Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan took over several of the written writings for the Court's liberal this last term. Above, Kagan testifies to the court's budget on Capitol Hill.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Supreme Court Justice Kagan took over several of the writings written for the court's liberal this last term. Above, Kagan testifies to the court's budget on Capitol Hill.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
This past term, the Supreme Court decided on cases dealing with thorny issues such as a citizenship issue of American census, political renunciation, and separation of church and state.
Here are six takeaways from what happened, including a look forward to what comes next term:
1. Chief Justice John Roberts is now swing vote.
Finally, Roberts has a conservative majority of five right to march the Supreme Court to the right. But it is sometimes at war with its desire to protect the institutional integrity of the court and its non-partisan image.
Indeed, Roberts rarely differs from conservative positions. But when he does, it's a big difference. All of this played out in the last two decisions of the term. Both are written by Roberts, but in one, he sits with the Conservative Court and on the other with the Liberals of the Court.
In the extreme partisan gerrymandering case, Roberts, who joined Conservatives, pleaded for the idea that the courts should intervene in extreme cases to prevent politicians in drawing legislative areas to anchor their own political power. Until this year, Roberts did not have a fifth vote to reach that conclusion because Justice Anthony Kennedy was open to courts polishing a practice he saw as a threat to democratic rule. But with Kennedy's retirement and the appointment of the far more conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh raised the court right on this issue, with Roberts leading the charge.
He used more polite press and called the statement "constructed" and say that the proof "does not match" the explanation of Trade Minister Wilbur Ross, overseeing the census agency. But he concluded that if the court were to accept this explanation, the court review of the agency's decision-making would be "an empty ritual."
2. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh take different paths.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh (left) and Neil Gorsuch attend the Presidential Freedom Ceremony in the White House last year.
Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images
hide caption
shift texts
Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh (left) and Neil Gorsuch attend the Presidential Freedom Ceremony in the White House last year.
Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images
Trump-appointed Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have both proven reliable conservatives in the biggest and most controversial cases. But they have often separated themselves in other cases. In fact, in 19 cases, nearly a third of them decided this term, they split their voices. In two 5-4 criminal judgments, Gorsuch joined the four liberals of the court to obtain a majority.
I United States v. Davis, Gorsuch wrote the decision for himself and the liberal righteous, as for vaguely a statute, imposing a mandatory and long prison period for anyone carrying firearms in connection with certain federal crimes which the law did not specify which crimes bear this extra and serious punishment.
Gorsuch opened the statement: "In our constitutional order, a vague law is not at all law" because ordinary people have no way of telling "what consequences will attach to their behavior." By contrast, Kavanaugh wrote the dissimilar opinion with a litany of statistics on violence.
Gorsuch also came to the Court's liberal in two cases involving the rights of Native Americans. He is the only Western on the field and has begun to gather a record more sympathetic to Indian rights than any other justice for decades.
3. Thomas remained the court's most conservative justice.
Justice Clarence Thomas constitutes for the official group image in the Supreme Court last year.
Almond Ngan / AFP / Getty Images
hide caption
change caption
Almond Ngan / AFP / Getty Images
Justice Clarence Thomas represents for the official group photo in the Supreme Court last year.
Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images
In the last few weeks of the trial alone, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote concurrent or dissenting statements requiring a re-assessment of the court's abortion decisions and linked planned maternity to eugenics; he reiterated his view that the separation of church and state from the first amendment does not apply to states; And in a case where a black man tried six times by the same accuser, Thomas, the only African American member of the court, claimed that racial discrimination in jury elections should be immune from judicial control.
In all, he wrote a total of 20 coinciding or deviant opinions, more than any other justice. Gorsuch was second with 14.
4. Ginsburg continued to be a workhorse.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg looked better and better as the concept went on. She underwent surgery to remove a cancerous lesion on her lung in December. After her return, she seemed to do something about her weight. At one point in January, she had written more opinions than any other member of the court.
5. Release of the liberal torch to Kagan?
The 86-year-old Ginsburg seemed to hand over the liberal torch to Justice Elena Kagan, awarding her important majority and dissenting opinions. As a senior justice, Ginsburg assigns statements when the supreme justice, which usually assigns opinions, is not in the majority and she is. Her decision-making tasks seemed both strategic and generous – she gave important writing tasks, not only to Kagan, but to both Trump nominees, as they gave decisive votes in tightly-divided cases.
Kagan perhaps wrote the most unhappy disagreement for the Liberals in the Partisan gerrymandering case. In the two cases of extreme partisan gerrymandering before the court, she said the politicians "beat democracy". Her voice trembled in an oral disagreement from the bench, she added: "To always give up the duty of the court" to correct constitutional disadvantages that are contrary to our government system, "it was not this".
6. Keep an eye on the next term.
This term was tame compared to what is on the horizon next term. Already on the dock, there are cases that test gun rights, parish schools help, discrimination against homosexual and transgender workers, and the Trump administration's attempt to abolish deportation protection for DREAMers, as well as a case involving the Affordable Care Act and probably an abortion case .
Buckle up. It's going to be a wild ride.
Source link
