Alito Day at SCOTUS

First Off ...

The first opinion handed down today was a preemption case. Kavanaugh spoke for seven (Thomas also concurred to turn back the clock on the Commerce Clause) while Jackson (and Gorsuch) dissented. The involved pesticide labels or such.

Alito Time 

The next three opinions were all by Alito. Okay. 

All were 6-3 the normal way. The conservatives disagreed somewhat in one case on the reasoning. Barrett added a "I'm so reasonable" concurrence in the Second Amendment case.

Kagan briefly dissented in the 2A case. Jackson provided much more discussion. 

Jake Charles ("Law prof, Pepperdine Law; Affiliated Scholar, Duke Center for Firearms Law. I write about constitutional law, especially the Second Amendment") on Bluesky notes various problems with Alito's history.

The case involved Hawaii having a law where property owners are presumptively not inclined to allow people to bring in guns. They could, mind you, give permission. 

Kagan flagged all the evidence that the Administration's policy on Haitians is racist. The majority was Mr. Magoo, this not being an affirmative action case where the "racism" of remedial policies will be flagged. 

Sotomayor dealt with a Mexican border dispute, announcing her dissent from the bench. Alito had a follow-up response on top of his opinion summary. It is not clear when this last (if ever) happened.

Dusty Ray Spencer Execution 

Meanwhile, a bit later, with no open dissents, the Supreme Court rejected (without comment) a final appeal before (after over 30 years) Florida executed Dusty Ray Spencer. He murdered his wife. 

The final claim raises an intellectual disability argument. I truly doubt, under normal rules, there is a compelling reason to take the case. He should not be executed on other grounds. 

Still, the order paved the way to taking a human life. A brief discussion, by someone, was warranted.