The Supreme Court's first decision of the day is Kennedy v. Bremerton. In a 6–3 opinion by Gorsuch, the court holds that public school officials have a constitutional right to pray publicly, and lead students in prayer, during school events. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
The Supreme Court formally overrules the Lemon test and the endorsement test, substantially cutting back the Establishment Clause's separation of church and state. This is another maximalist decision. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
With today's decision, the Supreme Court effectively grants special, heightened First Amendment rights to religious speech, allowing public school teachers to pray on the job while denying most other public employees basic free speech rights. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
Sotomayor, dissenting: "The court sets us further down a perilous path in forcing states to entangle themselves with religion, with all of our rights hanging in the balance. ... Today’s decision is no victory for religious liberty." supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
The Supreme Court's second decision of the day is Concepcion v. U.S. In a 5–4 opinion by Sotomayor, the court holds that the First Step Act lets district courts reduce sentences on the basis of intervening changes of law or fact. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
Sotomayor's opinion in Concepcion is a major victory for federal defendants, and the split is extremely unusual: Gorsuch and Thomas joined the three liberals in the majority, while the remaining conservatives dissented. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
The upshot of Concepcion is that when a federal offender requests a sentence reduction under the First Step Act, the judge can consider post-sentence rehabilitation AND changes to the sentencing guidelines—even if those changes don't bear directly on the offender's sentence.
The Supreme Court's third and final decision of the day is Xiulu Ruan v. U.S. In an opinion by Breyer, the court holds that prosecutors must prove a doctor who illegally prescribes controlled substances intended to break the law or knew they were doing so. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
On the First Step Act case, I think Sotomayor probably flipped Thomas to get her fifth vote.
NEW: By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court halts a lower court order that had struck down Louisiana's racial gerrymander. All three liberals dissent.
A federal judge found that Louisiana's new congressional map diluted the votes of racial minorities in violation of the Voting Rights Act, and the 5th Circuit declined to halt that ruling. Now the Supreme Court has stepped in to put the ruling on hold.
Although nearly a third of Louisiana's population is Black, Republicans' new congressional map gives Black voters control over just one of six congressional districts.
The Supreme Court has now effectively ensured that this map will remain in place for the 2022 elections.
The Supreme Court refuses to take up Coral Ridge v. SPLC, a case designed to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan and abolish constitutional protections against defamation suits that hinder free speech. Thomas dissents. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
Coral Ridge is an anti-LGBTQ organization that unsuccessfully sued the @splcenter for calling it a "hate group." Thomas says it should be allowed to proceed with its defamation claim, and that SCOTUS should overturn New York Times v. Sullivan. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
Thomas' position is quite frightening: It would mean that if you criticized anti-LGBTQ activists in harsh terms (by, for instance, calling their organization a "hate group"), the activists could sue you for defamation and win. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
Douthat's prediction is delusional. There is a very high correlation between states that now ban abortion and states with the highest maternal and infant mortality rates. These states had plenty of time to pass pro-parent, pro-child policies. They refused. nytimes.com/2022/06/25/opi…
As the dissenters noted, Mississippi is a hellish place to be pregnant and give birth if you are not wealthy. It has the highest infant mortality rate in the country, and carrying a pregnancy to term is 75 times more dangerous than terminating it. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
Even though Mississippi has horrifically high rates of maternal mortality, Republican lawmakers *refused* federal funds to provide mothers with a year of Medicaid coverage after giving birth. So new moms get kicked off after Medicaid after two months. slate.com/news-and-polit…
There is so much to grieve today, but at this moment I am mourning for the countless Americans who will be killed by the Supreme Court's decision, the mothers who will be forced into deeper poverty, the miscarriage patients investigated and denied care. slate.com/news-and-polit…
Clarence Thomas, concurring, explicitly calls on the Supreme Court to overrule Griswold (right to contraception), Lawrence (right to same-sex intimacy), and Obergefell (right to same-sex marriage). supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
The Supreme Court's first decision of the day is Becerra v. Empire Health Foundation. There will be more opinions. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
The breakdown in Empire Health is very unusual: Kagan wrote the majority opinion, joined by Breyer, Sotomayor, Thomas, and Barrett. The remaining conservatives dissented.
Kagan, writing for the majority, upholds HHS' formula providing higher reimbursement rates to a hospital that serves a low-income patient—even when Medicare does not pay for part or all of the patient's hospital stay. I think this is the right decision. supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf…
A few aspects of Clarence Thomas' opinion worth dwelling upon.
First, his new test stacks the deck against gun control. Modern regulations must have a historical analogue, but contemporary firearms are protected even if they didn't exist in 1791 or 1868. slate.com/news-and-polit…
Second, and relatedly, historical analogues often won't exist, because the entire country has changed immensely. The Framers could not imagine subways; it's impossible to know what they'd think about guns on subways. Thomas says: too damn bad. slate.com/news-and-polit…
Third, Thomas is not a historian (as real historians will gladly remind you). Neither are most federal judges. But now every federal judge has an obligation to canvass American history in search of historical analogues to modern gun regulations. It's going to be a mess.