By a 5–4 vote, the Supreme Court just allowed Texas to enforce a law that prohibits abortions after six weeks, with no exception for rape or incest. Roe v. Wade is, functionally, overturned. Justice Sotomayor all but says it. s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentclo…
Sotomayor: "The Act is a breathtaking act of defiance ... The Court should not be so content to ignore its constitutional obligations to protect not only the rights of women, but also the sanctity of its precedents and of the rule of law." s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentclo…
Make no mistake: Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett are responsible for ending Roe v. Wade. Chief Justice John Roberts explicitly announced that he would block Texas' law. Kavanaugh and Barrett cast the decisive votes allowing the six-week abortion ban to take effect.
Kagan, dissenting: "The majority’s decision is emblematic of too much of this Court’s shadow-docket decisionmaking—which every day becomes more unreasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend." supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Kagan, who sounds furious: The majority "barely bothers to explain its conclusion" and "rewards Texas's scheme to insulate its law from judicial review by deputizing private parties to carry out unconstitutional restrictions on the state's behalf." supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Sotomayor, dissenting: "In effect, the Texas Legislature has deputized the State's citizens as bounty hunters, offering them cash prizes for civilly prosecuting their neighbors' medical procedures." supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Again: Roberts, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan all wrote separate dissents highlighting different aspects of their disagreement with the majority (which partially explains the delay).
It is simply impossible to say that Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land. The Supreme Court just allowed Texas to enforce a six-week abortion ban—giving other states a roadmap to do the same. Roe is no longer good law. The right to abortion has been functionally overturned.
Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett killed Roe v. Wade in an unsigned, two-page order issued at midnight on a Wednesday. The brazenness is simply extraordinary. I expected something bad, but I am still stunned. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…
Five justices effectively ended the constitutional right to abortion in the most cowardly manner imaginable—through an unsigned, one-paragraph 5–4 decision released at midnight. Sotomayor called it "stunning," but that is an understatement. It is shameful. slate.com/news-and-polit…
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Trump Judge Amul Thapar also adopts the anti-abortion rhetoric about pro-choice judges worshiping at the "altar of abortion," which I find extremely offensive but whatever. These guys get to say whatever they want. opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/2…
Thapar spends a full 22 pages (41-63) railing against Roe v. Wade and begging the Supreme Court to overturn it as soon as possible, condemning past justices for "dismissing our constitutional text and history" while worshiping at the "altar of abortion." opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/2…
Why does it feel like all the centrist/contrarian twitter figures who spent last year complaining about judgmental "woke scolds" now spend their days policing the tone and content of every COVID tweet and scolding anyone who fails to evince sufficient sensitivity to anti-vaxxers?
These people act like Victorian-era schoolteachers desperate to impart moral lessons unto their pupils by self-righteously lecturing them about proper manners in polite society. The prissy tone, the endless scolding lectures, the absolutely certainty of their own correctness ...
It's too much! No one asked for these lectures! The scolding is out of control! Who anointed these people as the tone police of COVID twitter?! Why must I bear their priggish little sermons about how YOU don't understand anti-vaxxers the way they do? It is insufferable!!!!!!!!!!!
If California outlawed handguns by allowing strangers to sue anyone who "aids and abets" their purchase, does anyone seriously believe the ultra-conservative justices (or conservative legal commentators) would shrug and say "too bad, there's absolutely nothing SCOTUS can do!"
If Oregon outlawed conversion to Christianity by allowing strangers to sue anyone who "aids and abets" a baptism, does anyone seriously believe SCOTUS wouldn't block it?
If Virginia outlawed Fox News by allowing strangers to sue anyone who "aids and abets" its broadcast, does anyone seriously believe SCOTUS wouldn't block it?
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.
Absolute insanity. SCOTUS’ conservative majority repeatedly cleared away lower court injunctions so that Trump could implement his immigration agenda. Now it lets a single district court judge dictate foreign policy for the Biden administration. This is beyond outrageous.
The big question was always: Are the Supreme Court’s conservatives consistent skeptics of nationwide injunctions against immigration policy, or are they just doing favors for the Trump administration. Now we know the answer. And it’s appalling.
Remember how Thomas and Gorsuch questioned the legitimacy of nationwide injunctions when they were issued against Trump? Their concern appears to have evaporated now that Federalist Society judges are issuing nationwide injunctions against Biden.
•Associate Director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel
•Deputy General Counsel at the Office of Personnel Management
•Deputy Associate Administrator for Strategic
Planning at EPA
•Associate General Counsel at DOT
Kloster, a conservative attorney with four different jobs in the Trump administration, thinks Jeffrey Bossert Clark—who tried to overturn the 2020 election from within the DOJ—is "a brilliant guy" who "took zealous representation of his client seriously." nytimes.com/2021/08/07/us/…
Trump also appointed Kloster to @acusgov, but Biden removed him in February. Kloster refused to acknowledge his termination. slate.com/news-and-polit…