Supreme Court Relists Explained | Amicus Pod Reviews Lessons From Korematsu Decision

January 5, 2021

Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson with Bloomberg Law reports on “the relist” — the practice, she explains, “meant to give justices and their clerks a chance to check for procedural obstacles that could prevent them from ruling on the issue they ultimately want to address.” She adds, “With the first set of relists for 2021 coming up for consideration, Bloomberg Law has put together a primer on this relatively recent addition to the high court’s list of opaque practices.”

Yesterday, a federal appeals court appeared likely to overturn some of California’s coronavirus restrictions on places of worship. The online hearing follows the Supreme Court’s decision siding with churches in New York over health restrictions put into place by public officials there. Maura Dolan with the Los Angeles Times writes, “A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals grappled with the constitutionality of GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM’S pandemic restrictions on places of worship. Pasadena-based Harvest Rock Church asked the court to block restrictions on indoor worship following a federal judge’s refusal to do so last month. Although the panel did not issue a ruling Monday, the tenor of the questioning suggested it might reverse its previous decision upholding the constitutionality of the California restrictions.”

On a recent episode of Amicus, the Slate podcast hosted by Dahlia Lithwick, she’s joined by JUDGE EDWARD M. CHEN and DON TAMAKI to discuss Korematsu v. United States — the case in which SCOTUS said the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was justified. Tamaki said in the interview, “The lessons of the Japanese American incarceration, of course, focus on people losing their freedom and their property. But ultimately, I think what we’re talking about is what is this culture, and you mentioned racism being a part of the founding of American history. And we’re really talking about a culture that normalizes behavior. One of the great contributions of the Black Lives Matter movement is to shine a light on not just police brutality but systemic racism. And with one police shooting after another of young black men, it would barely evoke a shrug until the George Floyd killing. Why? Because it was normal. And again, the Korematsu case, when that happened, rounding up of these Americans was completely normal.”

Perry Cooper with Bloomberg Law reports on a patent owner hoping justices will take up a dispute with Nike and Adidas. The patent owner wants SCOTUS to resolve an internal conflict among Federal Circuit decisions about the proper standard for interpreting key patent terms.