Monday, July 26, 2021

How are the new SCOTUS justices judging?

 CNN has this piece, which tries to peg how "Trump's appointees are turning the Supreme Court to the right with different tactics."  The beginning of the article seemed really silly to me:

The three appointees of former President Donald Trump have together sealed the Supreme Court's conservatism for a generation, but they have revealed strikingly different methods. They diverge in their regard for practical consequences, their desire to lay down markers for future disputes and their show of internal rivalries.
Neil Gorsuch takes no prisoners. Brett Kavanaugh tries to appear conciliatory, even as he provokes internal conflict. And Amy Coney Barrett is holding her fire, for the moment.
Whether their differences intensify or fade will determine the Trump effect on the high court and how fast the law moves rightward regarding abortion rights, gun control, religion and LGBTQ clashes.

 What does that even mean?

Here's the conclusion:

Overall, the three Trump appointees voted together with fellow conservatives (Roberts, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito) in the most consequential cases of the 2020-21 session.

They curtailed the reach of the Voting Rights Act, threatened the ability of states to impose disclosure requirements on political donors and strengthened property rights in the face of government regulation. That last dispute, from California, arose from union organizers' efforts to temporarily enter agricultural property to talk to migrant farmworkers.

But as the three went their individual ways, Gorsuch agreed more with far-right conservatives Thomas and Alito, while Kavanagh and Barrett aligned more with Roberts at the center-right of this nine-member bench.

Overall in the recently completed session, Gorsuch agreed most with Thomas, 73% in full and 87% in part, according to SCOTUSblog annual statistics. Meanwhile, Kavanaugh and Barrett had one of the highest rates of agreement in cases: 75% in full and 91% in part.

Trump has touted his influence on the federal judiciary as one of his greatest achievements in office. That impact will swell as his appointees across the judiciary -- especially on the high court -- gain seniority and further shape the law with their opinions.

Well, that bolded part is interesting.   

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Check out what happened in Fulton v. Philadelphia. G-T-A- want to get rid of the Smith test and move towards full strict scrutiny, while Barrett and Kavanaugh wanted to dial back Smith in a more cautious manner.

Anonymous said...

There is a case involving Harvard and the diversity industry. Expect a ruling that cuts off the diversity police at the knees and sends them packing. 6-3 that laws outlawing racial discrimination mean exactly that. Not being able to engage in racial discrimination will send the establishment into an apoplectic spasm

Anonymous said...

As Josh Blackman has pointed out, Biskupic's roundups in recent years have had all sorts of leaked inside confidential information, even about the justices' conferences.
Justice Ginsburg dies and now Biskupic's leaks appear to have been, uh, plugged up. Zero inside information. What a coincidence.