SCOTUS Order List / Other Legal Stuff

Books: I reviewed The Cult of the Constitution here and might say more on another book review site later on. My views basically held after re-reading it. 

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I'm reading Taking Down Backpage, which covers one aspect of her views about the need to limit excesses on the Internet.  It is good so far -- she is a good writer -- though there are dissenters on attacking Backpage. 

John Oliver's segment on sex work last night argued it helped fight trafficking (she notes it did only so much, basically a sort of minimum "cost of doing business" sort of thing) and that it just transferred trafficking to less reachable overseas places (which it was doing already before the prosecutions began). 

She upfront says going after sex trafficking is not the same thing as sex work generally.  As to the idea it was merely "was simply a conduit for third-party" advertisers, she provides evidence this is bullshit.  Her general work against those who profit from abusive sex work does not appear to be some sort of simplistic prosecution approach. 

Plus, there are real victims (often minors) here, even if (like I) you think sex work should be legal for consenting adults.  The book (now that I finished it) also ends with a good chapter discussing the needs of victims in sex work, including supporting structural improvements and so forth.  She notes that California opposes prosecuting minors for sex work.  

The John Oliver piece was good, but the one prosecutor voice we get is someone who says prosecutions are the only way for victims of sex work to get help.  The book is not of that mentality; it does argue there are abuses that are appropriate targets.  She notes things like sexual trafficking should be the concern there, not simple streetwalking type of things.  

She also is concerned with labels, including not victimizing people. Backpage was eventually taken down because of financial wrongdoing. She gives one side, but it also sounds like the people behind it also could have been convicted of other things, not just being a "platform." 

Like Franks' book, we see here that there is a dark side here, even for those with libertarian views. I think there is a right to intimate association, even if obtained financially.  There are reasonable regulations.  And, the concern for people pressured into the business because of lack of alternatives should note the same is true for other choices (consider the military).  We should address structural concerns there.  And, deal with abuses and victims.  

The book is recommended as both a well written book on the work of a prosecutor as well as one that sees the wider picture. 

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Order List:  Various of the usual procedural orders, which a quick look at Legal Twitter did not flag as notable.  Notable grants addressing various issues related to the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. Recall that the Secretary of the Interior is a Native American.  More eating the marshmallows now?

Four conservatives flagged what they saw as a very concerning ministerial exemption case, but agreed as a procedural matter it is not a good case to grant.  They notably had the votes to do so.  Their summary, which I don't grant as telling the whole story, suggests an academic dispute with religious connotations. 

Sotomayor (by herself) would have summarily granted a criminal matter, which various lawyers on Twitter thought was a patently clear injustice. As one noted, her doing it alone suggests perhaps some procedural issue, including perhaps a concern about merely doing "error correction."

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Orals: Big EPA case argued today.   From what I can tell, the exact result is unclear, but likely some poison pills will result (including maybe clearly establishing the "major questions doctrine") with implications down the road.  

A strong dissent (at least in part) from the liberals also likely -- they were especially dominant when the challengers were up.  The conservatives seemed mostly to want some help writing their anti-regulatory opinion.