Our new median justice, Brett Kavanaugh, casts the fifth vote with Roberts and the liberals in a 5–4 decision about the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974. First time we've seen this split. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Barrett joins the Supreme Court's hard-core conservatives in her first 5–4 split, siding with Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch to say that the Railroad Retirement Board's refusal to reopen the prior denial of benefits is NOT subject to judicial review. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
But Sotomayor—joined by Roberts, Kavanaugh, Breyer, and Kagan—won this round, holding that the Railroad Retirement Board's refusal to reopen the prior denial of benefits IS subject to judicial review. Let's chalk this up to a liberal victory; there won't be many more, maybe ever!
The final two decisions from SCOTUS today do not involve the hot-button controversies you are worried about, but it's going to take me a second to digest the holding; it's about heirs of Holocaust victims trying to sue Germany over stolen art: supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
OK, SCOTUS unanimously rules that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act does NOT allow heirs of Holocaust victims to sue Germany over stolen art, though it leaves the door cracked open to other claims. Opinion by Roberts. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
I think this is pretty obviously correct. SCOTUS wanted to get these cases off its plate; the opinions were complete, and the court doesn't "sit" IRL these days, so the justices decided to drop them online during the long break.

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More from @mjs_DC

4 Feb
!!! Biden fired four of Trump’s awful appointees to @acusgov, an obscure but important agency with a lot of influence over the federal regulatory process. One of them, Roger Severino—Trump’s anti-LGBTQ warrior at HHS—is suing.

Complaint:
assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2047… h/t @ZoeTillman
These are the four people Biden kicked out of @acusgov. They’re all conservative activists, though Severino is the most notorious. He took radical steps to legalize anti-LGBTQ discrimination in health care at HHS, though the courts blocked his signature anti-LGBTQ rule. ImageImageImageImage
Another Trump-appointed council member whom Biden fired from ACUS, Andrew Kloster, infamously tweeted that Asia Argento is “literally trying to suck the life force from men,” condemning her as the “classic satanic ideal.” (Of course Trump put him in the government.) Image
Read 9 tweets
2 Feb
This is disappointing. Anderson’s predecessor at @EPPCdc, Ed Whelan, shot down conspiracy theorists who spread the big lie that Biden stole the election through mass fraud.

Anderson now elevates one of the loudest promoters of the big lie, Joy Pullmann. Deeply irresponsible.
In his first week on the job, the new president of @EPPCdc, Ryan Anderson, promoted a conspiracy theorist who urged Trump to “make war on all fronts possible” against Biden’s effort to claim the presidency.

Trump did “make war.” It led to an insurrection that cost lives.
Yes, this is where we are. Ed Whelan, who defamed an innocent man by falsely accusing him of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford—on the basis of Zillow floor plans—is a voice of reason in comparison to his successor at @EPPCdc, Ryan Anderson.
Read 5 tweets
1 Feb
I am glad Ryan Anderson, the new president of @EPPCdc, is open about his goal of preventing gay people like me from getting married and having children. Frankly, his candor is refreshing. Anti-gay organizations often cower behind euphemisms to conceal their true goals these days.
Everyone deserves to know that when you support @EPPCdc, you are supporting their drive to dissolve my marriage and strip me of the right to have children. This is EPPC's mission: nullifying same-sex couples' marriages and revoking their legal parentage over their children.
Notably, Anderson's debut op-ed as EPPC president—which prompted the exchange I highlighted above—did not mention his goal of nullifying same-sex marriage and parental rights. Presumably, that's because he understands destroying families is unpopular.
wsj.com/articles/relig…
Read 4 tweets
25 Jan
I'd be happy to explain. Trump's trans ban took the form of a memo that directed the military to promulgate regulations prohibiting trans service AND enlistment.

Biden's order repealed the memo, and *explicitly* repealed regulations prohibiting trans service—but not enlistment.
Biden's order, as well as the WH's advance summary, explains at length exactly how the military must repeal various regulations restricting transgender *service.* It does not, however, explain how the military must repeal regulations restricting transgender enlistment.
Simply repealing Trump's memo does not automatically repeal the regulations that were implemented in accordance with the memo. That is presumably why Biden also explicitly repealed regulations regarding transgender service. I do not know why he didn't do the same for enlistment.
Read 8 tweets
25 Jan
The Supreme Court wiped away four lower court decisions this morning because they have become moot:

•Two decisions regarding Trump's alleged violations of the foreign emoluments clause
•Two decisions regarding COVID-related restrictions on abortion

supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
•Trump is out of office, so he can no longer be violating the emoluments clause.
•The COVID-related restrictions on abortion have been lifted, so those cases no longer present live controversies.

SCOTUS deftly avoided controversy by ducking these cases until they became moot.
The Supreme Court also issued a rare decision in favor of a death row inmate, although the disposition is very complicated. Basically, SCOTUS nudged the lower courts to reconsider letting this man bring his spiritual advisor into the execution chamber. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
Read 14 tweets
24 Jan
Incarcerated people have a substantially higher chance of surviving COVID-19 if their requests for compassionate release come before judges appointed by Obama or Clinton. Those unfortunately enough to face Trump judges are much more likely to die of COVID behind bars.
In other words, the number of deaths attributable to Trump judges is already high. (It’s going to rise exponentially over the next half-century.)
It’s great that Trump signed a criminal justice reform bill, but the tragic reality is that his judicial nominees are going to spend the rest of our lifetimes condemning incarcerated people to needless deaths.
Read 5 tweets

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