Orders from #SCOTUS in as moment here.
On Friday, we'd had the stay granted to the Cook County "public charge" litigation, with Justice Sotomayor dissenting: supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf…
On Friday, we'd had the stay granted to the Cook County "public charge" litigation, with Justice Sotomayor dissenting: supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf…
BIG: #SCOTUS grants one new case, over whether Philadelphia can bar agencies from foster care program if the agency bars same-sex couples from participating.
Full orders: supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
Full orders: supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
Note that the case includes, in its questions presented, asking the court whether Employment Division v. Smith should be "revisited," which could make this an even bigger case. 
For non-law folks, Employment Division v. Smith is a 1990 decision, by Scalia, setting forth the principle that (in general) the right to free exercise of religion does not allow people to ignore "neutral laws of general applicability." law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/t…
The case has had a ~questionable~ 30-year history, of uneven application, but has never been overruled. Another case pending before the justices, which has been relisted several times, asks the justices *only* whether Smith should be revisited. scotusblog.com/case-files/cas…
ALSO TODAY: #SCOTUS denied review today in a petition in Rodney Reed's capital case that's been pending since September. Sotomayor wrote a statement respecting denial of cert, noting that his claims remain pending in TX courts and could return to SCOTUS. scribd.com/document/44861…
Sotomayor makes clear her view of Reed's conviction and sentence, writing, "In my view, there is no escaping the pall of uncertainty over Reed’s conviction," and stating that his conviction "remains ... mired in doubt."
In addition to the Fulton grant, if you look through pages 45-59 of today's orders — supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor… — you'll see the conservatives (in writings from Thomas and Alito) setting forth one heckuva vision for what's to come in an increasingly conservative #SCOTUS.
That's it from me out of #SCOTUS today, but, needless to say, there is an aggressive effort afoot from AT LEAST Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch to move the court extremely rightward (and the court is already right of center, very much so on some issues).
