Supreme Court Watch

 

Supreme Court news often comes without fanfare. This was the case with observers noting that suddenly (for whatever reason) the big fence blocking the Court was taken down. A smaller fence remains. Meanwhile, though the justices aren't around, the building is still closed to the public. 

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There was also reporting that Ginni Thomas tried to get Wisconsin legislators (not just Arizona, where she had a former Thomas clerk go between among other things as I recall) to overturn the election. This keeps things in the news, including as the 1/6 Committee has asked her to voluntarily answer questions, but (after saying she was fine with it, nothing to hide!) refusing to do so.  It is not really too surprising.  

It fits as well with last night's speech by President Biden, which focused on democracy though also tossing in some general Democratic concerns like abortion rights and equality.  This latter part bothered a few people, including Richard Hasen, as too "divisive" and "partisan" instead of focusing on a more united "neutral" message. 

Ultimately, that's a bit naive and ridiculous. Biden is also the head of the Democrats and isn't just neutrally promoting voting here. Biden is promoting an American ethos that includes certain basic rights. I think that's appropriate. Also, if basic rights is "partisan," whose fault is that?  Finally, these things turn out to be connected in various ways, including trying to block people find voting on abortion rights for asinine reasons.  

The speech was about the "soul of the nation."  Not just a more narrow attack on authoritarian attacks on democracy.  The soul of the nation is democracy, yes, but also the democratic freedoms we honor.  And, yes, it includes the good we can do in public policy.  

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Talking abortion, I re-read Becoming Justice Blackmun, which is Linda Greenhouse's translating her early access to his personal and public papers into a book. It is not meant to be a complete biography though amounts to a pretty good introduction to the guy.  Notable that the book does not cover any religious liberty cases (putting aside abortion as one), which is not only a big thing these days, but something he played a significant role in.  

Blackmun, like Thurgood Marshall, had a liberal view regarding his papers.  Justices usually wait a long time, even until after everyone they served on is no longer there.  On that front, I wonder about Justice Stewart's papers.  The book was written five years after Blackmun's death, so is around fifteen years old now.  It would be interesting to consider if she would include more on his religious liberty cases if she wrote it today.

A review of the book makes a good point that "Biographers who follow Greenhouse may find other Blackmuns. Follow her they will."  Greenhouse's strategy of primarily using his papers unsurprisingly provides a Blackmun-friendly image though the review notes the fact that he is shown to be "kind to almost everyone" leads one to make "his lack of sympathy for Burger as their friendship fades startling." 

There are some sort of biography or autobiography (John Paul Stevens) of nearly everyone Blackmun served with. There are also multiple books about the courts he served on, including The Brethren. They provide various perspectives.  Blackmun is worthy of a good full length biography (the biographer of Souter and Harlan wrote one, but his bios are rather dull basic affairs).   

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The last Summer Order list is next week.  We are approaching the end of the summer recess. At the end of the month, there is a "long conference" where the Supreme Court gets up to date, dealing with pending matters. And, then the First Month in October starts a new term.  The "Jackson Term"?

Thus, the beginning of this month is the year anniversary of the 5-4 order leaving in place the SB8 Texas abortion law (a "die is cast" moment in hindsight) while still being part of the 2020 Term. The 2022 term starts in October 2022.