Guest Column: You Bet I Signed That Letter In Defense Of The Judiciary

 

Trump Bans Northern Arapaho Tribe's Law Firm From Federal Contracts

Condemn attacks on judiciary, Wyoming lawyers and judges urge delegation

Condemn attacks on judiciary, Wyoming lawyers and judges urge delegation: More than 100 members of the state’s legal community, including four retired Supreme Court justices, implored Sens. Barrasso and Lummis and Rep. Hageman to resist “reckless disdain” for the courts.

 

For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. . . The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.

For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. . . The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.

Chief Justice John Roberts reacting to putative chief executive Donald Trump demanding impeachment of a judge who disagreed with him, as they often due due to his contempt of the law.

Lex Anteinternet: Some Grim Predications

Lex Anteinternet: Some Grim Predications: 

Some Grim Predications

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

I still think that Vance will be President within 18 months of the inauguration.  Trump's clearly a demented, unhinged, fool who always had a defective narcissistic personality made worse by his declining mental status.  It's really impossible to ignore at this point, although the damage he does will be lasting.  Vance can't act immediately, as Trump put in sycophants and lackeys in his cabinet, but it's increasingly clear to non Maga Republicans that Trump's unhinged.  

Indeed, Vance acting quicker than 18 months, maybe even with in the first six months, is becoming an increasing likelihood. The nation will breath a sigh of relief no matter what Vance is like, as he isn't Trump, and by that time all the dirty work of firing government employees will have been done.

But I also think I can, at this point, see some other things happening with a high degree of probability, all of which depend to some degree on what Vance ultimately does, that will result from his administration, or occur during it. Some will surprise his supporters.  Here's what I think we're going to see, which the assumption being we're within the 18 month window, or perhaps that I'm wrong on that.  Indeed, if I'm wrong, the likelihood of these predictions goes up.

Note that predicting these events isn't the same as cheering them on, or hoping for them, or even remotely wishing for them. What I hope and pray is that God deliver the United States and grant to it what is his will.  I don't wish harm or disaster on anyone.  I think, at the end of the day, that Donald Trump is a demented old fool who deserves pity,  the nation that has chosen him as the Chief Executive is suffering from a sort of foolish dementia itself, and that all the proof that ever needs to be given on why people shouldn't be allowed to get massively rich has been given.

70% Chance

How solitary sits the city, 

once filled with people.

She who was great among the nations

is now like a widow.

Once a princess among the provinces,

now a toiling slave.

 Lamentations.

I'd give the following about a 70% chance of occurring.

Trump's going to defy the courts

Napoleon, who claimed he was acting to save the country and went on to get a lot of people killed.  Don quoted him just the other day in what is likely a prelude to ignoring the courts.  Napoleon ended up in exile and was likely murdered by poisoning.

This is pretty obvious and will happen soon.

The thing is, this won't go well, and will prove to be one of those things he'll move away from quickly.  Courts have a lot more power than they did in times past and they really aren't afraid of Trump.  Once Federal Marshall start slapping people in prison or impounding assets, things will change.

Standing for the rule of law. Hagen Scotten.

 

Standing for the Rule of Law. The letter of Danielle R. Sassoon.

What if Trump Just Ignores the Courts?

Lex Anteinternet: 2025 State of the State & State of the Judiciary

Lex Anteinternet: 2025 State of the State & State of the Judiciary

2025 State of the State & State of the Judiciary

Painted Bricks: Aviator statue. Cheyenne, Wyoming.

A recent edition outside of Cheyenne's Federal courthouse.

Painted Bricks: Aviator statue. Cheyenne, Wyoming.:  

Aviator statue. Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Lex Anteinternet: Biden proposes changes to the framework of American government.

Lex Anteinternet: Biden proposes changes to the framework of America...:  

Biden proposes changes to the framework of American government.

