Supreme Court Watch: Order List

The Supreme Court is back. It handed down an Order List that has multiple dissents from denial of cert along with a couple of statements about them. They also added another opinion day for Wednesday. 

They hear oral arguments today through Wednesday and have another conference to discuss cases on Friday. The statements/dissents today were from cases "relisted" multiple times. 

The cases (not counting the last) are discussed here. The order list was otherwise as normal mostly "ho hum." Alito didn't take part in one case without saying while Kagan noted previous government service.

Sotomayor and Jackson without comment publicly announced they would have granted cert in a case to examine whether a precedent clearly established that officers violate the Fourth Amendment when they search the wrong house without checking the address or conspicuous features of the house to be searched.

Thomas continued his campaign against a precedent that limited tort claims brought by service members alleging medical malpractice. Thomas and Alito wanted to reexamine a precedent allowing regulations limiting abortion protests. 

Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissented from denials involving various criminal justice issues. Sotomayor (joined by Gorsuch in one case) did not dissent but provided concerned statements regarding two other criminal cases. The order list was 58 pages long. 

One case involved arresting someone for a misdemeanor without a warrant.  She noted various procedural problems with taking the case and the value of allowing the lower courts to continue to examine the issue.  An informative discussion. 

Other News 

While speaking Saturday at an event for Princeton University alumni, Kagan said the public’s entitled to express views about whether the court “is doing its job properly, no matter how hard we’re working and seriously we’re taking things.”

Meanwhile, Kagan reaffirmed the right of the public to criticize Supreme Court actions. This might seem obvious but the tenor of Roberts' end-of-the-year report might lead some to doubt it. 

Amy Howe's blog is back up. SCOTUSblog also has returned to Twitter since mid-2023 (except for a December 2024 notice that they were on Bluesky).  They don't say WHY they returned.

One thing reported: SCOTUS has posted its April argument schedule. The final orals for the term.