The Second Amendment, as Applied

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AM-15 Machine Gun, now apparently legal to possess in Kansas

The Second Amendment as written and ratified: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

The Second Amendment, as applied by US Federal Judge John W. Broomes of the Kansas District: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, t [T]he right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

From the top of Broomes’ ruling on Wednesday tossing out a gun possession charge:

This matter is before the court on Defendant’s motion to dismiss based on Second Amendment grounds. (Doc. 26.) A response and a reply have been filed (Docs. 28, 29), and the court held a hearing to establish additional facts about the weapons charged. The motion is thus ripe for review. The court finds that the Second Amendment applies to the weapons charged  because they are “bearable arms” within the original meaning of the amendment. The court further finds that the government has failed to establish that this nation’s history of gun regulation justifies the application of 18 U.S.C. § 922(o) to Defendant. The court therefore grants the motion to dismiss.

And just what were the weapons in question that were charged?

I. Background
Defendant Tamori Morgan is charged with two counts of possessing a machinegun [sic throughout] in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(o). (Doc. 1.) Specifically, Defendant is charged with possessing an Anderson Manufacturing, model AM-15 .300 caliber machinegun and a machinegun conversion device.  It was established at the hearing that the conversion device is a so-called “Glock switch” which allows a Glock, model 33, .357 SIG caliber firearm to fire as an automatic weapon.

Making machine guns great again. Wonderful.

Just as the Alito-authored Dobbs spawned a host of ugly laws, regulations, and ripple effects across the country, the Thomas-authored Bruen is now doing the same. Welcome to the Federalist Society Judicial System.

Elections matter, people. Elections matter a lot.

What Is To Be Done

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This has been a rough few weeks. The debate, followed by attacks on Biden’s candidacy are painful and divisive. The partisan hacks on SCOTUS have savaged our democracy and the rule of law, ripped at the foundations of the administrative state, grabbed for power, and humiliated the not-so coequal branches. Corporate media has amplified the first, and ignored the latter. Details of Trump’s Project 2025 continue to arouse fear of fascism and Trump’s lies are treated as equal to Biden’s facts.

The response of the leaders of the Democratic Party, to the extent there is one, is pathetic. The secret donor class is whining publicly enough to be picked up by the corporate media. Democratic politicians are cowering in their offices and texting us with fear-laden demands for money. When they aren’t badgering us for money they offer us nothing to do but vote, as if all this were just part of a reality TV show and we were the online judges.

All of our so-called leaders have failed us. It’s enough to gag a maggot. And it’s time for action. It’s time for us to force these people to live up to their privilege. I’m hardly the only one who thinks this way. Read this (and everything else) by Oliver Willis.

I don’t know what will work. Nobody does. But that’s our big advantage. There are millions of us. We can try all the ideas, and we can dream up new ones. We do not have to comply with phony expectations of propriety from the people who created this problem.

A. We can pound on the cowards and toadies

1. The New York Times and the Washington Post and most cable news networks have forgotten who actually reads or watches, and what their paying audience wants. They act like showering us with the views of the MAGAs and attacking us and our candidates is cool.

Let’s remind them. Cancel all your subscriptions to these Quislings. Use your subscription money to support independent journalism or give it to your favorite candidate. Write them a snotty email with your cancellation. It feels good.

2. If you’re on social media, insult all the corporate media reporters you see or can find. Every dig at Biden, every sly effort at dividing us, and every minimization of Republican treachery should be followed by a stream of outrage. Mention that you’ve cancelled your subscription. They don’t read or report on this, but other people, including their money side and low-information voters, see it and it will make a difference.

3. Are you a member of a group capable of arranging a rally on, say the SCOTUS wrecking ball? Think strategically. Street marches that end in parks are the usual thing. But they don’t draw media coverage. You know what will? A Rally for Reform outside the local TV station. A SCOTUS Sucks protest outside your local radio station. A Save Democracy From Fascism rally outside the local newspaper. A What Are You Doing To Protect Democracy gathering outside city hall, where reporters are usually hanging around. Make sure someone is prepared with talking points and push them at the reporters and cameras.

