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Mar 24 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
The Supreme Court's first opinion of the day is in Houston Community College System v. Wilson. This is the case in which a state board censured one of its members, and the member claimed his censure violated the First Amendment. SCOTUS says: No it didn't. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
Gorsuch's unanimous opinion is an interesting read in light of the ongoing debate on this website about whether free speech includes a right to avoid consequences for your speech. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…

There will be more opinion(s).
The Supreme Court's second and final opinion of the day is in Ramirez v. Collier, holding that Texas' ban on "religious touch and audible" prayer in the execution chamber violates RLUIPA. Opinion by Roberts; only Thomas dissents. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
Thomas' solo dissent begins with a lengthy account of Ramirez's crime, facts that are entirely irrelevant to the legal dispute in this case. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
There's a caveat at the end of Roberts' opinion that says: (1) As long as states make a reasonable effort to accommodate spiritual advisors in the execution chamber, RLUIPA is satisfied, and (2) the solution to an RLUIPA violation is an accommodation, not a stay of execution.
I should note that, because this case arose in the context of a preliminary injunction, the court technically held that Texas' policy "likely" violates RLUIPA, but Roberts makes it pretty clear that Texas should just accommodate Ramirez. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…

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Mark Joseph Stern Profile picture
Mar 24
Ginni Thomas urged Mark Meadows to overturn the 2020 election by any means necessary—while her husband was ruling on cases attempting to overturn the election. A truly extraordinary level of corruption. washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/… Image
Look at the absolutely deranged conspiracy theories Ginni Thomas pushed. Fringe doesn’t begin to cover it. She promoted conspiracy theories from a Sandy Hook truther plus QAnon stuff. washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/… ImageImage
The wife of a sitting Supreme Court justice told Trump’s chief of staff that Biden and his family would face military tribunals at Guantanamo for “ballot fraud.” washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/… Image
Read 6 tweets
Mark Joseph Stern Profile picture
Mar 20
FACT: Neil Gorsuch, Mike’s former boss, advocated for freeing 500,000 convicted sex offenders—including many child predators—from the federal sex offender registry’s requirements in Gundy v. US.

His opinion explains why Mike’s smears today are nonsense. supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf…
Gorsuch’s fight to free 500,000 sex offenders from the federal registry does not mean he’s soft on child predators. It means he applies his interpretation of the Constitution equally to the most hated and despised among us. That is a commendable trait, and one that KBJ shares.
By the way, Josh Hawley’s former boss John Roberts joined Gorsuch’s opinion.

SCOTUS clerks like Davis and Hawley understand that lawyers and judges who defend sex offenders are doing their job as the Constitution requires. They know these KBJ smears are baseless and disgusting.
Read 4 tweets
Mark Joseph Stern Profile picture
Mar 17
Incidentally, Judge Laurence Silberman just sent this email to the listservs for all Article III judges in the United States. “To all Article III judges, The latest events at Yale Law
Confirmed by multiple sources who saw the email fyi.

I know we had a big conversation on here about the propriety of complaining to someone’s prospective employer about their free expression of unpopular views, so I’m sure Silberman’s email will be condemned across the aisle.
Judge John Walker, a Reagan/GHWB nominee on the 2nd Circuit, responded to Silberman: "Thank you for your email. I couldn't agree more."
Read 9 tweets
Mark Joseph Stern Profile picture
Mar 7
BREAKING: SCOTUS has refused to stay congressional maps drawn by the state Supreme Courts of North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch dissent from the North Carolina decision. Orders posted shortly.
Here is the NC order.

Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch, say the NC Supreme Court's maps likely violate the Elections Clause, endorsing the independent state legislature theory.

Kavanaugh says the Purcell principle requires SCOTUS to stay out of it—for now. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2139…
Here is the Pennsylvania order denying an injunction. No noted dissents. The court notes that the case has been referred to a three-judge court and the parties can appeal from its decision to grant or deny an injunction. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2139…
Read 10 tweets
Mark Joseph Stern Profile picture
Mar 7
The Supreme Court’s first and only opinion of the day is in Wooden v. US, an ACCA case. In an opinion by Kagan, the court (somewhat surprisingly) rejects a sentence enhancement for the defendant! supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
Gorsuch and Sotomayor team up again, this time to (1) encourage application of the rule of lenity in ACCA cases and (2) note the substantial jury trial issue that “simmers beneath the surface of today’s case.” supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
The court unanimously holds that multiple crimes committed in the course of a single spree count just once under ACCA, but splinter in a few different directions on specific aspects of the decision. It’s a good outcome IMO and I like Gorsuch’s concurrence. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
Read 4 tweets
Mark Joseph Stern Profile picture
Mar 6
Florida prohibited gay people from adopting children—and was the last state to do so—until 2010, when a court struck down the ban.

Now Ron DeSantis’ press secretary is accusing gay teachers of “grooming” students simply by being openly gay. You see where this is going, right?
If DeSantis’ press secretary thinks gay teachers are “grooming” students, imagine what she says about same-sex parents in private.

Florida is going down a dark road, reviving bigoted myths about the need to protect children from gay predators. This won’t stop with schools.
Also for the thousand time, the Florida gag law is NOT limited to 4-8 year-olds, it applies to all grades, and the fact that its proponents keep lying about this fact illustrates how indefensible it is. slate.com/news-and-polit…
Read 4 tweets

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