SCOTUS Watch: Short Week Edition

Conference/Grant

Election Day is later this year (it doesn't have much to do with those clocks going back, though it might feel that way), so suddenly it's Veteran's Day. 

This means SCOTUS had its conference on Thursday, and released an order to tell us they took one more case for argument. It involves the reach of an identity theft statute, so fits the "CRIME!" theme of many of the election races this cycle.  And, the case has been relisted multiple times, which means the justices (well at least one) were interested. 

Tracy Beatty Execution 

First, it without comment (becoming a damn trend -- why did Sotomayor stop her occasional "I'm concerned but" statements in these cases?) let a Texas execution go thru.  Tracy Beatty's mental illness claims might have been weak (without doing the research, I'll grant it), but SCOTUS should at least make a brief effort in addressing them before signing off on the state executing someone.  It's still a major thing, right?  

The link flags another problem with this execution after about twenty years. The aggravating factor involved in making it death eligible is laughably weak: it was based on the allegation he was illegally in his mother's home (when he murdered her -- such an emotionally laden case is really not a "worse of the worst" matter) on facts that split the lower court when it was examined.  

Another case where some will say "good riddance to bad rubbish," but is simply not the sort of case where a principled application of the death penalty would warrant it.  Nothing new there.  

Other Stuff

The justices had various oral arguments, starting with the Indian Child Welfare Act and some more inside baseball cases.  It would have been nice if a Native American was one of the advocates in the first case.  

The "yeah this is what they should be dealing with" brigade should appreciate the January Argument calendar, which brings us to the "yeah it's almost 2023" sentiment.   The December Arguments will begin at the end of November, and we will have more than one biggie coming up.  

There will be an order list (likely minor) on Monday and conference at the end of the week.  There are FOUR (one on hold) executions scheduled next week.  Let's see if radio silence continues.