Friends,
The Supreme Court is hearing three significant cases next week, and it could decide two high-stakes cases on its shadow docket at any time. So, rather than send you a single article as this week's newsletter, I'm sending over some links to five pieces I recently published about the Court's unusually busy December. -
In Trump v. Slaughter, the Court will decide if President Donald Trump may remove the heads of "independent" agencies that, by law, he may only fire for cause. If you've followed the Court's previous "unitary executive" decisions, you already know that Trump is going to win this case. So I used the upcoming Slaughter argument to discuss how this Court is remaking the separation of powers.
- In National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC, the Court will decide whether to strike down one of the few remaining limits on money in US politics.
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In Hamm v. Smith, the Court considers how to determine if someone is intellectually disabled — a question that matters because it is unconstitutional to execute someone with such a disability. The case potentially has broad implications for all criminal trials because, in 2019, Justice Neil Gorsuch suggested that the Court should drastically reduce the protections against cruel and unusual punishment enshrined in the Eighth Amendment. So Hamm could reveal if Gorsuch has five votes for this project.
Additionally, we are still awaiting decisions in two shadow docket cases: -
In League of United Latin American Citizens v. Abbott, the Court will decide whether to reinstate Texas's Republican gerrymander, which was struck down by a lower court largely because of the Justice Department's incompetence.
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Finally, in Trump v. Illinois, the Court will weigh in on a long-simmering case asking if and when Trump is allowed to use the military against Americans on US soil.
—Ian |
