The #SupremeCourt will return to the bench starting at 10 a.m. Friday to release its next round of 2024 decisions, with about a dozen major rulings expected over the next week or so. The justices do not say in advance which opinions will be released
There are three boxes of opinions waiting to be distributed to reporters inside the Supreme Court this morning starting at 10 a.m. That means we’ll get up to six opinions. It is the first time this term that there have been more than two boxes of opinion #SCOTUS#LAW
The third case decision announced this morning is also NOT one of the high-profile cases that we have been closely tracking. It involves the federal #criminal#sentencing statute — #Erlinger v. U.S.
Justice Neil M. #Gorsuch has the opinion. An interesting combination in #dissent: Justices Brett M. #Kavanaugh, Samuel A. #Alito Jr. & #KetanjiBrownJackson.
Interestingly, in her #dissent in the #immigration case, Department of #State v. Munoz, Justice Sonia #Sotomayor says #SCOTUS’ decision will most heavily burden #SameSex couples. She cites #Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 case that established a fundamental right to same-sex #marriage.
The fourth ruling announced this morning is Smith v. #Arizona, on the right of #criminal defendants to #CrossExamine#witnesses. All of these cases are important, of course. But none so far are the biggest cases of the term. Justice Elena #Kagan has the opinion, w/a unanimous-ish court agreeing w/the final judgment. There are many concurrences, which are written by justices who agree w/the outcome of the decision but disagree on certain aspects.
When Judge #AileenCannon presides over a hearing on Fri in #Trump’s #ClassifiedDocuments case, she will spend the day considering well-trod arguments about an arcane #legal issue in an unorthodox manner.
The issue that will be discussed…is a motion by the defense to dismiss the charges…on the grounds that #SpecialCounsel#JackSmith was improperly funded & appointed.
It will be the latest example of how her unusual handling of the case has now become business as usual.
Over the past several months, Judge #AileenCannon, who was appointed by #Trump in his final days in office, has made a number of decisions that have prompted second-guessing & criticism…. Many of her rulings, on a wide array of topics, have been confounding…, often evincing her willingness to grant a serious hearing to far-fetched issues that Trump’s lawyers have raised in his defense.
…while the subject of the hearing may seem rather technical, what is most unusual is that it is happening at all.
Reaching back to the early 1970s, courts have repeatedly rejected efforts like #Trump’s to question the legality of #independent#prosecutors. Those have included #SCOTUS upholding the appointment of Leon Jaworski, one of the special prosecutors who investigated the #Watergate scandal, in a decision that was largely focused on the issue of #Nixon’s claims of #ExecutivePrivilege. #law
Every day that goes by on Trump’s absolute immunity claim w/o a decision, is a victory for #Trump. His strategy is to #delay. That way he can dismiss all federal charges against him if he wins.
Shortly after #AileenCannon drew the assignment in June 2023 to oversee #Trump’s classified documents case, 2 more experienced #Florida#judges on the federal bench urged her to pass it up & hand it off to another jurist.
The judges who approached Judge #AileenCannon —incl the #ChiefJudge in the So Dist of #Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga— each asked her to consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case, allowing it to go to another judge.
But Cannon, who was appointed by #Trump, wanted the case & refused the #judges’ entreaties.
#AileenCannon has broken, acc/to lawyers who operate there, w/a general practice of federal #judges in the Southern District of #Florida of delegating some pretrial motions to a magistrate — in this instance, Judge #BruceReinhart. While he is [technically] subordinate to her, Judge Reinhart is an older & much more experienced jurist. In 2022, he was the one who signed off on an #FBI#warrant to search #Trump’s #MarALago …for highly sensitive govt files that Trump kept after leaving office.
Since, #AileenCannon has exhibited #hostility to #prosecutors, handled pretrial motions slowly & indefinitely postponed the #trial, declining to set a date for it to begin even though both the prosecution & the defense had told her they could be ready this summer.
#Trump’s attys have urged her to #delay any trial until after the #election, & her handling of the case has virtually ensured that they will succeed in that strategy. Should Trump…[win], he could order the #DOJ to drop the case.
As Judge #AileenCannon’s handling of the case has come under intensifying scrutiny, her critics have suggested that she could be in over her head, in the tank for #Trump — or both.
Against that backdrop, word of the early efforts by her colleagues on the bench to persuade her to step aside — & the significance of her decision not to do so — has spread among other federal #judges & the people who know them.
“What today’s bill does is return things to the status quo set by Trump, saying bump stocks are dangerous & should be prohibited,” Sen ChuckSchumer…said Tues. “#Senate#Republicans …supported #Trump’s ban on bump stocks back then, so they should support this bill today.”
In an exclusive essay for PEOPLE, the married #Arizona lawmakers share how a #gunman stole their dreams of having a child together — & why they fear politicians will do the same to other #families
Sen #MarkKelly & #GabbyGiffords: “Our lives changed forever on Jan 8th, 2011, when a gunman opened fire at a ‘Congress on Your Corner’ event in Tucson. 6 lives were lost, many more were injured, & Gabby was shot in the head. Of everything that changed that day — …halting our careers, the …long, difficult road to recovery — we also lost something we wanted very much: the opportunity to have a child together.
Democrats are seeking to overhaul an 1873 federal #law that #bans abortion-related materials from being sent through the mail, worried that a future Trump admin could invoke the #ComstockAct to crack down on #AbortionAccess or effectively #ban the procedure altogether.
Rep #BeccaBalint (VT) will introduce companion #legislation in the House, &…she said she believed #House Democratic leaders support the effort.
“I’m not going to take a watch-&-see, laissez-faire attitude,” Balint said. “We can & we have to take #Republicans at their word that they want a #FederalBan.”
The campaign has support from… #PlannedParenthood, the #ACLU & #ReproductiveFreedomForAll. The legislation…would preserve aspects of the #law that allow ofcls to crack down on child pornography.
The Supreme Court on Thurs rejected a challenge to an obscure provision of rump’s 2017 tax package.
The one-time tax on offshore earnings helped fund the massive tax cut permitted under #Congress’s limited powers of #taxation.
Some viewed the lawsuit as an effort to preemptively block Congress from creating a #WealthTax.
An unusual political coalition defended the offshore-earnings tax, from the #Biden admin to #conservatives including fmr House speaker #PaulRyan. Not because they favor a #WealthTax, but because they worry a ruling against one little-known provision could undermine vast swaths of existing #taxes on #investments, partnerships & foreign #income, which together raise billions or even trillions in revenue.
The #lawsuit was initiated by a Washington couple backed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an #AntiRegulatory advocacy group. Charles & Kathleen Moore were subject to $15k in taxes because of the 2017 #law, springing from #investments they had made in a company based in India that supplies equipment to small-scale farmers. The law created a 1-time #tax on certain #offshore earnings that had previously been exempt from #taxation unless the taxpayer brought the money back to the US. #SCOTUS
The Moores said they never earned money from the #investment & sued the federal govt for a refund. The district court dismissed the case, & the 9th Circuit upheld that decision, saying the tax was w/in #Congress’s power & permitted under the 16th Amendment regardless of whether the Moores took in,or “realized,” #income.
The #tax §965 is forecast to raise >$300B over 10yrs. Some corporations have already paid billions under it; if struck down the govt might have to issue billions in refunds. #law