Supreme Court Watch

No new orders have dropped. The Chief Justice's End of Year Report is thing next on the schedule. There were a few court-related developments. 

Opinion Announcements

Supreme Court audio from 1955 is available at the National Archives, allowing Oyez.org to provide oral argument audio to the general public. I first heard it when Peter Irons pioneered its release in the 1990s. He only used excerpts. 

The website provides complete audio. It also includes opinion announcements though that is less complete. 

For whatever reason, for instance, there is no opinion announcement audio for Roe v. Wade. Nonetheless, there is a generally complete collection -- including dissents from the bench--from the 1990s. 

The Supreme Court with COVID provided live audio of oral arguments and continued once they went back to the bench. They released select audio before and it came out as arbitrary -- a special events thing. The Court still does not provide opinion announcements though they think it important enough to provide opinion summaries and an occasional dissent.

The 2023 opinion announcement audio, including Sotomayor's Trump v. U.S. dissent, is now available. Every single opinion might not be available but a quick look suggests more are. Maybe, someday, the Court will get around to releasing them too. 

Jackson to the Virgin Islands

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson handles circuit justice duties for the First Circuit, which somewhat arbitrarily includes Puerto Rico. Justice Alito has the Third and Fifth, the former includes the Virgin Islands. 

Circuit court justices do not have much work. They do not "circuit ride" like the old days. The circuits also are not evenly split by population. The idea we should have thirteen justices because we have thirteen circuits (D.C. and federal circuit plus eleven others) is a bit silly. Let's be honest here.

Anyhow, Justice Jackson will have some public appearances in the Virgin Islands. Will Justice Alito introduce her since it is his domain? 

More On Biden's Death Penalty Commutations

The NY Daily News editorial staff agreed with President Biden's providing exceptions to his commutation of sentences of those on federal death row to life imprisonment. 

The three exceptions were terrorist "acts of war" and there were no problems of racial bias, innocence, and the breadth of the crime warranted the punishment. They would also support it for a massacre of schoolchildren which was not a political statement.

They cite the problems with the death penalty:

The problems with the death penalty are well known, from exhibiting racial bias against defendants of color to the very high cost of appeals and the great time involved. Capital punishment also hasn’t proven to be much of a deterrent. And it runs the risk, however small, of taking an innocent life.

Some of these problems remain. Also, there is the basic idea that taking a human life, even these, is wrong. I am not going to be too upset that Biden was not perfect here. But, yes, the line is not perfect. 

If you allow the death penalty, you will have problems, including a tendency to expand the pool of who dies. The op-ed shows this by granting they would be willing to include more people. 

Nonetheless, compromise and line drawing are part of life. It is inexact. I respect how far President Biden went above and beyond any other president.