Admit I'm a little teary-eyed after reading the justices' lovely odes to Justice Breyer.
Some highlights:
Roberts: "his fanciful hypotheticals during oral
argument have befuddled counsel and colleagues alike"
Roberts: "He is also a reliable antidote to dead airtime at our lunches, moving seamlessly from modern
architecture to French cinema, to old radio shows, to a surprisingly comprehensive collection of
riddles and knock-knock jokes."
Thomas: "We extend our fondest wishes to them [Breyer and his wife Joanna] in the next phase of their lives, and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts for being such delightful and dear friends whom we love."
All of Kagan. So sweet.
Barrett: "Yet his passion never manifests itself in anger. Both in print and in person, Steve aims to persuade through exuberance rather than bite."
And Souter: "Steve Breyer has been a superlative justice, whose work has shown his high intelligence and sound common sense. His friendship has enhanced my life."
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This is NOT a dispute over whether someone is to be executed. It's whether SCOTUS should reverse two lower courts that agreed to pause a lethal injection for an illiterate prisoner who prefers to die via nitrogen hypoxia but couldn't read the form giving him that option.
And five justices intervened to make sure the cognitively impaired prisoner is put to death immediately rather than in a few weeks.
That's where we are.
Reeves's lawyer: “The immense power of the State should be used to help its citizens, not to prevent them from exercising their rights. The immense authority of the Supreme Court should be used to protect its citizens, not to strip them of their rights without explanation."
BREAKING: Supreme Court agrees to hear challenges to race-based affirmative action
The cases involve admissions policies at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University, so the matter of affirmative action will be addressed for both public and private institutions— under the 14th amendment and the civil rights act
The cases will most likely be heard early in the autumn.
BREAKING: Supreme Court DENIES abortion providers' petition to reignite litigation against Texas abortion ban by ordering 5th circuit to return it to the district court. Apparent vote is 6-3.
Justice Breyer writes a short dissent, which Justices Kagan and Sotomayor join. Justice Sotomayor writes a 7-page dissent, which Kagan and Breyer join.
From Sotomayor's dissent: "The Court may look the other way" regarding the 5th Circuit's "delay tactics" but "I cannot".
BREAKING: Supreme Court DENIES Donald Trump's plea to keep his papers out of the hands of House committee investigating Jan. 6th insurrection at the Capitol
The apparent vote is 8-1. Only Justice Thomas would have granted Trump's plea.
Justice Kavanaugh writes a separate statement. Justice Thomas does not explain his dissent.
At 10am the Boston flagpole hearing at SCOTUS begins and I will be tweeting & analyzing it here. The case involves free speech but has strong religious-liberty undertones. 👇
Justice Kagan asks: does the city really have to put a swastika flag if the flagpole is a designated public forum?
A: yes
Kagan: so cities just can't have such a policy, right?
A: no
Barrett suggests another way to get around this is for Boston to say, this flagpole is our speech and we're only putting up what we want to say. Being more explicit that this is government speech.