Thread by @chrisgeidner

BREAKING: On a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court denies relief to plaintiffs challenging Texas #SB8, allowing it to remain in effect for now. Chief Justice Roberts joins the Democratic appointees in dissent.

Here is the statement from the Court, which has no author and is not listed as per curiam.

Here is Roberts’ dissent, joined by Breyer and Kagan, which focuses on the “unprecedented” type of law at issue here.

Here is Breyer’s dissent, joined by Sotomayor and Kagan, which focuses on Texas’s attempt to end-run their unconstitutional law around the courts by having private enforcement.

Here is Sotomayor’s dissent, joined by Breyer and Kagan, focused on the pre-enforcement gamesmanship by Texas: “It cannot be the case that a State can evade federal judicial scrutiny by outsourcing the enforcement of unconstitutional laws to its citizenry.”

And, finally, here is Kagan’s dissent, joined by Breyer and Sotomayor, which focuses on the shadow docket, concluding that its “decisionmaking” becomes “more unreasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend” every day.

So, the unnamed majority (Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett) say the decision has nothing to do with the constitutionality of the law — but also make clear that states can avoid pre-enforcement litigation by allowing only for private “vigilante” enforcement.

That was too much for Roberts, but he was unable to get *any* of the other conservatives — not Kavanaugh, not Gorsuch, no one — to join him in merely casting a fifth vote to put the law on hold while the courts sort this “unprecedented” law out.

Seems like a good time to reread my April 20 MSNBC column about Roberts and the bill to expand the Supreme Court: msnbc.com/opinion/why-su…

Here is the full pdf of all the opinions: supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf…

"The Court’s order is stunning."

Sotomayor's dissent is On Point.

The #SCOTUS 5-justice right-wing majority tonight actually wrote that it was a decision between "serious questions regarding the constitutionality" of #SB8 and "complex and novel antecedent procedural questions on which they have not carried their burden," and chose the latter.