 Joe Biden, in an op ed in the Washington Post (a poor way to make major proposals, in my view) proposed some major structural changes to the framework of U.S. governance today.  The proposals are:

1.  A Constitutional Amendment making it clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office.

2.  Term limits for Supreme Court Justices such that a President would appoint a justice every two years for a term of 18 years on the Court.

3.  A binding code of ethics for the Supreme Court.

On these, fwiw, I think a Constitutional Amendment would be justified, but I'd go further than what's stated.  I don't support any kind of immunity at all.

On term limits, I don't support that either, but would support age limits.  Once a Federal Judge reached age 60, or at least no older than 65, they'd be required to retire, including members of the Supreme Court.

On a code of ethics for the Supreme Court, it's a good idea, but I don't know how you impose one, given the independence of the judiciary.

 

The Jury.

The entire time I've been a lawyer. . . well, no, well before that, I've been told that one of the "greatest" things about "the world's greatest judicial system" is that it uses juries.

Most legal systems do not, and those that do, have tended to pick it up from the English Common Law system, often through American influence.  Save for Louisiana, we use the English system, and the English system has long used juries.  

The system has evolved over time.  Originally it was an effort to gather those from the area where an event occured, and was truly a jury of peers. The danger was that they actually knew you, and therefore may be inclined to judge your guilt or innocence based on that, which was part of why it was conceived of as a good system. Over time, while it was still supposed to be a jury of your peers, they were picked, through the voir dire process, for their fairness.

I'm not about to say that juries always get everything right. They don't.  But lawyers are taught to respect the process and the juries, and for good reason.  Frankly, more often than not, juries are right.  Not always, but holding them in contempt is wrong.

The jury that found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felonies this past week in Manhattan was made up seven men and five women, and included two attorneys, a software engineer, an e-commerce sales professional, a security engineer, a teacher, a speech therapist, an investment banker and a retired wealth manager.   That is a highly educated jury, and frankly that probably truly is a jury of Trump's peers.  Leaving two lawyers on the jury is bizarre, as lawyers only rarely make a jury panel, although I've known one who did.  I've been called for jury duty once and did not get picked, as I didn't expect to be.  Having two lawyers on the panel is phenomenal.

It'd be interesting to know how that occured.  Trump's defense team may have thought that the lawyers would regard the charges as strained in regard to election interference, which a lot of legal analysts did.  They may have, instead, helped the jury wade through the piles of stuff they had and arrive at the conclusion which they did.

Anyway you look at it, they arrived at the opinion they arrived at, and that needs to be respected.

Which Wyoming's elected officials are not.

The jury has been slammed by all of our Congressional delegation, two of whom are lawyers, the Governor and the Secretary of State.

It's tragic.

Wyoming makes frequent recourse to the courts as a state, and now it's attacking the judicial system.  There's utterly nothing whatsoever to question the nature of this jury on.  It appears to have been well qualified for its role.  There's no reason to suspect that New York's legal system is deficient in any way.

It's inexcusable to attack the jury.

The Norm.

From one of the numerous Trump tweets, or whatever they are called.

Why? 

Well because the prosecution, just like the plaintiff in a civil trial, has the burden of proof and hence the more difficult job.

Generally, the order of a trial is:

Plaintiff/Prosecution Opens.

Defense Opens.

Plaintiff/Prosecution presents evidence.

Defense presents evidence.

Plaintiff/Prosecution closes.

Defense closes.

Plaintiff/Prosecution rebuts, if there's something to rebut.

That's the norm.

Blog Mirror: A bucket-list tour of Nebraska courthouses yields some elevator insights

 

A bucket-list tour of Nebraska courthouses yields some elevator insights

 

Monday at the Bar: The Lawyer?

Monday at the Bar: The Lawyer?

 

Casper newspaper ad, May 13, 1924.

Painted Bricks: Stormwater drain, Casper Wyoming.

Painted Bricks: Stormwater drain, Casper Wyoming.:   

Stormwater drain, Casper Wyoming.

