The Supreme Court's FIRST opinion of the day is in Brnovich, the Voting Rights Act case. It's a 6–3 decision with Alito writing the majority. All three liberals dissent. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
The Supreme Court holds that neither of Arizona's challenged voting restrictions violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
The Supreme Court weakens, *but does not eradicate,* the Voting Rights Act's "results test"—which gauges the impact of voting restrictions on minorities—in cases (like this one) that involve "vote denial" rather than "vote dilution." supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Kagan, dissenting: "What is tragic here is that the Court has (yet again) rewritten—in order to weaken—a statute that stands as a monument to America’s greatness, and protects against its basest impulses." She repeatedly calls today's decision "tragic." supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Kagan, dissenting: "The majority fears that the statute Congress wrote is too 'radical'—that it will invalidate too many state voting laws. So the majority writes its own set of rules, limiting Section 2 from multiple directions."
Here is her kicker: supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
In the Supreme Court's second and final opinion of the day, Americans for Prosperity, the majority holds that California's donor disclosure law is FACIALLY INVALID under the First Amendment. 6–3 decision, all three liberals dissent. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Chief Justice Roberts' opinion for the court in Americans for Prosperity is VERY broad. He rejects the possibility of narrower, as-applied challenges and holds that California's donor disclosure law is unconstitutional on its face. A huge decision. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Yes, Roberts' decision imperils campaign finance disclosure laws. No other way to read it. He applies a very stringent standard to all "disclosure regimes." This is what democracy advocates feared the conservative majority would do in this case. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
As Sotomayor notes in dissent: "Today’s analysis marks reporting and disclosure requirements with a bull’s-eye." Not just California's donor disclosure law—all disclosure requirements. Including those relating to elections and campaign finance. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Sotomayor calls out the conservative majority for
jettisoning precedent, saying today's court "apparently has a different view of its role," one that is "wholly inconsistent with the Court’s precedents and our Court’s long-held view ..." supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
The Supreme Court closes out its term with two gut punches to democracy. Americans for Prosperity is as bad as it could possibly be. Brnovich is not the worst-case scenario, but it is still very, very bad. The Voting Rights Act is in grave peril at SCOTUS. Both 6–3 decisions.
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By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court refuses to hear Arlene's Flowers, which involves a florist who refused to serve same-sex couples. Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissent. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
Gorsuch joins Thomas in suggesting that the Supreme Court consider overturning New York Times v. Sullivan, which provides strong First Amendment protections against defamation lawsuits brought by public figures. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
As @ClaraJeffery has pointed out, RCV is ***not*** the reason for the delayed results in New York. RCV does not delay results. The wait is due to other factors, particularly a grace period for late-arriving ballots. Lowry's criticism is extreme bad faith. fairvote.org/ranked_choice_…
Also, to claim that ranked choice voting somehow delays election results is to reveal that you have no fucking idea how ranked choice voting actually works. What absolute inanity. If he has the capacity for shame, which I doubt, Rich Lowry should be ashamed of himself.
What do conservatives think they have to gain by lying about ranked choice voting, anyway? It doesn't have a partisan valence. Or is this just another phase of their ongoing campaign to undermine confidence in the integrity of any election a Republican doesn't win?
The Supreme Court's FIRST decision of the day is in Minerva Surgical v. Hologic. It's a 5–4 decision, with Kagan writing the opinion for the court upholding and "clarifying" assignor estoppel.
While both Alito and Barrett dissented, they did so on very different grounds, and argued with each other over (among other things) what Scalia would've done in this case. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
The Supreme Court takes up two new cases involving free speech and immigration and issues two per curiam decisions. Full order list here: supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
SCOTUS' new cases are Austin v. Reagan National Advertising (another First Amendment case about sign regulations!) and Patel v. Garland (limited to question 1 below), which sounds like a @ReichlinMelnick case. The court will hear these cases next term. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
Here's the big news: In what appears to be a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court *reverses* an 8th Circuit decision that found officers used no excessive force when they killed someone using brutal tactics reminiscent of George Floyd's murder. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
The Supreme Court's FIRST opinion of the day is in TransUnion. It's another 5–4 decision with Thomas joining the liberals in dissent—the second of the week!
In an opinion by Kavanaugh, the court finds that most members of the class suing TransUnion for Fair Credit Reporting Act violations do not have standing.
These decisions don't make the headlines, but they illustrate the far-reaching impact of a 6–3 conservative majority. Thomas has twice peeled off from the conservative bloc to join the liberals, but it doesn't matter because, well, Amy Coney Barrett. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
The Supreme Court's FIRST opinion of the day is Lange v. California. In an opinion by Kagan, the court holds that pursuit of a fleeing misdemeanor suspect does not categorically justify a warrantless entry into the home.
Yikes, though: KAVANAUGH joins the portion of Thomas' concurrence sharply criticizing the exclusionary rule and asserting that it never applies to evidence illegally obtained in "cases of fleeing suspects." supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
The vote breakdown in Lange is pretty interesting, but both Kagan and Kavanaugh question whether Roberts' Fourth Amendment analysis is actually different, in practice, from the majority's. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…