Supreme Court Watch

Wisconsin Supreme Court Race

I talked about the book A Right To Lie, which had a chapter on a draw-out ethical dispute involving one of the conservative justices. State, that is. 

It ultimately split the Wisconsin Supreme Court evenly, the justice himself recusing from the dispute.  We also had bad feelings that ratcheted so high that one justice accused another of choking her.  This is the era that brought us Scott Walker and ultimately the state voting for Trump.  

Things have gone somewhat better in the Trump Midwest, especially in Michigan.  Wisconsin has a Democrat as governor, even if he is a bit alone as is the case in North Carolina.  But, unlike there, we have good news on the Supreme Court front.  After two of their justices were on Strict Scrutiny Podcast (though not because of!), the liberal-leaning option won a big election.  We will have a 4-3 (six women!) liberal learning court.  

The hope, for instance, is that such a court will help address the blatant partisan gerrymandering in that state.  We shall see.   

Order List

The election (the progressive Democrat also won the Chicago mayoral run-off) happened on Tuesday, but it is worthy of a lead.  The Monday Order List was basically low-key, except for another dissent by Justice Jackson (now joined by both Sotomayor and Kagan) involving a high-profile death penalty case. 

Jackson is starting to get a reputation for these crisp, few pages criminal justice dissents.  After all, her criminal justice props, including as a member of the Sentencing Commission, was one thing her supporters felt would provide good potential.  I do wish she said a bit more about those final death penalty orders (pro forma "no comments") though. 

Joan Biskupic Book

Top Supreme Court journalist, Joan Biskupic, has various books under her belt already, including about John Roberts and Sonia Sotomayor. Nine Black Robes, which promises to provide some inside material about the road to the Trump Judge Era, already is getting some positive props.  

And, its launch day was only Tuesday.  I was somewhat underwhelmed by Linda Greenhouse's "first year of Barrett" book, thinking it didn't really tell us more than what was already in the news.  It was a decent summary, especially for those less aware of things.  I think the Blackmun book was a better summary of things.  Different type of book, but I liked it better. 

I think this book will have some more material though at times we should be careful about one person's insights.  I thought the "big reveal" about Roberts' choices in the PPACA Cases was a bit exaggerated.  I still am not sure exactly what happened there.  

Thomas Yet Again 

Also in the news (again -- the article cites the matter covered over a decade ago): Thomas' ethical problems.  

The head of the Senate Judiciary Committee promises something will be done and re-upped calls for a binding ethics policy.  Democrats just might have the juice to force that into a budget measure.  Will see.  Good message. But, enough with mere words. These people are not going to be shamed into action.  

Thomas defended himself partially with an "innocent look" defense that gives the breadth of involvement and past actions regarding lack of disclosure don't come off as too credible.  But, you know, it just underlines the limits of a "trust us" approach here.  

Steve Vladeck on Twitter argued we should focus on stronger control of the courts to address ongoing problems.  I think that only goes too far -- I think his comments tend to handwave concerns about specific justices as if addressing them is "partisan" or something -- but that's part of the correct response.  So, on this issue, a binding ethics rule is valid.  

Orders: Trans 

After holding on to it longer than some court watchers deemed normal, SCOTUS rejected West Virginia's request to enforce a state law barring transgender girls from girls' sports teams against a 12-year-old wanting to compete on her middle-school track team while litigation continues.

Alito (with Thomas) with a brief public dissent, granting the state delayed challenging it and so on, but you know, putting that aside, they wanted to use the emergency [shadow] docket to hold things up. Sure.  So, it took longer for this bit of hypocrisy? 

Some reports, as tends to happen when SCOTUS merely fails to intervene, probably implies to some this matters more than it really does. Trans issues continue to be the ongoing issue of the day, including being a sort of acceptable demonization target in various states. 

This whole thing is "to be continued" with a Biden agency proposal (which will take time to finalize) that has received some criticism but also very well might be a reasonable approach.  

Next Up

The next thing on the actual SCOTUS schedule is a conference and opinion release day next Friday (4/14).