Order List
The eleven-page order list suggested something was a foot. It was a mostly ho-hum Order List with Sotomayor (with Jackson) dissenting (with opinion) from cert denial in a case involving habeas:
This case raises an entrenched Circuit split over an important question of statutory interpretation: Can a certificate of appealability be denied notwithstanding a circuit judge’s vote to grant it?
Alito and Kavanaugh recused without comment because, unlike the liberals, conservatives won't tell us why. I continue to find this wrong.
Today In SCOTUS History
A blog provides a daily event in SCOTUS history, which also provides others to note opinions handed down that day and a Japanese student provide Japanese cases. It also allows others to comment.
A recent entry in the daily case lists was HUD v. Rucker, which I found distasteful when it came out. It was bothersome no one dissented.
Breyer did not take part since his brother handed down the district court opinion. The lower courts held for the the challengers.
My pre-blog discussion is found here. Some of the links are dead, including the Michael Dorf essay.
Opinions
April brought some more opinions.
Alito wrote an opinion for a unanimous court (when you lose Alito, you are in trouble) overturning a Fifth Circuit ruling blocking an e-cigs regulation. Sotomayor wrote a brief concurrence arguing the case was even easier than he said.
Barrett wrote a 5-4 opinion involving a company called "Medical Marijuana Inc." The issue turns on a medication that supposedly didn't have THC, but led to repeat tests that showed it did. This ultimately led to the person being fired, which led to this litigation.
Holding: "Under civil RICO, §1964(c), a plaintiff may seek treble damages for business or property loss even if the loss resulted from a personal injury."
Barrett's opinion underlined its limited reach and how the challenger still has a lot to prove. Jackson added a paragraph to further her "When Congress speaks, courts should listen" mantra.
Thomas (alone, wanting to punt) and Kavanaugh (on the merits via an opinion longer than the majority) (with Roberts and Alito) dissented. Roberts rarely dissents so that's notable.
Alito's opinion was over forty pages. There were about sixty pages of opinions here. The justices split 5-3 on what Congress meant in the marijuana case.
Solicitor General
Sauer is a former federal prosecutor and Missouri solicitor general who successfully argued at the Supreme Court last year on behalf of Donald Trump in his bid for immunity from criminal prosecution related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
John Sauer, another Trump defense attorney, was confirmed as solicitor general by a party line vote. He defended Trump in the well named Trump v. U.S. and now the inmates have taken over the asylum.
Harmeet Dhillon, an election denier, also was confirmed to lead DOJ Civil Division. She also opposed masks and supported anti-trans policies.
Trump's SCOTUS Does Him a Solid
[This opinion dropped sometime late Friday afternoon. We didn't have one those surprises for a little while. We might want to expect some more.]
The justices are looking on as much litigation is going on in the lower courts. Sotomayor has spoken out generally about the rule of law. Roberts said you shouldn't attack judges. Let things play out.
A 5-4 majority (Roberts joined the liberals) held up a restraining order regarding education related grants held up because of DEI. Which again is FINE.
The short per curiam was a mixture of procedural with limited hints that the merits were off. The main focus was the idea that the government wouldn't get the fund back and the challengers didn't need them now. So, it's a limited Trump win. Okay.
Steve Vladeck is all reasonable law professor and says, "wait until you get real upset, we don't know how bad this is so far." Again, okay. If it was so trivial why did Roberts dissent (without comment)?
Kagan and Jackson followed the three pages of the majority with nineteen pages of dissents. Kagan had a short dissent arguing (1) it was a misuse of the emergency [shadow] docket (2) there very well is evidence that the funds are necessary now.
Jackson (with Sotomayor) goes into more passionate detail. The majority is "beyond puzzling" and "baffling." There are "numerous" grounds not to do this. She doesn't think the "we won't get the funds back" concern is that credible. And so on.
Coming Up
After the Order List on Monday, the next scheduled event is ten days later, before the holiday weekend. After the holiday, there are the final weeks of oral arguments. We might also see other orders, including one or more regarding April executions.