SCOTUS opinions dropping in a couple minutes. Just six cases left in the term, most of them big ones. I'll be following along with the @SCOTUSblog liveblog and livetweeting as they drop.
(Explained Janus to my kids while were watching Norma Rae yesterday, so I'm living through extra dread this morning.)
First ruling: Abbot, the Texas racial gerrymander case. Alito writing for the conservatives, 5–4. Ugly. supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf…
Sotomayor wrote the dissent. Thomas wrote a concurrence, which Gorsuch joined.
Sotomayor's first sentence: "The Court today goes out of its way to permit the State of Texas to use maps that the three-judge District Court unanimously found were adopted for the purpose of preserving the racial discrimination that tainted its previous maps."
Sotomayor: "Our democracy rests on the ability of all individuals, regardless of race, income, or status, to exercise their right to vote. Because our duty is to safeguard that fundamental right, I dissent. "
Remember that Kagan wrote, a week ago today, that gerrymandering is placing our democracy is in crisis. That crisis just deepened further.
(Second and last decision of the day is Ohio v. AmEx, Thomas writing for a 5-4 majority. No Janus today, no Trump, no NIFLA.)
I'm tired.
But I don't need people in my mentions telling me that it's over, that we've lost, that we're doomed. I've got kids. There's no such thing as over for me until I'm dead. And tired is not dead.
(More opinions tomorrow at 10 AM. Four cases left in the term. Tomorrow apparently won't be the last day.)
Our struggle is the continuation of a centuries-long struggle. It was here before us, and it'll be here after we're gone. We carry it.
