SCOTUS Watch

Justice Kagan was not around when SCOTUS had its first opinion announcements from the bench for a while. She was at the christening of the USS Earl Warren, honoring the great chief justice in part for his voting rights rulings.  Something a majority of this Supreme Court is not as much a big fan of.  Her act is somewhat of an ideological statement on her part.

SCOTUS had a bookkeeping-type order later in the week. It is the sort of thing that will drop as they are on their break.  A mild footnote of sorts is that the "acting solicitor general" is referenced.  Why?  Well, for whatever reason, the solicitor general is recused from the cases at issue.  

We also had reports of a new Kavanaugh documentary, which drops some more details, if nothing really changes the conversation. This makes Dahlia Lithwick, who stepped aside from SCOTUS reporting for a while because of her own feelings, fears it will just lead to unsatisfying trauma. But, I think there is a need to keep the matter raw. Is it really good to move on to resigned acceptance?

As the justices take a break, a few executions are scheduled, including at the beginning of February.  The Richard Glossip execution has been pushed back again. They really should just bite the bullet and admit he shouldn't be executed.  A Pennsylvania execution, which is a rare one, scheduled in March was commuted.  There is one in Florida and Missouri still scheduled.  

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One issue covered in the recent Freedom From Religion Foundation radio program is the issue of invocations before government meetings. These things in theory might be acceptable but tend to favor certain religions over others. Emily Olson found this out when she challenged her local government's practices.  Her story is worth checking out.  

The Supreme Court allows such invocations and some years back (toward the end of Kennedy's tenure) in a case out of Greece, New York loosened the rules somewhat (an older case cited a "sectarian" bar) in the process. The case also had a certain Pollyanna-ish few of the facts (Kagan had a strong dissent), which reflects recent Establishment Clause precedents.