Thread by @nycsouthpaw

FIRST CASE IS THE ACA CASE -- PLAINTIFFS DO NOT HAVE STANDING. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…

Breyer has the opinion. It's 7-2.* Reversed and remanded.

(Sometimes I can't even count.)

Second case reverses and remands Nestle v. Doe, the Alien Tort Statute extraterritoriality case; it's a complicated, fractured plurality opinion I won't dare try to summarize just yet. Justice Thomas has the bulk of it. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…

3rd and last case is Fulton v. Philadelphia: "The refusal of Philadelphia to contract with CSS for the provision of foster care services unless CSS agrees to certify same-sex couples as foster parents violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amdt." supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…

Justice Roberts wrote for six justices, including the liberals, and Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch filed concurrences in the judgment, so it seems like we may be seeing a compromise of some sort here. But... woof, it still doesn't make a great first impression.

Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch wanted to overrule the Court's landmark decision in Oregon v. Smith that laws incidentally burdening religion aren't unconstitutional so long as they're neutral and generally applicable. The rest of the Court wouldn't go that far.

Barrett and Kavanaugh, in a concurrence, quite directly suggest that they could be the 4th and 5th votes to overrule Smith in a different case. Here, Barrett goes on to write, the presence of individual exemptions requires strict scrutiny anyway and the Smith rule doesn’t apply.