Good morning! The Supreme Court will issue orders at 9:30 and opinions at 10. This is the last orders + opinions day of the year.
Big news: The Supreme Court has declined to hear Box v. Henderson, turning away Indiana's request to roll back equal rights for same-sex parents. No noted dissents.
Background: slate.com/news-and-polit…
Background: slate.com/news-and-polit…
SCOTUS also issued a terrible AEDPA decision denying a writ of habeas corpus for an ineffective-assistance-of counsel claim to a death row inmate. It's a per curiam summary reversal. All three liberals dissent. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor… (scroll down)
SCOTUS typically only issues summary reversals (decisions on the merits without oral arguments) when six justices sign on. Today's habeas decision shows Amy Coney Barrett's impact—with six consistent conservative votes, the court can issue more 6–3 rulings without argument.
As @steve_vladeck notes, today's 6–3 summary reversal almost certainly would not have been possible if RBG were still alive. What a difference one justice makes.
https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1338493631460732929
More good news from today's order list: SCOTUS won't consider the legality of Kansas' proof-of-citizenship requirement for voter registration. The law is dead.
https://twitter.com/Tierney_Megan/status/1338492211953086465
The Supreme Court has issued its first and only opinion of the day, and its last opinion of 2020: It involves the apportionment of water from the Pecos River between Texas and New Mexico. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
The River Master (a real person) gave New Mexico delivery credit for evaporated water that the state stored for Texas, at Texas' request, while it was recovering from a tropical storm. SCOTUS says: River Master, you did the right thing! supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Today's River Master case is a great example of REAL disputes between states over which SCOTUS has original jurisdiction. These conflicts often involve water allocation. Paxton's attempt to style his overturn-the-election lawsuit as an original jurisdiction case never made sense.
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