SCOTUS Watch

Another virtual Supreme Court order/decision day if with less action than last week.  The one opinion had thirty pages of discussion (Sotomayor with Alito/Thomas in dissent), which these days is somewhat notable with many quickie opinions.  It involved a major oil spill and a lot of money so notable even if the "plain language of the parties’ safe-berth clause establishes a warranty of safety" is a specialized sort of dispute.

The Order List  had a single grant involving some sort of technical Bivens damages claim that the government brought (the respondent is King, James; not King James -- English royalty joke) against a claim of excessive force.  Given the conservative majority has little love for such claims, it might be something of a red flag.  Various things including agreeing to attorney fees in one case and oral argument time in another.  We also had the usual list of rejections, one for which Breyer didn't take part in (for financial reasons? it would be nice to know on the record per a pending House bill), one that three conservative justices wanted to take (the case was "relisted") and this:

Recognizing that the Court has repeatedly declined to grant certiorari on this important issue—whether the right recognized in Johnson v. United States, 576 U. S. 591 (2015),  applies to defendants sentenced under the mandatory Sentencing Guidelines—I [Sotomayor] will cease noting my dissent in future petitions presenting the question.  I hope, however, that the Court will at some point reconsider its reluctance to answer it.

Such little asides are what loyal readers of orders live for. There are also the technical references that again warrant some sort of key such as "application to recall remittitur"  or (for "Juvenile Male" v. U.S.) "The motion for leave to file a petition for a writ of  certiorari under seal with the appendix available for the public record is denied."  Anyway, there is another conference this Friday and the SCOTUSBlog live blog said there is no implication there will be more opinions scheduled this week.

If anything changes, will update.