We are within minutes of the release of the new opinions. The Supreme Court has reduced the docket to a roux of huge cases touching on the authority of federal agencies (Loper) to the 2024 election (Trump) to the J6 defendants (Fischer) to the right to be homeless (City of Grants Pass)...
...As I mentioned yesterday, we still do not have certainty that all of the decisions will be released today. If they are, Roberts has decided to hold the World Series, the World Cup. and the Super Bowl on the same day...
...Five minute buzzer...
...There is a report of two boxes. That may indicate that we will indeed have opinions next week...
...Here we go. Buckle up ...
...We have our first opinion. It is Grants Pass v. Johnson. Justice Gorsuch writes for the majority with Sotomayor dissenting with Jackson and Kagan. 9th Circuit is reversed.
...Eighth Amendment is not violated by using generally applicable laws regulating camping on public property...
...Grants Pass: supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
...An interesting ending for Sotomayor who read her dissent. ""I remain hopeful that someday in the near future, this Court will play its role in safeguarding constitutional liberties for the most vulnerable among us." For those who insist that stare decisis is under attack, we often forget that it is often honored in the breach by both sides. I have never subscribed to the inviolate elements to stare decisis...
...However, it often seems that pundits go into vapors when favored opinions are set aside while they have no problem with overturning less favored opinions...
...We have our third opinion. We have Loper! Chief Justice Roberts writes for the majority. Chevron is now as dead as Dillinger.
...Roberts finally delivers the coup de grace on Chevron in a 6-2 decision.
...Notably, after Sotomayor said that she hoped to reverse the decision on homeless rights, the court just did that on Chevron. Roberts is saying that Chevron was a "misguided."
...This has been the Holy Grail for those who oppose the administrative state. It is also a victory for Trump whose appointees put the Court over the top in taking down Chevron...
...Justice Kagan is vehement that this is an outrageous clawback on federal agency authority because Chevron "has become part of the warp and woof of modern government." That is certainly true but many disagree that it was a good change in a Madisonian system based on tripartite government...
...Here it is. For many it is the funeral dirge for the administrative state...supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
...It is important to note that this Republic did exist before Chevron. I have long been a critic of the case because I felt that it undermined the Madisonian system. Courts will now perform their constitutional and traditional function in review...
...In combination with SEC v. Jarkesy, the court is not just empowering courts but citizens in fights with federal agencies...
...In SEC v. Jarkesy, the Court ruled that citizens charged with civil penalties have the right to a jury trial, under the Seventh Amendment. Now agencies will not be able to count on sweeping deference in their interpretations. Also keep in mind that the Court has embraced the "major questions" doctrine to demand greater clarity in some of these cases...
...We have the fourth case. It is Fischer! Huge day...
...Roberts again writes for the majority. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
...D.C. Circuit is reversed in the J6 case...
...A major loss for the Biden Administration. The Court rules that the "novel interpretation would criminalize a broad swath of prosaic conduct, exposing activists and lobbyists alike to decades in prison."
...This is a big win for Trump as well. It knocks out a substantial part of the case of Jack Smith against the former president. It also knocks out hundreds of convictions...
...Obviously, there were other charges like trespass that will not be impacted. However, this hits hundreds of cases. Those cases must now be reviewed on just on the underlying convictions but sentencing in many cases. It will not impact those cases which only went forward on trespass which are also numbers in the hundreds...
....For Trump, this rips the wings of the plane that Jack Smith has been trying to take off in D.C. In an ordinary case, there would be a superseding indictment. Smith may try to go forward on the remaining counts. However, it is hard to see how the indictment holds together after this decision...
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