Yesterday, the Supreme Court stingily offered up a few more decisions. They were nearly all good news. Axios ran an unexpectedly insightful headline yesterday afternoon: “
SCOTUS pushes Trump immunity decision to after Biden debate.” That might be the best guess so far as to why the Supreme Court is still holding its big cases. They didn’t want to affect the debate. Now, the Justices are probably thinking they should have just gone for it.
What we did get though was more incremental progress. In a very encouraging sign, the Associated Press ran a story headlined, “
The Supreme Court strips the SEC of a critical enforcement tool in fraud cases.” The Supremes issued their opinion in the
Jarkezy case. In a 6-3 vote, the Court held that people accused of fraud by the SEC have a Constitutional right to a jury trial in federal court, as opposed to the in-house proceedings the SEC likes to use in civil fraud complaints.
Jarkesy’s lawyers noted that the SEC wins
almost all the cases it brings in front of its own administrative law judges, but it only wins around half (60%) of the cases it tries in federal court before juries.
The opinion included some pretty solid quotes. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, holding that “A defendant facing a fraud suit has the right to be tried by a jury of his peers before a neutral adjudicator.” But scunnered Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who spitefully read her dissent aloud in the courtroom, complaining that people “who seek to dismantle the administrative state” would surely ‘rejoice’ in the majority’s decision.
That includes me! Dismantle the Administrative State! Do it now! The decision isn’t limited to the SEC. It effectively cut off
all Executive Branch agencies from convicting Americans without due process. Speaking of the Administrative State, closely synonymous for ‘the Deep State,’ we still await the Court’s
Chevron adjustment in the
Loper-Bright case. Yesterday’s decision was a terrific signal that the Administrative State may be about to meet the judicial weed-whacker.
Next up, NPR ran another encouraging story on a lower-profile but still important case, headlined “
Supreme Court rejects controversial Purdue Pharma bankruptcy deal.” In a mixed 5-4 decision, the Court said the Sackler family members, who own the criminal pharmaceutical giant, are
not entitled to civil and criminal releases as part of the Purdue opioid settlement.
Finally, the Supreme Court popped up again yesterday in a New York Times story with
another encouraging headline: “
Supreme Court Blocks Biden Plan on Air Pollution.” In another 5-4 vote, the Court upheld an injunction against the EPA’s “Good Neighbor” rules, which seek to regulate power plants whose ozone emissions could conceivably drift across state lines, subjecting them to federal regulation. It was another chop at the Administrative State’s thick trunk.
Today is the last scheduled day for Supreme Court orders, with
eight big decisions still pending, including the Chevron decision, a controversial January 6th prosecution case, and the history-making Trump Immunity Decision. The Supremes added another order day for Monday, and who knows, they might add even more days. This is the longest and latest Supreme Court session in history.
The Court is running out of less-controversial orders. So we are likely to see more 2024-style history made today. So stay tuned.
Debate blowout turns presidential politics upside down; more Supreme Court decisions to discuss; Zelensky calls for peace for the first time; fishy cancer remedy; another great DEI victory; more.
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