 

This stormwater drain is outside of the Townsend Justice Center in Casper, Wyoming.

Frankly, I really don't think that this send the best message . . . 

Blog Mirror: Wyoming Chief Justice calls for increased security amid rising number of threats

 

Wyoming Chief Justice calls for increased security amid rising number of threats

Why Law School Should Be an Undergraduate Program — Minding The Campus

Why Law School Should Be an Undergraduate Program — Minding The Campus: In most parts of the world, lawyers are formally trained in an undergraduate degree program. The Bachelor of Law (LL.B), is also an accelerated three-year curriculum. In the United States it takes over twice as long. First you need a 4-year undergraduate degree in any subject—a gratuitous requirement, as there is no such thing as […]

Thoughts?

I'm not sure that I agree, but there'es something to the suggestion. 

Meet the Press interviews Stephen G. Breyer

Meet The Press's host interviewed retired United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer on last weekend's episode.

Apparently Breyer just wrote a biography, which must have been his incentive for giving the interview.  It was awful.  He really didn't comment on anything.

The episode is worth listening to, but due to Chuck Todd and Kristen Welker going after their employer, NBC, for getting them set up in an interview of Ronna McDaniel after it turns out that NBC has hired McDaniel to be a pundit.  Suffice it to say, McDaniel won't be inviting them to any after work gatherings.  But the interview of Breyer was pointless.

Courthouses of the West: 2024 State of the State and State of the Judiciary

When I originally posted this item, Courthouses of the West: 2024 State of the State and State of the Judiciary, I hadn't yet listed to the speeches.  

I have since.

Chief Justice Fox's speech starts at about 59:00.  

It's probably a true "state of" type speech, something that's actually fairly rare.  A main point is that the judiciary is underfunded  and is not receiving the same staff wage raises that the rest of the state's employees are.

A short reference is made to some new judges, and the retiring Justice Kautz.  It's very brief, noting, with a hint of displeasure, that he's required to retire due to the age 70 statutory provision.

A really nice article on retiring Justice Kautz is in the current edition of The Wyoming Lawyer.

2024 State of the State and State of the Judiciary

Blog Mirror: Supreme Court likely to discard Chevron

Supreme Court likely to discard Chevron

Which is huge legal news.

The court strongly hinted it might do this in one of its decisions last year.  Now it appears it is going to do it.

Justice O’Connor to lie in repose at court Dec. 18

Justice O’Connor to lie in repose at court Dec. 18: Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who died last week at the age of 93, will lie in repose at the Supreme Court on Dec. 18, the court’s public information office announced on Tuesday. Members of the public will be able to pay their respects that day from 10:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. Two private serv

In Memoriam: Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

I'm late in posting this and, frankly, so many things have been posted it would hardly be necessarily.

Justice O'Connor was the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Frankly, even though this came in relative terms, in 1981, fairly close to the pioneering appointment of an African American to the Supreme Court bench, it was later than it should have been. Having said that, like Nixon going to China, coming by way of a conservative, Ronald Reagan, perhaps it meant more in real terms than it would have had it come under an earlier President, such as Jimmy Carter.

O'Connor had been a member of the Arizona Court of Appeals at the time of her appointment. She was a Westerner by birth, having been raised on a 198,000 acre cattle ranch in that state.  She attended Stanford as an undergrad and as a law student, and oddly enough had received a proposal of marriage from William Rehnquist while still a student.

Her accomplishments cannot be denied, but frankly, like a lot that Reagan did, her appointment has a mixed record.  I frankly don't think she was as great of jurist as people now wish to recall, and like many of the "conservative" justice of her era, she was conservative only in a very reserved way.  True conservatives wouldn't really reappear on the Supreme Court for many years, none of which takes away from her personal accomplishments.

Railhead: Rail Features. Thyra Thompson Building, Casper Wyoming. Chancery Court.

