SCOTUS: Orders Day

54 years ago today—May 14, 1969—was the last day on which a majority of #SCOTUS Justices had been appointed by Democratic presidents.

The next 11 appointments, 13 of the next 15, and 16 of the 21 to happen since the day Justice Fortas resigned have been by Republican presidents. pic.twitter.com/bhSpvsUOxZ

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) May 14, 2023

It's okay when conservatives do it.  Prof. Vladeck had a blog where he still didn't want to support court expansion since it might result in tit-for-tat that harms the sanctity of the courts. Even HE, who is well aware of the problems with the current Supreme Court (and how we go here) is unwilling to even in theory address the problem directly. Quite aggravating.

Anyway, the one opinion today was a dissent by Thomas (joined by Alito) to SCOTUS not granting a case arising in Alabama (which keeps on screwing up executions) involving a choice of execution case.  The dissent (Gorsuch or someone else might have silently wanted to take the case) doesn't think (using the current stupid rules) the inmate should have won.

(The Order List was fifteen pages; figured someone wrote an opinion. Kavanaugh also dissented in the denial for one case without an opinion.) 

The justices granted cert in three cases [two on the same issue] and accepted an appeal in a race gerrymandering case for which it is obligated to take in some fashion.  And did the usual odds and ends. They will have one or more opinions on Thursday.