he not read any other accounts of this period?), it is a worthwhile read. And, Sloan overall has a liberal mindset, including comparing Skinner (eugenics) with Dobbs.  

[I was able to borrow via interlibrary loan a book put together from Justice Robert Jackson's notes regarding FDR. I found it hard to read though as an insider, it is surely a good historical resource.] 

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SCOTUS will go back to hearing oral arguments next week. There are some important cases.  An Order List will drop on Monday.