Railhead: Rail Features. Thyra Thompson Building, Casper Wyo...:

Rail Features. Thyra Thompson Building, Casper Wyoming.

The State of Wyoming recently completed the construction of a massive new state office building, the Thyra Thompson Building, in Casper.  All of the state's administrative bodies, except for the district and circuit courts, are housed there.

The building does house, however, the Chancery Court for the entire state, a new court that's only recently been established.

The building is built right over what had been the Great Northwest rail yard in Casper, which was still an active, although not too active, rail yard into my teens.  I can't really recall when they abandoned the line, but it was abandoned.

In putting the building in, and extending the Platte River Parkway through it, the State did a nice job of incorporating some rail features so that there's a memory of what the location had been.

They also put in some historical plaques, which are nice. The curved arch at this location, moreover, is the location of the old turntable.  It was a small one, which I hate to admit that I crossed over when I was a teenager, a dangerous thing to do.

Today In Wyoming's History: U.S. Supreme Court upholds the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act.

Today In Wyoming's History: U.S. Supreme Court upholds the 1978 Indian Child W...: 

U.S. Supreme Court upholds the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act.

The United States Supreme Court, contrary to many expectations, including many in the legislature, upheld today the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act.

Oklahoma County Courthouse, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

This impressive art deco courthouse was built in 1937 and serves Oklahoma County, Oklahoma.  Apparently it was loosely inspired by Mayan temples, which is unusual.

It was a Great Depression works project.

Supreme Court Dobb's Decision Leaker remains a mystery.

The U.S. Supreme Court concluded its investigation of the leak of the draft Dobb's decision with no determination as to who the leaker was.

Be that as it may, like most such events, the furor seems to have passed.

Governor Gordon Orders Flags Be Flown at Half-Staff Statewide Immediately in Honor of Former Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Macy

 

Governor Gordon Orders Flags Be Flown at Half-Staff Statewide Immediately in Honor of Former Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Macy

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Governor Mark Gordon has ordered both the U.S. and State of Wyoming flags to fly at half-staff statewide today, January 4 until sundown on Tuesday, January 10 in honor and memory of Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Richard Macy. Macy served on the Wyoming Supreme Court from 1985 until his retirement in 2000, and served as Chief Justice from 1992 through 1994. 

Both flags should remain at half-staff until sundown on the day interment, Tuesday, January 10.

--END--

---

2022 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary

 2022 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary

Proposed Amendment B to the Wyoming Constitution Defeated.

Courthouses of the West: Vote No on the Proposed Amendment B to the Wyoming...: Let's get political for a second. Oh no, you are likely thinking, isn't this blog dedicated to architecture and the like? Sure, it c...

Apparently, my view was held by a large number of Wyoming voters. This went down in defeat by a fairly significant margin.  Not just failed to meet the threshold, but just was outright defeated. 

Vote No on the Proposed Amendment B to the Wyoming Constitution.

Let's get political for a second.

Oh no, you are likely thinking, isn't this blog dedicated to architecture and the like? Sure, it crosses over into the law itself, from time to time, but . . . 

Well, yes, we're departing from our normal programming to bring you this public service announcement.

And in doing so, I'll note, I'm typing this just a couple of days out of the hospital, too beat up from surgery to go back into the office yet.  

More on that later.

On November 8th when you go to the polls, you will be voting on Constitutional Amendment B, which would increase the mandatory retirement age of Wyoming Supreme Court justices and District Court judges from 70 to 75.  Circuit Court judges are not subject to a mandatory retirement age, oddly.

The Wyoming State Bar doesn't have an official position on it, but it's pretty clear that its unofficial position is vote yes.  The Chief Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court, who can openly come out on such matters, has, and her position is yes.

Vote No.

First, let's look at some material just released by the Wyoming State Bar.

Okay, there you have it.

Now, before we go on, let's note that the average Wyomingite is 38 years old, and that Wyoming is an "old" state.  So, even as a state whose population is routinely analyzed as getting older and older, it's still less than 40 years of age.

