SCOTUS Hears Holocaust Cases | Senate Republicans Push For Religious School Exemptions From COVID-19 Orders
December 7, 2020
JUSTICE WITHOUT BORDERS
| “The Supreme Court on Monday will delve into atrocities committed during World War II and hear two cases brought by victims and their family members who are seeking compensation for property they say was stolen from them during the Holocaust. The justices will ultimately decide whether the cases against Germany and Hungary can proceed in US courts. The court’s decision could open the door to the possibility of similar lawsuits against foreign countries but also raises difficult questions about entangling the judiciary in matters concerning sensitive foreign policy questions.” Ariane de Vogue with CNN reports that at issue is a federal law that allows suits against a foreign government when a property is taken in violation of international law.
THE GREATEST ART THEFT OF ALL TIME
|David Savage with the Los Angeles Times also reports on today’s Holocaust cases and describes the case involving Germany. He writes, “Two years after Adolf Hitler took power in Germany, the Nazis achieved one of their cultural goals: the return of the Guelph Treasure, a collection of medieval Christian relics. Under pressure from Hitler’s deputy Hermann Goering, a consortium of Jewish art dealers agreed to sell the collection to the Prussian State Museum. On June 14, 1935, Saemy Rosenberg signed the sale documents in Berlin on behalf of his partners, receiving about one-third of what they had paid for the items in 1929. On Monday, the Supreme Court will consider whether Rosenberg’s grandson and heirs to two other art dealers can sue Germany and its state museum to recover the treasure or obtain compensation for the loss.”
MAYBE MOOT
|The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether the Trump administration can impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients. Adam Liptak with The New York Times reports the issue could become moot if PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN eliminates the requirements. The case will be heard early next year.
WHERE DO RULES APPLY
|Jess Bravin with The Wall Street Journal covers the news of Senate Republicans urging SCOTUS on Friday that religious schools should be exempt from public health orders relating to the pandemic. SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL filed a brief joined by more than thirty GOP senators arguing a Kentucky religious school be exempt from the governor’s executive order halting in-person instruction in the state.
SCOTUS VIEWS
‘This Must Be Your First’
The Atlantic“Trump has been broadly acknowledged as ‘norm shattering’ and some have argued that this is just more of his usual bluster, while others have pointed out terminological issues with calling his endeavors a coup. Coup may not quite capture what we’re witnessing in the United States right now, but there’s also a danger here: Punditry can tend to focus too much on decorum and terminology, like the overachieving students so many of us once were, conflating the ridiculous with the unserious. The incoherence and the incompetence of the attempt do not change its nature, however, nor do those traits allow us to dismiss it or ignore it until it finally fails on account of its incompetence.”
The Other Arizona Election Challenge
The Wall Street Journal“The outcome of the presidential race isn’t the only election result being contested in Arizona, and the other has even greater consequences for the law. Last week two lawsuits were filed against Proposition 208, the ballot initiative that imposes a new 3.5% tax surcharge to raise an estimated $827 million for education. It passed with 51.7% of the vote.”