B. What about the legal situation

We can’t make the following happen, but we can say it online and we can hammer on our politicians demanding it. The organizations we support can file pleadings, even if they’re ignored. And we can make our anger heard in a thousand different ways.

1. Judge Chutkan can recuse herself from the insurrection case. She could file a recusal statement saying she swore to uphold the constitution not the partisan hacks on SCOTUS who refuse to protect democracy (or something more adult).

All the decent judges in that circuit can follow suit, saying that the DC Circuit decision flatly denying immunity was right and they intend to follow that precedent. Eventually a Bork/Cannon agrees to try the case. This will emphasize the reality: the courts won’t protect democracy. It will undermine SCOTUS and pressure Biden to demand immediate action to rein in SCOTUS.

2. Judge Chutkan orders that all pretrial motions will be filed by July 11. Starting July 15 there will be a marathon hearing on all motions. It will run 10 hours a day until complete. Trial starts 15 days later.

The DC Court of Appeals refuses a stay, and sits on the appeal. This forces the decision to SCOTUS whose interference at this point will damage them further and give Democrats more ammunition.

3. Special Counsel Jack Smith announces that the SCOTUS decision has rendered trial impossible. He files a motion to dismiss. Every organization we support files an opposition to the motion to dismiss. They point to all the public evidence. The boldest say that the immunity decision is an abuse of the power of the judiciary. Give those more money.

Chutkan grants the motion over the objections. Our organizations appeal. The case is in the media regularly, none of it relates to Biden, and there is no both-sides beyond defending a palpably partisan SCOTUS.

4. Jack Smith prepares a report laying out all the evidence against Trump that cannot be used at trial. He gives it to Garland. Garland gives it to Biden. Biden releases it in a very public way. He’s immune because this is an official act. He instructs Smith to cooperate with all the state cases against fraudulent electors. He’s immune because SCOTUS said so.

5. Special Counsel Smith indicts all the unindicted co-conspirators using speaking indictments, setting out all the evidence, all of it. This makes the evidence public.

6. Jack Smith supersedes with a treason indictment. Chutkan calls for motions as in 2 and sets immediate trial. That’ll force SCOTUS to show its partisanship.

7. Dana Nessel, the excellent MI AG indicts Trump on the fraudulent electors scheme using the Smith evidence. Same in AZ. Maybe Fani Willis can figure out a way to clean up the mess in Georgia with a new indictment based on the new evidence.

8. Protesting is an activity at which young people excel. We can support groups like David Hogg’s March For Our Lives and Leaders We Deserve, and Olivia Julianna’s Voters Of Tomorrow and other groups focused on younger people. They can start showing up at every event featuring a MAGA SCOTUS rogue. Other groups like CREW can help, in part by sussing out good opportunities. These activists can put out public notices and encourage attendance. Same for restaurants, and any private events they and others can find. I’d be happy to show up in Chicago. SCOTUS MAGAts deserve to be shamed and shunned by polite society.

9. Lawyers attending conferences ask hard questions of all the FED SOC people. Law student organizations like The American Constitution Society publicly refuse to enroll in classes taught by people aligned with the conservative legal movement.

C. Off the wall ideas

You can’t get a good idea without some off the wall ideas.

1. Biden announces that he’s told the AG and the FBI to investigate fully and report back in 60 days: a) whether Barrett, Gorsuch, or Kavanaugh committed perjury in connection with their nominations, including specifically the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford; b) the role of Ginni Thomas in the insurrection, the fraudulent electors scheme, and her contacts with former Thomas clerks on those matters; and c) the connections between Trump and Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell. He explains that this is possible because SCOTUS said the President is free to control the investigations done by the Department of Justice, so he’s immune for these official acts, and he’s just being vigorous and energetic.

Outrage erupts from the frothers. Then Biden says ha ha just kidding. You right-wing jackasses need to understand just how terrible you and your rotten SCOTUS and your felonious candidate are.

2. Biden announces that he’s heard the calls for his withdrawal. He points out that if he withdraws, it will help the convicted criminal and hurt the millions of Democrats who support him. Then he says I’ll withdraw after the convicted felon withdraws. He has to go first because no one believes he’ll keeps his promises, and everyone knows Biden will.