Keep that in mind.

So the arguments in favor of raising the judicial retirement age?  Well, as we all know, all Americans live free of bodily defect brought on by age, illness, or decline in mental faculties until they're 102 years old.

Right?

Not hardly.

Back the above reference to the hospital

This was my view for the last week.  It's a view of the mountain, between the parking garage and an administrative building belonging to the hospital.

I took the photo from here.

I'm out now.

I was in as I had a robotic right colectomy.  In other words, I had a large (very large) polyp in my large intestine that had to be removed.  I learned this was there when I went in for a colonoscopy. This was the following surgery.

This turned out to be a bigger deal. . . a much bigger deal, than I wanted to admit it was.  In my mind, I wanted to pretend that it would be in and out, or at least I'd be out by Friday.  Nope.  I did get out on Saturday, but I'm feeling rather beat up, and it's clear that it's going to take several days to get back to normal.

Army with two IV hookups.  I had two, as I was so dehydrated when I came in, they had a very difficult time finding my veins.

I am on the mend now, however.

I ignored the current advice, which is to go in for a scope at age 50.  You really should, and my failure to do so caused me to end up with this, probably. If I hadn't had this, I probably would have died from this right about the same time my father died from something sort of related, if not perfectly related.  So my life has probably been extended by modern medicine, just like the State Bar notes has generally been the case society wide.

So the State Bar is right, right?

Well, only so far as people now "live longer" as things like colon cancer don't go undetected as much as they once did, so people tend not to die of them. We don't even think of death's like that as natural deaths, whereas at one time, we pretty much did. There's a reason, after all, that in the Middle Ages people prayed for "good deaths".  Dying from colon cancer isn't a good death.

But living a "long", by historical standards, life doesn't mean living one free of deterioration of some sort.  It's been often noted that in recent decades the incidents of dementia have been increasing, with seemingly little public understanding that the reason for this is tied directly to longer lives.  Probably the incidents of cirrhosis of the liver have increased markedly since the Middle Ages as well, in spite of the huge amount of alcohol consumed at the time, for the simple fact that if you die when you are 40 years old you aren't likely to die by that means, in spite of your diet, as compared to its impact as you age past that point.  Lavran is well portrayed as aged at the time of his death in Kristin Lavransdatter when he's probably not even 50, or just over it.  Kristin is probably right about 50 when she dies.  The book is a fictional work, of course, but an extraordinarily well researched novel. It catches that earlier era well.

Put another way, by extending the retirement ages of lawyers up, we're guaranteeing that the percentage of them that experience mental decline while in office also goes up.  There's no doubt about it.

We're also guaranteeing that the average age of jurists will incline upwards, and their years on the bench will extend.

I've already noted that the median age in Wyoming is 38 years old.  Anyone in business of any kind knows that the post Baby Boom generations, Gen, X, Gen Y, the Millennials, and Generation Jones, do not have the same views and attitudes that Baby Boomers do.  For some period of time, Boomers expressed some contempt of that fact in regard to younger generations, and in more recent years younger generations have expressed contempt back.  Perhaps missed in all of this is that younger generations have had a much harder time with much more limited resources than the Boomers have, with that generation being the most privileged in American history.  This is not to pit one generation against another, but rather to point out that a person presiding in judgement over another ought to at least have some appreciation of where that younger person is coming from and what their experiences have been.

Indeed, here's where the points made by the Bar's information sheet actually cut the other way.  It notes:

By 2030, 9.5% of the civilian labor force is projected to be older than 65.

Citing for authority, the following:

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Number of people 75 and older in the labor force is expected to grow 96.5 percent by 2030 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/number-of-people-75-and-older-in-the-labor-force-is-expected-to-grow-96-5-percent-by-2030.htm (visited June 06, 2022).

