SCOTUS WEIGHS IN ON DUAL SOVEREIGNTY, RACIAL GERRYMANDERING, AND URANIUM MINING CASES | No More Cake For Now | RBG Had Herself A Saturday Night Out
June 17, 2019
DOUBLE THE TROUBLE
|The Supreme Court today upheld the ability of federal and state governments to prosecute defendants twice for the same crime. Ruling 7-2, the justices kept in place the longstanding legal principle known as dual sovereignty, which lets state governments bring their own charges against defendants who have already been tried or convicted at the federal level. It’s a form of double jeopardy that would impact ongoing litigation regarding PRESIDENT TRUMP’S former campaign chairman, PAUL MANAFORT. The outcome of today’s case indicates that even if Trump pardons Manafort, he could still face state prosecution for the same crimes.
UPENDING THE SYSTEM
|In his concurring opinion in the double jeopardy case, JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS said he thinks SCOTUS should revisit its use of “stare decisis” because it “elevates demonstrably erroneous decisions—meaning decisions outside the realm of permissible interpretation—over the text of the Constitution and other duly enacted federal law.” The way he sees it, the court is overstepping when it enforces past rulings to establish new law. Jacqueline Thomsen with The Hill reports.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
|Also today, SCOTUS dismissed a Republican-led challenge to a lower court finding that some of Virginia’s legislative districts were racially gerrymandered. In what’s being called a major victory for Democrats, the Supreme Court’s dismissal means court-ordered maps that favor Democrats will continue to be used in the state. This will have an immediate impact on the fall legislative elections at a time in which Virginia continues to become more and more progressive. JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG wrote the decision and was joined by CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS and JUSTICE KAVANAUGH.
NOT NOW, NOT EVA
|Speaking of Virginia, the justices ruled 6-3 today to uphold the state’s ban on uranium mining, concluding that federal law does not preempt Virginia’s decades-old ban on the practice. JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH wrote for the court, “Congress conspicuously chose to leave untouched the states’ historic authority over the regulation of mining activities on private lands within their borders. It is our duty to respect not only what Congress wrote but, as importantly, what it didn’t write.” Gorsuch was joined by JUSTICES THOMAS and KAVANAUGH in the majority, as well as the three women of the court.
ENOUGH WITH THE CAKE
|Turns out, the Supreme Court has had its fill of cake cases. The high court today declined to take up an appeal from the owners of an Oregon bakery who were fined for refusing to create a wedding cake for a gay couple. Justices returned the appeal to lower courts “for further consideration” in light of the SCOTUS decision last year regarding the famous cake case out of Colorado. This outcome still leaves in question the larger concern of whether businesses can discriminate against same-sex couples on religious grounds. Something for SCOTUS to solve on another day, it seems.
OUT AND ABOUT
|Saturday night JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG was spotted in the audience of Broadway’s “What the Constitution Means to Me” show — and apparently, the crowd went wild. Reports on Twitter noted she was greeted by a cheering crowd as she left the theater and Ginsburg got a standing ovation when her famous line about women on the Supreme Court was said by a cast member: “When will there be enough women on the court? My answer is, when there are nine.”