D. A personal request

I live in Chicago. My senator, Dick Durbin, is the chair of the Judiciary Committee. He’s one of those old-timey Democrats whose love of senatorial privilege and bipartisanship is greater than his love of our democracy.

Call his office. You will talk to a staffer. Explain your anger about his failure even to hold a hearing on SCOTUS arrogance and corruption. Say you know it must be awful to watch up close as democracy fails and their boss does nothing. Do your best to make them weep.

Thanks.

Open Thread: Last Batch of SCOTUS Decisions

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[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

The last batch of decisions will drop shortly — I think. Last week the Supreme Court didn’t deliver all of the remaining decisions it had on its plate and pushed them into a new month.

I hope these outstanding cases will be decided today:

NetChoice, LLC v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice, LLC (these are both about social media and may come as one or two decisions)

Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors Of The Federal Rsrv. Sys.

Trump v. United States

Decisions released today follow in an update at the bottom of this post.

~ ~ ~

First decision: Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors Of The Federal Rsrv. Sys.

Justice Barrett wrote the 6-3 decision; Justice Brown Jackson wrote the dissent joined by Sotomayor and Kagan.

This one could cause a lot of problems forcing reassessment of past rules and decisions by the Fed Reserve’s Board based on the dates used — the date an injury occurred due to a new Fed rule versus the date the new rule was first in force.

Second decision: NetChoice, LLC v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice, LLC

Justice Kagan wrote the unanimous decision on these consolidated cases, though there are concurrences:

KAGAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J.,
and SOTOMAYOR, KAVANAUGH, and BARRETT, JJ., joined in full, and in
which JACKSON, J., joined as to Parts I, II and III–A. BARRETT, J., filed a
concurring opinion. JACKSON, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and
concurring in the judgment. THOMAS, J., filed an opinion concurring in
the judgment. ALITO, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in
which THOMAS and GORSUCH, JJ., joined.

Whew. I don’t see the word “dissent” in this, do you? It’s another smackdown of the Fifth Circuit as well.

Third decision: Trump v. United States

Justice Roberts wrote the 6-3 court decision; Justice Sotomayor wrote a dissent joined by Kagan and Brown Jackson. Justice Brown Jackson also wrote a dissent.

From SCOTUSBlog’s thread:

The court holds that a former president has absolute immunity for his core constitutional powers.

Former presidents are also entitled to at least a presumption of immunity for their official acts.

There is no immunity, the court holds, for unofficial acts.

The core constitutional powers are things like appointing ambassadors and foreign governments.

This is not all of the decision – Roberts was still reading his decision at 10:37 a.m. ET. It looks like this is being handed back to lower courts because of the lack of distinction between official and unofficial acts. It also looks like the rightwing of SCOTUS has extended immunity to Trump for his discussions with Department of Justice, which I assume means if he made any false statements to FBI or other DOJ personnel, those charges will be dropped.

~ ~ ~

This is an open thread. Any further updates related to these cases will appear at the bottom of this post.

Open Thread: SCOTUS Decisions, Final Day* of Term Edition

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[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

It’s the last day* Supreme Court’s term, and the last batch of decisions will drop shortly

Decisions released today follow in an update at the bottom of this post.

*–No, it’s not the final day after all, but this post was written as a pre-scheduled draft back on June 25 and my psychic powers predicting how many cases would drop on which dates was at an ebb.

~ ~ ~

Time-killing observations:

One of the great tragedies of the red states’ push to ban abortion as reproductive care has been the threats to and loss of doctors and other health care workers who provide reproductive health services. If health care professionals are at risk of prosecution in red states for providing what may be essential lifesaving care, they are often electing to leave and practice elsewhere. With the loss of health care professionals due to the COVID pandemic, they won’t have difficulty finding a new place to practice even if it may not feel like the home they leave behind.

Health care professional Rory Cole wrote an op-ed about Idaho which was affected by SCOTUS’s handling of the Moyle v. Idaho case. Worth a read because her opinion is surely shared by other health care professionals in states like Texas and Florida.

