Category Archives: Supreme Court

Don’t Count on the Gorsuch and Thomas Votes in Future Voting Cases; Expect Them to Side Against Voting Rights Litigants

legislation and legislatures, Supreme Court, Voting Rights Act
In today’s Moore decision, Justices Thomas and Gorsuch rejected the majority approach to the independent state legislature theory, believing instead that state legislatures have almost plenary power and cannot be limited even by state courts applying state constitutions. (Justice Alito… Continue reading

Separating Spin from Reality in the Supreme Court’s Moore v. Harper Case: What Does It Really Mean for American Democracy and What Does It Say About the Supreme Court?

legislation and legislatures, Supreme Court
There’s a whole lot of spin out there about the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Moore v. Harper concerning the scope of the “independent state legislature” theory. To hear some progressives tell it, the ISLT theory is dead and democracy … Continue reading

Breaking: Supreme Court Decides Moore v. Harper, Rejecting Maximalist Version of Independent State Legislature Theory But Giving Federal Courts a Chance to Second Guess Some State Rulings as “Transgressing the Ordinary Bounds of Judicial Review”

legislation and legislatures, Supreme Court
[This post has been updated.] You can find the ruling at this link. The United States Supreme Court, on a 6-3 vote, has adopted a compromise position on the meaning of the independent state legislature theory. The position of the… Continue reading

About That Black’s Law Dictionary Definition of Facilities Cited by Justice Alito in His WSJ Defense of Not Reporting the Free Ride on the Private Plane of a Billionaire Litigant…

conflict of interest laws, legislation and legislatures, statutory interpretation, Supreme Court
In my earlier post on Justice Alito’s laughable defense that he did not have to report the free ride on the private plane because it was “hospitality … on …facilities” owned by a person, I noted that one of the… Continue reading

Justice Alito’s Bad Textualism Extends to His Mangling of Words to Justify Not Reporting a Seat on a Private Jet Paid for by a Billionaire Litigant

conflict of interest laws, ethics investigations, statutory interpretation, Supreme Court
Years ago in conversation with an originalist and textualist, the person I was speaking to defended originalism and textualism as constraining judges. The counterexample on the right was Justice Alito voting his values. The idea is that if all judges… Continue reading