SCOTUS Dismisses Case Over Trump’s “Public Charge” Rule | Why Justices Should Have To Show Their Work
March 10, 2021
IT'S ALL OVER NOW
|Yesterday, the Supreme Court dismissed a case regarding the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule which makes it harder for immigrants to obtain legal status if they use certain public benefits such as food stamps or Medicaid. SCOTUS had agreed to hear challenges to the rule, but ACTING SOLICITOR GENERAL ELIZABETH PRELOGAR told justices in a brief letter to the court that the administration and challengers of the rule had agreed the challenge should be dismissed.
UP IN SMOKE
|“On Tuesday, all of the parties to Department of Homeland Security v. New York, a lawsuit challenging a Trump-era policy targeting low-income immigrants, asked the Supreme Court to dismiss that case. The court swiftly granted that request, removing from consideration one of the most contentious cases that the justices planned to hear this year. This is the third time in just over a month that a major immigration case went up in smoke.” Ian Millhiser with Vox reviews the Biden administration’s impact on pending litigation over Trump’s immigration policy agenda. What was once expected to be a major showdown at SCOTUS over controversial Trump-era immigration rules, seems to have ended “with a whimper.”
PUSH IT, PUSH IT, TO THE LIMIT
|Tuesday, Arkansas GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON signed into law one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country. The near-total abortion ban only allows the procedure to save the life of the mother and does not provide exceptions for those impregnated in an act of rape or incest. This year, legislators in at least 14 states — now including Arkansas — have proposed outright abortion bans. Supporters of the new Arkansas law hope it will force the newly 6-3 conservative Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade.
SCOTUS VIEWS
Sheldon Whitehouse vs. The Supreme Court
The Wall Street Journal“Sheldon Whitehouse is at it again. The Senator who threatened the Supreme Court with retribution over a gun-rights case in 2019 is now threatening Congressional action if the justices don’t follow his orders on how they conduct judicial business. On Wednesday the Rhode Island Democrat will hold a Judiciary Committee hearing on ‘What’s Wrong with the Supreme Court: The Big-Money Assault on Our Judiciary.’ Subtlety is not Sheldon’s specialty. The hearing is intended to advance his Amicus Act that would force the court to change its rules on amicus briefs, which the justices invite to inform them on the law and facts on cases.”
The Supreme Court Needs To Show Its Work
The Atlantic“A little after 8 p.m. eastern time on Friday, February 26—a time when people were logging off for the weekend, parents were putting kids to bed, and the last thing on anyone’s mind was the Supreme Court—the justices issued their latest in a series of controversial orders blocking local and state restrictions on indoor religious services. Like most of the Court’s prior actions in COVID-19 cases, the order in Gateway City Church v. Newsom was unsigned, unscheduled, and (mostly) unexplained.”
OTHER NEWS
Biden Administration Backs Pipeline In Supreme Court Land Dispute
The Hill“The Biden administration is siding with a pipeline company in a dispute over whether it can seize land from the state of New Jersey in order to complete construction. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case last month after a lower court ruled against the use of eminent domain to acquire land for the PennEast gas pipeline. In a brief in support of PennEast’s position, the Justice Department argued that states aren’t exempt from a law allowing permit holders from taking necessary property for infrastructure projects that were approved by federal regulators.”