I’m staying in Idaho to practice medicine after the U.S. Supreme Court’s EMTALA decision

~ ~ ~

Today’s decisions —

First decision: City of Grants Pass v. Johnson

Justice Gorsuch wrote the 6-3 decision; Justice Sotomayor wrote the dissent which she opened by noting, “Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime.”

Grants Pass banned public camping — which really banned homeless persons from sleeping in public. What a piece of shit decision relying on the Eighth Amendment to punish the homeless.

As noted all too often about the so-called conservatives: the cruelty is the point.

Second decision: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo

Justice Roberts wrote the 6-3 decision; Justice Kagan wrote the dissent. The court split along ideological lines as expected.

This case essentially undermines the unanimous Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (1984) decision upon which federal agencies have relied for decades.

This is yet another swipe at the administrative state by the Roberts court and yet more evidence each of the recent GOP-appointed justices lied during their nomination hearings if they affirmed stare decisis. They are writing law from the bench.

Third decision: Fischer v. United States

Justice Roberts wrote the 6-3 decision; oddly, Justice Brown Jackson concurred. Justice Coney Barrett wrote the dissent joined by justices Sotomayor and Kagan.

This is the January 6 case in which accused insurrectionists were charged with 18 USC 1512(c); the majority narrowed the scope of the charge to impairment of record, document, or other objects in official proceedings. Aggravatingly, this appears to place focus on 18 USC 1512(c)(1) and not 18 USC 1512(c)(2) as you can see from the code itself:

(c) Whoever corruptly—

(1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or
(2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

IANAL but this makes no sense to me because the entire point of the attack on the capitol was to obstruct the counting of votes and alter the outcome of the election’s certification.

~ ~ ~

This is an open thread. Any further updates related to these cases will appear at the bottom of this post.

Open Thread: SCOTUS Decisions, Thursday Edition [UPDATE-1]

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This is the penultimate day of the Supreme Court’s term ending on June 28; a few more decisions today with the remainder tomorrow Friday, the last day of the term.

Decisions released today will follow below. Unfortunately I need to be away from my desk for a while this morning; I may not post the decisions promptly after 10:00 a.m. ET but I will do so as soon as I can get to my desk.

~ ~ ~

Time-killing observations:

SCOTUS taking up gender-affirming care of transgender children:

The court agreed Monday to hear the Biden administration’s challenge to a Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors, an increasingly potent political issue that has divided lower courts and emerged as a leading front in the battle over LGBTQ issues.

This is going to be as messy as other decisions like those about gun and reproductive rights.

This one will likely go 5-4 with conservatives in majority, none of whom will give a shit about the children’s sentiments.

~ ~ ~

UPDATE-1 — 10:40 A.M. — Today’s decisions —

First decision: Ohio v. EPA

Justice Gorsuch wrote the 5-4 decision; Justice Barrett wrote the dissent, siding with the liberals on this case related to the EPA’s “Good Neighbor” rule.

Second decision: Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P.

Justice Gorsuch also wrote this 5-4 decision; Justice Kavanaugh wrote the dissent with what seems an odd combination of Kagan, Roberts, and Sotomayor.

This was about the bankrupt maker of prescription pain-killer Oxycontin and the release of claims.

Third decision: Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy

Chief Justice Roberts wrote the 6-3 decision; Justice Sotomayor wrote the dissent. The case centered on a hedge fund manager’s fraud and their Seventh Amendment right to a trial.

Fourth decision: Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States (consolidated)

As expected after yesterday’s accidental leak of the decision, SCOTUS dismissed the emergency abortion case.

~ ~ ~

Updates with news related to the SCOTUS decisions today will appear at the bottom of this post. This is an open thread.

Open Thread: SCOTUS Decisions, Wednesday Edition [UPDATE-2]

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[NB: check the byline, thanks. Updates appear at the bottom of this post. /~Rayne]

Yet again a week later we’re still counting down to the Supreme Court’s term ending on June 28; SCOTUS delivers a few more decisions today with the remainder spread across tomorrow Thursday, and Friday the last day of the term.

Once more we ask: will SCOTUS finally decide the question of presidential immunity posed in Trump v. United States? Or will we not see a decision until tomorrow or Friday?

