Thread by @mjs_DC

Here's a link to the Supreme Court's unsigned 6–3 decision ending the CDC's eviction moratorium. All three liberals dissent. Breyer sounds despairing. justsecurity.org/wp-content/upl… courtesy of @steve_vladeck

Here is the heart of the majority's analysis: The CDC exercised a "sweeping power" that rested on the "wafer-thin reed" of a narrow statute.

Although it's unsigned, I would guess that the majority opinion was written by Gorsuch. justsecurity.org/wp-content/upl…

Breyer is deeply worried that the Supreme Court just made the Delta wave significantly worse. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…

Rejecting Breyer's plea for full briefing and oral arguments, the six conservative justices plowed ahead with another massively consequential shadow docket decision that seriously disrupts both the law and the government's COVID response.

https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1431067974518063105

When the Supreme Court issues major shadow docket decisions like this it is not acting like a court. The shadow docket is for rare, true emergencies. SCOTUS abuses it to issue unsigned opinions in blockbuster cases at 10 pm. It's rule by raw judicial power, not reasoned judgment.

It's frustrating that debates about shadow docket orders sound exactly like debates about regular Supreme Court opinions. The point—the problem—is that the court's own rules do not allow it to govern the nation through emergency decrees *even if* one party has the stronger claim.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority has so thoroughly ripped up the old rules that now it essentially treats shadow docket cases like normal cases ... except there were no oral arguments, no full briefing, just fly-by-night filings and a short, unsigned 10 p.m. order.

It doesn't much matter if you agree with the majority or the dissent on the merits of the eviction moratorium. The deeper problem is that the Supreme Court had no license to intervene with a definitive judgment at this stage.

We need shadow docket reform. slate.com/news-and-polit…