We'd note at first, that's not necessarily a good thing.  That we've now returned to a condition in which the elderly have to keep working isn't a sign of a healthy economic environment, bur rather potentially the opposite. The population of the elderly working increasing society wide may mean they have to, not that they want to.  

And beyond that, these are figures for the US as a whole, not Wyoming in particular.

Be that as it may, even on its face, it means that over 90% of the workforce, is age 65 or younger.

The Bar's sheet also unintentionally pointed out by something additionally cuts the other way:

Mandatory judicial retirement at age 70 has resulted in the loss of many eminently qualified Justices and Judges in Wyoming, including Justice Michael K. Davis, Justice Michael Golden, Judge Timothy Day, and Judge Thomas Sullins to name a few. If the mandatory retirement age were extended, not only could these members of the judiciary continue to meaningfully contribute to the law in Wyoming, longer service would also result in a net savings for the State.

First of all, these individuals were not "lost", they're all still living.   While not mentioned in this list (which must be sort of deflating to them), I can easily think of four retired judges who are now mediators and arbitrators, at least one of whom is heavily called upon in that role. So, rather than losing them, we simply employed them, or they chose to employ themselves, in another role.

Additionally, each one of these jurists had a seat which was not abandoned, but occupied by a younger lawyer.  At least one of the individuals mentioned retired years ago, and his replacement is now long serving.  Why are we suggesting that he's some sort of flop?  That is exactly, however, what this suggests, untrue though it would be.

Additionally, like to say, of course, that we're a nation of laws, not of men, but those laws are filtered through the experiences and eyes of men, no matter how a person might wish to believe it.  The economic concerns, for example, of average Americans in their late 20s in the 2020s, who push marriage off for financial considerations, who have lived with their parents longer than any generation since World War Two, and whose attachment to careers are less stable, as the careers themselves are less stable, are considerably different than those for people who came of age in the 70s, when simply having a college degree meant while collar employment.

Experience, of course, counts, as we often here, but so does over experience.  Staying in a place, including an occupation, too long will bring about some sort of stagnation.  This is true in all things.  Spots coaching, where a sort of rough rule of the jungle applies, provides an interesting example. Like the law, the occupation exist geared toward producing a definitive result, so perhaps it's analogous in more ways than one.

In the NFL, for example, the same being an institution which Americans regard as sacrosanct, the two oldest coaches are 70 years of age, before the ages all drop down to less than 65.  The tenth-oldest coach is only 54.  Only one MLB manager is over 70 years of age.  The oldest NBA coach is 73, but in second position is one that's 65.

Another example might be the military, with it sometimes being noted that some aspects of the law are in fact substitutes for private warfare.  For officers, the most analogous group, the following is provided:

CHAPTER 63—RETIREMENT FOR AGE

Sec.1251.Age 62: regular commissioned officers in grades below general and flag officer grades; exceptions. 

1252.Age 64: permanent professors at academies. 

1253.Age 64: regular commissioned officers in general and flag officer grades; exception. 

1263.Age 62: warrant officers..

62 years of age, with exceptions up to 64.

Finally, we might also wish to note, the cost of passing this amendment is opportunity costs, in terms of lost opportunities, for the profession.  Recent appointees to the bench have been relatively young, often being in their 40s if in their 40s.  These individuals will already occupy these positions for up to three decades, meaning that they will fill them to the exclusion of other, also qualified, individuals.  While some may be great judges, we can never hope for that, and if most judges are adequate judges we are doing well.  What we do know, however, is that some great judges will never get to be that, as their chance will be taken up by the aged.  Lawyers who in their late 40s and early 50s still have a chance of being judges will lose that chance as occupants of the bench stay on, with everyone knowing that no matter how respected a lawyer may be, nobody is going to choose them for a judicial position after they are in their late 50s.

The one and only reason, therefore, to pass this amendment is the cost savings one noted by the State Bar, but that's a bad reason.  It reduces this, like so many other things in American life, to dollars and cents to serve economic interests alone.  The logical extension of it is simply to discourage retirement in general, something the larger American society in fact already does.