Decisions released today follow in an update at the bottom of this post.

~ ~ ~

Time-killing observations:

Trump’s case for presidential immunity was the first sub-topic when I searched Google News for “supreme court.” Apparently corporate news media is concerned about this and willing to invest a little human capital about it.

This, however, is just plain disturbing. Who knew House Speaker Mike Johnson would be a minion for that dirtbag Bannon after Bannon refused to comply with a Congressional subpoena? Doesn’t Johnson expect persons his Congress might subpoena to comply?

~ ~ ~

Today’s decisions —

First decision: Murthy v. Missouri

Justice Coney Barrett wrote the 6-3 decision; Justice Alito wrote the dissent.

This is the First Amendment case about the Biden administration’s efforts to stem disinformation on social media. The states and individual plaintiffs were found to lack standing and the Fifth Circuit erred in lumping the states and the plaintiffs together. The Fifth Circuit’s decision is reversed.

A little statistical analysis:

“Vaccine” and “vaccines” appear (65) times in total in the decision and dissent.

“Misinformation” appears (91) times.

“Disinformation” appears (3) times and not at all in the dissent.

“Ivermectin” does not appear at all.

Second decision: Snyder v. United States

Justice Kavanaugh wrote the 6-3 decision; Justice Brown Jackson wrote the dissent.

In essence this was a case about public corruption; is an amount of money paid to a public official after goods/services have been rendered a bribe or a gratuity if there’s no quid pro quo?

You’ll be shocked, SHOCKED at which way the GOP-appointed jurists went.

Third decision: That’s it, there isn’t a third one today, and definitely not a presidential immunity decision.

~ ~ ~

Updates with news related to the SCOTUS decisions today will appear at the bottom of this post. This is an open thread.

~ ~ ~

UPDATE-1 — 1:15 P.M. —

Bloomberg got the scoop on a decision which wasn’t released today: Supreme Court Poised to Allow Emergency Abortions in Idaho

Kimberly Robinson who is on Bloomberg’s byline, posted this on the dead bird app:

Kimberly Robinson @KimberlyRobinsn

BREAKING: #SCOTUS inadvertently released its opinion in EMTALA abortion case earlier this morning. The Justices are poised to allow emergency abortions in Idaho, suggesting the Court shouldn’t have gotten involved in the early litigation.

12:49 PM · Jun 26, 2024

Bloomberg’s article is paywalled; you can read similar coverage at The Guardian: US supreme court set to allow emergency abortions in Idaho – report

So…is this accidental leak a head fake of some sort? A means to relieve pressure? Will it come up in the presidential debate if the decision isn’t formally released until Friday?

(h/t community member c-i-v-i-l for the heads up)

~ ~ ~

UPDATE-2 — 6:10 P.M. —

The Washington Post has a story now about the briefly posted decision in Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States. The decision was accidentally published ahead of schedule and quickly removed from SCOTUS’s website, but not before a copy was obtained.

I’m not going to elaborate on this now because it’s not formally a decision until it is published. When it finally is, it’s going to be a must-read based on the concurrences — the tea leaves to be read ahead of future cases about reproductive health care.

Open Thread: SCOTUS Decisions, Friday Edition [UPDATE-1]

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We’re still counting down to the Supreme Court’s term ending on June 28; SCOTUS delivers a few more decisions today of the remaining 18 cases they’ve heard. Looks like there will be more than four issued.

Yet again we ask: will SCOTUS finally decide the question of presidential immunity posed in Trump v. United States? Perhaps it’s not even a question of whether today or not we’ll see a decision.

What’s your Magic 8-Ball say: YES the court will decide this month, or NO the court’s conservatives are going to drag this into the next term to give Trump an assist.

Decisions released today follow in an update at the bottom of this post.

~ ~ ~

Time-killing observations:

Leah Litman’s op-ed in the NYT which I linked yesterday must have hit a nerve. There are more op-eds about the challenges the Roberts’ Supreme Court poses, undermining its legitimacy through acceptance of corrupt behavior and the appearance of partisanship.

