SCOTUS Watch: Some More Drama

An opinion day was announced for Monday, but before we do so, we can say some more words about ongoing drama.

First off, a summary of SCOTUS drama news. First, we have Thomas v. Roberts. SCOTUS conservatives in general acting out (since the leak, other than perhaps reference to an overall unease, the liberals seem to be absent from the coverage, except for an SCOTUSBlog argument on why it is logical to assume a liberal clerk leaked the draft).

And, more news about Ginni Thomas, now attempts to get the Arizona legislature (a former Thomas clerk, now a state judge, has a spouse there) to overturn the official finding Biden won.  And, surely, Clarence Thomas has no role here, including any reason for him to recuse from election litigation!  

Meanwhile, I have seen some people just handwave the value of private Supreme Court deliberations.  I think that is tossing the baby out with the bathwater.  The conservatives are leaking like a sieve, which can't be skipped over as if only the leaked draft matter. And, the result is the most serious thing.  Overheated b.s. also is hard to take seriously.

But, we have private deliberations (in a range of contexts) for a reason.  Sneers about a "right to privacy" for only judges aside, privacy as a general matter during deliberations helps the process.  Likewise, use of leaks to influence public opinion and/or other members of the Court (see second link) does send a message that the justices are but politicians.  Maybe, that is honest. All the same, doing so blatantly changes matters. 

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As a sorbet cleanser, some good blue state abortion news.  I have seen an advertisement about Gov. Hochul supporting a state constitutional amendment to support abortion rights.  I thought the state constitution already has been found to protect abortion rights. The process would take two years and it looks like the idea is an open-ended one not just abortion related.  New York already recently statutorily expanded abortion rights. 

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Meanwhile: Primary season continues, including Madison Cawthorn losing (not by much) and it being too close to call in Pennsylvania for the Republicans (the urge is to root for Dr. Oz as an easier mark for November, though after 2016, you continuously fear doing that; but everything isn't the same there).  

One more wrinkle is the Republican governor candidate very well might be disqualified under 14A, sec. 3.  His role as a "stop the steal" guy has been cited though I have not seen this covered elsewhere (not that I really researched it, but this issue has been generally ignored).  People also note that if he wins, he can be in power after the 2024 elections.  There is however some chance the chance for ratfucking will be somehow addressed by pending bipartisan efforts to address electoral counts. 

Oh, there is drama with new maps in New York.  The whole thing is a mess -- even if (maybe so) the court of appeals was correct to strike down the House/state Senate maps as a partisan gerrymander -- however unfair that seems since Republicans in other states have gotten away with it -- doing so with elections in August is really a mess.  It is still unclear just how final the map that just dropped will be. To be continued!