Vote no on Amendment B.

Laramie, Albany County, Wyoming. First "Woman Jury" Memorial.

Memorial, MKTH photograph.

Accurate information on this event is actually fairly difficult to find.   The trial was the First Degree Murder trial of Andrew W. Howie.  The prosecutor, Albany County Attorney Stephen Downey, had only been in that role for a few months and objected to the women being seated as jurors, but was overruled by the Court, which held that as women had been granted the franchise in Wyoming, they also had the right to sit in juries.  Downey's objection was based on social convention, rather than the law.

Contrary to the way it is sometimes recounted, the jury was not all female, but half male and half female, with six women jurors.  It returned a verdict finding Mr. Howie guilty of manslaughter, which must have been included as a lessor offense in the charges.  The trial convinced Downey who in turn became a champion of women's suffrage.

This memorial is not at the Albany County Courthouse, but at the downtown railroad park.  Judicial proceedings in Laramie were originally held in a store at that location.

(Photo and reasearch by MKTH).

2022 United States Supreme Court Watch

This June/July promises to be one in which a whole boatload of major rulings are set to be handed down.

Given that, while we've never had a trailing thread of any kind here before, we're going to track a few of the bigger ones this year.

June 23, 2022

The first of the claims that will be big and controversial.

In 6-3 ruling, court strikes down New York’s concealed-carry law

Here's the text:

New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

Note, this opinion, combined with the descent, is of epic length.

I haven't reviewed this fully, but apparently what it holds is that a state can't require a party wishing to carry concealed, or just to carry, to prove a particular need to do so.

June 24, 2022

The Court overruled Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Clinic.

The decision was, quite frankly, way overdue.

June 27, 2022

From last week, the Court held that you cannot sue for Miranda rights violations in Vega v. Tekoh.

This has no criminal law implications.

In Kennedy v. Bremmerton School District, the Court ruled that a coach praying on the football field after games was not a violation of the Establishment Clause.

June 30, 2022

Justices reinstate Louisiana voting map that is being challenged under Voting Rights Act

Supreme Court curtails EPA’s authority to fight climate change

Divided court allows Biden to end Trump’s “remain in Mexico” asylum policy

Denver County Courthouse, Denver Colorado.

This is the Denver County Courthouse, which houses the district, county and city courts in Denver, Colorado.

 

The downtown courthouse was built in 1902 and is a very impressive structure.  

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Confirmed by Senate

I should have noted this when it occurred, but it seemed sort of anticlimactic at the time and there was a lot going on, so I failed to note it. 

Also, I don't have a good picture to put up as, unusually, Justice Jackson lacks a public domain photo that I can find, in spite of being an appellate court judge prior to being confirmed for the U.S. Supreme Court.

As widely noted, the confirmation is historic as she's the first African American woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.  It's presumed that she's liberal to moderately liberal in her judicial views.  Her confirmation hearings turned out to be oddly contentious on odd issues, unfairly focusing on her role as a public defender, whose job after all is to defend the accused, and on sentencing as a district court judge that largely matches the Federal norm.  Indeed, the hearings focused attention on how political such appointments now are, in the view of Senators, something we'll presumably live with for a long time.

Courthouses of the West: Jackson Hearing Concludes.

Since this post from this morning:

Jackson Hearing Concludes.

Courthouses of the West: News of the Supreme Court. Day three of the Jacks...:   The Jackson hearings: Key moments from Day 3 and Court remains silent on Thomas’ condition after he entered the hospital last week I have ...

These hearings are now concluded, and Judge Jackson will be confirmed.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated that he would not vote to confirm Judge Jackson. Republican votes are not needed for this, due to the removal of the filibuster provisions for Supreme Court nominations back during the last period in which the Democrats controlled the Senate, so barring something spectacularly bizarre, confirmation is assured.

