COVID and other things (that can't explain the much longer Senate lag time) ended the regular tag team (one liberal, one conservative justice) going up to Congress at budget time.
The appearances not only provided a chance to discuss budget matters. Congress members could ask justices other questions, including diversity of court personnel and other matters.
For instance, the "shadow docket" or ethics. To cite stuff covered this time. Likewise, an ethics code, which Kagan is open to having some enforcement mechanism. Leaks were also discussed.
It is a useful, if not profound (hearings rarely are), dance. Some useful information is shared, and justices remember that they are not just above it all.
One thing some sneered at was the justices' discussion of increased security concerns in recent years. "Yeah, threaten our liberty, you will get push back."
Barrett being told by her security staff to wear a bulletproof vest is a bit more. Bluesky comments talked about gun drills in schools. Okay?
If people sent you pizzas in the name of a judge's murdered son or "swatted" (fake police reports) your house, it still would bother you, correct? This is not a pissing contest. There are serious concerns here.
It is not totally coincidental that the uptick overlaps with the Trump Era. Liberal and conservative judges have been affected. But Trump stands out.
He played a significant role. Schumer once talking about "reaping the whirlwind" doesn't make it "both sides do it," when Trump regularly uses violent and delegitimizing rhetoric about the courts.
Yes, Barrett is part of the problem. She supported Trump, significantly so she could get her job.
But security is still a concern.
Florida continues to execute senior citizens. Sochor raped and murdered someone in 1981.
These lengthy delays create two special constitutional difficulties. First, a lengthy delay in and of itself is especially cruel because it “subjects death row inmates to decades of especially severe, dehumanizing conditions of confinement.” Second, a lengthy delay undermines the death penalty’s penological rationale.
Yes, Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, and Stevens.
The final appeal, rejected without comment, provided additional information regarding alleged evidence that Florida's execution method is cruel and unusual.
His lawyers claimed Florida wrongly blocked an attempt to make such a claim. Various recent appeals in some fashion addressed this concern, including requests for information.
Sotomayor once released a statement noting her concern. Otherwise, crickets.
Kagan, during her testimony, challenged the use of the term "shadow docket" because the justices have explained things more. Well, that explanation is only a matter of degree.
He was executed later in the day. The coverage does not suggest any issues. But I did not find any in-depth discussion of the overall claims, either.
Two more at the end of the month.
Trump News
The Supreme Court has done much to help enable Trump. One thing they did not do was block this.
They did delay it somewhat. The other civil judgment, involving much more money, is still pending.
Carroll received the money more than three years after a jury found that the president was liable for sexually abusing her in a Manhattan department store in 1996, and then for defaming her on social media. Trump has repeatedly appealed the judgment to no avail — including petitioning the Supreme Court multiple times — and last week launched a last-ditch attempt to block her from getting the money.
But this is a start.
Like the one successful prosecution, thank you, New York, for helping to obtain a modicum, a small modicum, of justice and consequences.
Other Stuff
The first summer Order List, traditionally a short nothingburger, is due on Monday.
