SCOTUS Watch: Orders and Opinions

Order List

After granting cases on Friday, the Supreme Court released the usual ho-hum Order List on Monday. 

Alito didn't take part in a couple of cases, as usual, not saying why. I will continue to flag that until the conservatives join the liberals in saying why they recuse, which the new ethical guidelines encourage. 

As usual, there were various odds and ends. The most notable thing is some statements/dissents from some conservatives in hot-button cases. 

Alito/Thomas would have taken a case involving affirmative action while Gorsuch said the matter is moot with a change of policy. 

Thomas/Alito and Gorsuch (less bluntly) flagged a case where the Hawaii Supreme Court received some attempt by thumbing their nose at the current SCOTUS gun policy. They granted it was not a ripe case but were concerned about the issues. 

Kavanaugh without comment and Alito/Thomas (on standing) would have taken a case involving parents asserting a right to know if their children came out as trans at school. Alito was sympathetic about an unenumerated right of parents raising their kids, a week after the trans case involving parents concerned about the health care of their children.  

Alito argued that standing has been used to wrongly avoid certain cases. Justices are selectively worried about such prudential standing decisions.  Chris Geidner shows how hypocritical/FOX News-y Alito/Thomas is here to reach out to take this case. 

Opinions

The first two opinions were a per curiam and a one-line statement that said a case was improvidently granted. IOW, "We shouldn't have taken it."

On Human Rights Day, we had the first signed opinion of the 2024 Term. The day was the 76th anniversary of the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our courts, including the Supreme Court, provide a fundamental means to uphold our rights. Rights ultimately rely on us all.

Anyways, back to the Supreme Court, and its first signed opinion of the term.  Justice Jackson, who will get a chance to fulfill a dream on the stage, wrote a unanimous opinion in an immigration dispute. 

The facts might be sympathetic, but the Court determined that a challenge to an alleged "sham marriage" determination should fail. Jackson argued the law gives the agency involved discretion without the courts having the authority to second guess. 

There was a dispute over the law here so the answer to the question was not totally clear. I will not pretend to argue that I know the right answer. Suffice it to say, that a unanimous court is not necessarily a right court. Ultimately, the value here is to have an agreed-upon answer that can be applied consistently.  

As usual, the opinion announcement was not live-streamed, so you will have to wait for Oyez.com to release it sometime after the term (or find where it is stored and access it). Now, the whole thing is announced on social media, including court reporters telling us how many boxes of opinions there are as a sign of how many opinions there might be. 

The Court decided having an opinion day was so much fun that they would have one on Wednesday too. As with the first "opinion day," it turned out to be another case of them deposing the case as improvidentially granted ("DIG"), which was not surprising from the coverage of the oral argument. 

The case involved the use of NVIDIA chips by crypto miners. Okay. So we had four opinions this term, one a per curiam (unsigned opinion of the court) released separately. Two opinion days involved DIGS and only one with a signed opinion. 

More Orders 

The Supreme Court rejected a stay of a coal regulation. The "brief" order business is the standard talk for a standard rejection without comment. Stays are not usually granted though sometimes justices at least show some concern about the EPA these days.  

The Court also dropped an order after their Friday conference that added two more arguments. Thus, two of the matters they "relisted" for further discussion have been addressed. More orders are due Monday. 

Court Seating 

The Supreme Court livestreams audio but does not provide video of oral arguments. Also, people like to be present in the room. But, there is limited seating, resulting in some problems. The Supreme Court is starting a trial lottery process for public seating.  

The inability to provide video or photographs leads to the usage of sketch artists. William Hennessey, a long-time SCOTUS sketch artist, has died. 

Thus ends a busy if not too profound week.