I'll confess that, as previously noted, unlike the norm, I never got into the confirmation hearings.  Usually I do in fact follow them, but I just didn't.  I picked up bits and pieces of the news on them, including Ted Cruz reading from a children's book, and a question on if the Judge could define what a woman is, but as the news all came out of context, I frankly haven't paid much attention to it.

Senator Manchin has announced that he is supporting Judge Jackson.  This means that she shall be joining the Court.

Jackson Hearing Concludes.

Courthouses of the West: News of the Supreme Court. Day three of the Jacks...:   The Jackson hearings: Key moments from Day 3 and Court remains silent on Thomas’ condition after he entered the hospital last week I have ...

These hearings are now concluded, and Judge Jackson will be confirmed.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated that he would not vote to confirm Judge Jackson. Republican votes are not needed for this, due to the removal of the filibuster provisions for Supreme Court nominations back during the last period in which the Democrats controlled the Senate, so barring something spectacularly bizarre, confirmation is assured.

I'll confess that, as previously noted, unlike the norm, I never got into the confirmation hearings.  Usually I do in fact follow them, but I just didn't.  I picked up bits and pieces of the news on them, including Ted Cruz reading from a children's book, and a question on if the Judge could define what a woman is, but as the news all came out of context, I frankly haven't paid much attention to it.

News of the Supreme Court. Day three of the Jackson Hearings and Silence on Justice Thomas

 The Jackson hearings: Key moments from Day 3

and

Court remains silent on Thomas’ condition after he entered the hospital last week

I have to admit that for some reason I've found myself oddly disinterested in these stories.  I have no idea why, but I haven't really been following either, when normally I would.

Not be grim, but given the second story, both have the chance to become momentous events.

Lex Anteinternet: Biden Nominates Kentaji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court

Lex Anteinternet: Biden Nominates Kentaji Brown Jackson to the Unite...:   

Biden Nominates Kentaji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court

 

Jackson with Justice Breyer, whom she is nominated to replace.

She's no doubt qualified and is a sitting DC Circuit Federal Appeals Court Judge, but I'll admit I'm disappointed.  Jackson is a Harvard Law graduate, making the Ivy League grip on the court seemingly irreversible.  She's also married to another Harvard graduate, a surgeon, who is of the Boston Brahmin class.

I was hoping for a less Ivy League nominee

She's likely to pass, however, the Senate Judiciary Committee and receive enough votes to be seated, an important consideration for any nominee is this highly polarized era.

Justice Stephen Breyer To Retire.

Just when you thought the news wasn't tense enough. . . Russians looming over Ukraine. . . PRC looming over Taiwan. . . the mid term election. . . a baseball lockout. . . 

Justice Stephen Breyer decides to retire.

Uff.

Well, off to a titanic nomination spat with a 50/50 divided Senate.

The filibuster, however, won't apply, so the Democrats, assuming they can all agree on the replacement nominee, will get somebody in.  They key will be satisfying the moderate Democrats, although they are few in number.

Breyer, a 1964 Harvard law graduate, was appointed to the Court by Bill Clinton in 1994.  He was principally a government attorney early in his career before becoming a Harvard professor in 1967, although he took time out from that pursuit to engage in government service from time to time, including serving as a Watergate prosecutor.  He was an expert on administrative law.  He went on the bench in 1980.

Breyer had one of those legal careers that's both enviable and deceptive.  Undoubtedly highly intelligent, he actually practiced real law very little, spending no time whatsoever in private practice and the most of his career in academia or on the bench.  Of some slight interest, in his early legal career, 1964 and 1965, he was completing eight years in the Army Reserve, from which he left as a corporal.

Beyer, who is 83, has been under enormous pressure to retire due to Democratic fears that if he does not do so prior to the November election and should then pass away, certain a possibility at his advanced age, his replacement would not get through a Republican Senate or would be nominated by a Republican President.