This one from The Daily Beast neatly encapsulates the problems: Supreme Court Sends Out an Ominous Sign

And this one in the Los Angeles Times suggests conservatives are worried about the public’s perception, so worried they need to assure us things aren’t as bad as the appear: Column: The Supreme Court’s role in our partisan polarization has been greatly exaggerated

As we should give the columnist, Jonah fucking Goldberg, the time of day. Contrast and compare his Wikipedia and Sourcewatch entries if you’re not familiar with his work.

I’d rather take the word of a conservative former Supreme Court clerk about this problematic Supreme Court.

~ ~ ~

UPDATE-1 — Today’s decisions:
First decision: Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado

Justice Jackson wrote the 5-4 decision; Justice Gorsuch dissented. In this case regarding a dispute over water rights to the Rio Grande and Elephant Butte between states Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico, Roberts and Kavanaugh sided with Jackson, Sotomayor, and Kagan.

Second decision: Department of State v. Muñoz

Justice Barrett wrote the 6-3 decision with a concurrence by Gorsuch. Justice Sotomayor wrote the dissent. In question was denial of a visa to the non-citizen spouse of a U.S. citizen.

Third decision: Erlinger v. United States

Justice Gorsuch wrote the 6-3 decision, with Roberts and Thomas offering concurring opinions. Kavanaugh wrote a dissent joined by Alito; Jackson also joined excepting Part III. Jackson filed a dissenting opinion.

This case was about the Armed Career Criminal Act and how a court determines the mandatory sentencing to be applied. It’s worth reading Jackson’s dissent given her background as the only SCOTUS jurist who served as a public defender.

Fourth decision: Smith v. Arizona

Justice Kagan wrote the court’s opinion. There were no dissents, but:

KAGAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which SOTOMAYOR,
KAVANAUGH, BARRETT, and JACKSON, JJ., joined, and in which THOMAS
and GORSUCH, JJ., joined as to Parts I, II, and IV. THOMAS, J., and GORSUCH, J., filed opinions concurring in part. ALITO, J., filed an opinion
concurring in the judgment, in which ROBERTS, C. J., joined.

Okay, then.

This was about a drugs and paraphernalia possession case and the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. IIRC it’s also the third case in the last two days in which expert(s) testimony was key; this issue might be worth watching more closely as it may be an evolving topic.

Fifth decision: United States v. Rahimi

Chief Justice Roberts offered the 8-1 decision; there were multiple concurrences. Thomas wrote the dissent.

Of course Thomas did.

This was a Second Amendment case regarding a federal law prohibiting possession of firearms by those under domestic-violence restraining orders. Thomas apparently believes an abuser’s right to bear arms is more important than a domestic partner’s right to life.

Sure would like to know if there are any financial links between the gun lobby and Thomas considering his consistency on guns.

~ ~ ~

A big gun rights case but still no presidential immunity decision. Will SCOTUS dump all the biggest cases at once in order to dampen the effect of each individual case, including Trump v. United States?

The next batch of SCOTUS decisions will be handed down next Wednesday, June 26.

Updates regarding today’s decisions and other SCOTUS-related news will follow at the bottom of this post. This is an open thread.

Open Thread: SCOTUS Decisions [UPDATE-1]

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As noted the last two weeks, the end of the Supreme Court’s term is just ahead; SCOTUS continues to dump clusters of decisions in a short time frame.

Will SCOTUS finally decide the question of presidential immunity posed in Trump v. United States? Your guess is as good as anybody else’s.

Decisions released today follow in an update at the bottom of this post.

~ ~ ~

Time-killing observations:

1 — Stink: The New York Times published an op-ed yesterday by University of Michigan’s Prof. Leah Litman, a former clerk for retired Justice Anthony Kennedy: Something’s Rotten About the Justices Taking So Long on Trump’s Immunity Case, which Election Law Blog’s Rick Hasen helpfully excerpts here.

It sure looks fishy that the conservative majority SCOTUS can make a decision inside three weeks related to COVID vaccinations for the benefit of corporations, but drags its feet for months about presidential immunity though United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974) already offers plenty of guidance on the latter.

(It looks fashy, too.)

