SCOTUS Watch: Beard-Lito and An Execution

In related news, Justice Alito is now sporting a beard. pic.twitter.com/SHigxGbD3j

— Howard Bashman (@howappealing) July 28, 2022

So, Justice Alito has a beard, while giving some grumpy, conservative in nature remarks about religious liberty at an event sponsored by Notre Dame, including taking potshots at various foreign leaders critical of SCOTUS.  This is what is seen as appropriate behavior, making the U.S. government look like a bunch of clowns.  

[And, again, there is a speech page on the website, if never used.]

Some of the usual suspects claim Justice Thomas is "canceled" since he decided (perhaps because of controversy) not to take part in some seminar or whatnot he planned to be involved in.  The controversy arising from his actions, including voting to strip women of basic rights.  

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Alabama is set to execute a man Thursday evening who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend nearly three decades ago, despite a request from the victim’s family to spare his life.

A horrible crime, but it's not in the public's interest to execute him at this point.  As Justice Breyer long noted, there are various problems with waiting so long to execute someone.  And, we are often told to "think of the victims," except when the victims are against the execution.  

For some reason, Joe Nathan James (following the required three name rule) acted as his own counsel at the end.  The final pleadings are somewhat raw, but seem credible enough, especially since this whole thing tends to be Hail Mary stuff anyway.  One creative claim: since the children want mercy, he has a religious liberty right not to be executed.

There were another arguments made, including yet another claim that he should be executed by nitrogen gas, the state arguing all such claims made too late and without merit. The time lag and victims not wanting an execution is key here in my book.  Way to help the victims.  

Reply from SCOTUS:

The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied.

Your criminal justice insights are appreciated Justice Jackson. After waiting thirty years to execute the guy (over twenty after sentencing him to death a second time after an appeal), they couldn't smoothly handle things.

The State of Alabama has executed Joe Nathan James, Jr. The lethal injection came after a significant delay. We are waiting on the ADOC commissioner to provide comments and answer questions.

— Lee Hedgepeth (@lee_hedgepeth) July 29, 2022

The fact this guy was his own lawyer at the end alone warranted a statement from at least one justice. I realize the liberals pick their spots, but each execution really warrants a statement at least.  And, this one had multiple things red flags.  Oh, what was the comment?

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm would not provide an explanation for the delay in James' execution.

A female member of the media also was flagged both for a skirt [which she wore in the past] and shoes, but was able to obtain alternative gear. Another person passed muster.  

This received some ridicule, as it should, though bottom line full disclosure on why there were delays to me is more important.  That involves full due process for the executed person and the appearance of integrity, which is very important.  

The coverage vaguely suggests the delay had something to do with getting the court mandated protocol right.  Why not just be fully upfront about what happened?  It's a sensitive matter and appropriate to be full aboveboard.

Here's a good comprehensive account of the execution.  I get a sense the reason he was pro se at the end is that he had problems with his lawyers in the past.  There are references to him talking to lawyers, even if he himself ultimately wrote the final petitions. 

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Adam Liptak (in an article dated yesterday), head SCOTUS reporter of the NYT now that Linda Greenhouse retired, wrote about a joint interview of Barrett and Sotomayor ("Justices Sotomayor and Barrett Say the Supreme Court Remains Collegial").  This probably warrants comment.

Sotomayor has -- at times going all in [remember that "shocked people are doubting my friend Gorsuch" joint letter in the midst of the mask controversy?] -- has joined the in modern times tendency of the justices to praise each other's professionalism and collegiality etc. publicly.  

But, they have not shown "fundamentally" that they are "good people."  So, especially now, I'm not really in the mood.  I really don't want it to be part of an interview by  Professor Akhil Reed Amar, who wrote “A Liberal’s Case for Brett Kavanaugh."  

The interview was from May, ten days after the draft leaked, and for some reason is being made public now. Again, if anything, I'm more pissed off at it now.  I figure Justice Jackson will follow this path to some degree, especially since first years often are toe in the water deals.  But, darn, would have been nice to hear her perspective Thursday night.  

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We will have the first summer order list  next Monday.  Likely to be not very noteworthy.  But, who knows.  

And, to toss everything in, there was another edit, this time to correct a name (if used three times) in the guns opinion.