SCOTUS Watch: Summer Order List Week

Order List: Orders are often major inside baseball for the Supreme Court. They often simply state that they rejected a request.  Some can be more important. Others do nothing though the briefing/case might be interesting. 

(I checked before posting. This list seems to be from the "crazy" file. Nice red flag is where a response is waived. Multiple petitions are handwritten. Somewhat entertaining reading, but not quite legally strong.

One asked: "Were the district courts' administrative court operations procedures in response to the covid-19 pandemic emergency forbidden by authority and unconstitutional because it was totalitarian and caused the overthrow of Constitutional protected liberties?"  One compared the leaking of the Dobbs opinion to the "attempt to encourage another insurrection against Judicial processes by an organized group to subvert judicial decisions as occurred on January 6th, 2021.")

The first scheduled summer order list, so mundane the Supreme Court itself (even after I dropped a line flagging it; hey, SCOTUSBlog marked it on their calendar!) doesn't treat it like other such order days, was just a list of re-argument requests (it is unclear the last time one was actually granted) denied.  

November Arguments: A few things actually happened last week. As Steve Vladeck has noted, that's Mets fan in Texas/shadow docket guy, the Supreme Court these days does a group do things in the summer.  A long time practice was for the Court as a whole to go on full recess, and individual justices having the job of dealing with some emergency order like a death penalty case or as addressed in The Brethren, some segregated school case.  

One thing that happened was an order dropped that divided the upcoming college affirmative action cases.  The reason (implicitly noted by the fact she didn't take part in the decision related to that case) is that Justice Jackson was involved in one of them, given her role at Harvard, so will not take part.  The cases are discussed some here.  And, were formally put up for argument as part of the November arguments (starting on 10/31).

Kavanaugh Hearings: My strong belief is that all three of Trump's nominees for the Supreme Court were tainted, but for somewhat different reasons.  The middle seat came on "regular order," so to speak, though the fact Trump was in power was a travesty.  

It is possible that the result would just be (as far as this is a "just be") conservative who would shift the Supreme Court even further to the right.  Something that long term warrants addressing -- expansion in part addressed long term problems of this nature -- but not in the same class as blatant thefts (or whatever fucking word you want to use) like Gorsuch and Barrett.  This is why my minimum would be two more justices.  

The problem turned out to be the nature of the hearings and who was chosen. They could have went with some run of the mill type -- Alito for O'Connor shows how this can benefit conservatives -- but nope.  My ultimate concern was not even that there is strong evidence he was some sort of sexual predator in high school and apparently (somewhat more hazy) in his college years too.  Mind you, for the Supreme Court, that's a lousy call.  It's how it was handled the whole thing.  

I am consistent enough that a I think people can repent from things they did c. 16-24.  If I don't want people who murder at that age to be executed, I think people can be accepted in high office twenty-five years later.  

But, at the very least [not that I would support him in general, he had other baggage -- he was basically a right wing hack/suck-up ... on Strict Scrutiny Podcast, this "good old white frat boy" concept was noted]  he could not be an angry troll about it.  I would note too that Sen. "I care about abortion rights now" Collins was basically as bad in her red meat speech supporting him.  I can do without the Justice Boof bits, but you know, you earned it.

This repeating of past sentiments is cited because the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, testified to the Senate this week. He was asked by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse -- who is particularly Mr. Dark Money's effects on the federal courts -- about the FBI's handling of the Kavanaugh nomination.  The basic sentiment of some is that the FBI just did the Trump Administration's bidding and was slipshod in investigating him.

I think a complete investigation about the Kavanaugh nomination should be done, to help address a range of questions.  For instance, I don't think a 80 year old justice there for 30 years "rushed" off the Court, in part because his son years earlier helped Trump as part of his banking job.  The gambling debts issue seems a red herring, though it's fine to clarify what that is about.  And, confirmation b.s. about Roe is not perjury.

But, especially given all the baggage and questions, I think we should have a full accounting. The appearance of impropriety is enough to taint the system of justice.  The FBI background investigation factors in here as well.  This thing is lingering for years.  And, that is going to be the case at times -- some issues won't be settled, they will linger.  

Wray -- who people argue should be fired for cause for his actions as a whole [including dereliction of duty related to 1/6 ... given the principle of FBI director independence, including the 10 year term, I admit I'm unsure if he should be fired ... not thinking President Biden will go there, especially given all that he has to do to keep balls in the air]  -- basically said normal procedure was followed.  If more should have been done, it seems he is passing the buck to the Trump Administration.  

The validity of this appears to be unclear.  My argument would be that we have to find out just what happened, including in the context of a confirmation that was not run of the mill.  What would have happened if the same thing occurred in let's say 2006 or 2012.  The usual suspects on each side obviously have preconceived notions.  

But, again, some effort should be had to get to a conclusion.  One thing that is tiresome is constantly getting the latest tweet or something about some new bit of news about testimony or some charge or whatever and it all ends in haze.  Life is haze on some level, that's why I say "but" type words a lot on this blog.  This paragraph starts with that word.  It does not mean some advancing of the truth here is unreachable.  

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Reform: This is a good reminder that there are various ways to have a constitutional court.  It is not parliamentary supremacy or our system. There is room in between.  Change does come.  The presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court did not simply stay at the same place even in the last thirty years. The article flags possibilities of much bigger change.  But, they too come.