2 — Head fake? There’s been considerable coverage of Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s concurrent opinion in the “Trump Too Small” trademark decision, Vidal v. Elster. See The New Republic’s Amy Coney Barrett Breaks With Supreme Court Originalists and Politico’s Amy Coney Barrett may be poised to split conservatives on the Supreme Court.

That’s all well and good but Coney Barrett remained one of the majority in the 5-4 decision; she’s still a conservative vote differing only in how she gets there — with or without Thomas’s brand of originalism.

3 — Unbenched: One of the cases SCOTUS is expected to decide yet this term — City of Grants Pass v. Johnson — addresses municipalities prohibiting the homeless from sleeping in public spaces. What are homeless folks supposed to do if SCOTUS allows municipalities to continue with such prohibitions while housing inventory remains excessively tight and rents unfettered?

This case has haunted me this week during the heat dome much of the country has been experiencing. Imagine being unable to find a cool place to sleep at night — not even a park bench.

~ ~ ~

UPDATE-1 — 10:25 AM — Today’s decisions:

First decision: Moore v. United States

Justice Kavanaugh wrote the 7-2 majority decision which upheld the retroactive tax assessed on repatriated income under Trump’s 2017 tax law changes. Suck on that “Trump Too Small” tax cut, MAGA.

That ethics-deprived jerk Alito refused to recuse himself on this one in spite of having been interviewed about the case by one of the lawyers involved.

Second decision: Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon, Ohio

Justice Kagan wrote the 6-3 majority decision for this case regarding malicious prosecution and probable cause.

Third decision: Diaz v. United States

Justice Thomas wrote the 6-3 majority opinion which surprisingly included Brown Jackson in the majority and with a concurring opinion; the dissent was written by Gorsuch with Sotomayor and Kagan joining him.

I feel so bad for Diaz whose wretched taste in men was revealed by her foolishness in this case. I wonder if her sentence was shorter or longer than the amount of time she was romantically linked to her boyfriend.

Fourth decision: Gonzalez v. Trevino

This was a per curiam decision, read by Roberts; Alito wrote a concurrence, with Thomas the lone dissent.

This one probably deserves more attention considering the case concerns the effort to remove an elected official.

~ ~ ~

Any further updates regarding these cases and SCOTUS will follow at the bottom of this post. This is an open thread.

Open Thread: SCOTUS Decisions, Friday Edition

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[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

SCOTUS will dump a second cluster of decisions this week at 10:00 a.m. this morning. As in the past, there’s no clue as to which cases have been decided, including Trump’s presidential immunity case.

Decisions released today to follow in an update and will appear at the bottom of this post.

~ ~ ~

Time-killing observation:

Clarence Thomas is a lying mothertrucker who lies

Oh, oops, he just kind of forgot to tell the American people his rich white daddy bought him some trips.

Details of the private jet flights between 2017 and 2021 were obtained as part of an investigation the committee has been conducting into reports of lavish undisclosed travel and perks provided to justices by Crow and other wealthy benefactors that have sparked calls for reform.

Crow released the information after the committee issued subpoenas in November for him and conservative activist Leonard Leo to provide information to the body. The subpoenas have never been enforced.

source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/13/supreme-court-clarence-thomas-travel/

Mothertrucker needs to step down but you know he thinks he’s entitled because he’s been bought and paid for.

~ ~ ~

Three decisions today, none of which are about presidential immunity.

First decision: U.S. Trustee v. Hammons

Justice Jackson wrote the 6-3 majority opinion concerning bankruptcy. Several dozen Chapter 11 bankruptcies were charged higher fees when their cases were moved to a different judicial district.

Second decision: Campos-Chavez v. Garland

Justice Alito wrote the 5-4 majority opinion with Jackson writing the dissent. The case was centered on immigration and the notification issued to Campos-Chavez related to subsequent removal order.

Third decision: Garland v. Cargill

Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion with Sotomayor writing the dissent. The case concerned bump-stocks on guns and their definition as “machinegun” which are regulated by ATF.

~ ~ ~

Suspense escalates about the presidential immunity case.

Watch this space for updates related to the decisions above or other developments related to the SCOTUS jurists.