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mjsdc.bsky.social
Senior writer at Slate covering courts and the law. Dad to one toddler and several other animals.
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In addition to probably being correct on the merits, yesterday’s sweeping decision against Trump’s tariffs gives the Supreme Court’s conservative a great reason to save the economy from the president’s worst impulses—which they’re clearly eager to do already. slate.com/news-and-pol...

submitted 8 hours ago • 5 comments

The Supreme Court's first AND ONLY decision is in Seven County Infrastructure v. Eagle County. Per Kavanaugh, the court clears the way for construction of a railroad to carry oil in the Uinta Basin. The three liberals concur in judgment only. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

submitted 13 hours ago • 9 comments

NEW: Three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade rules that Congress did not delegate to Trump unbounded authority to set tariffs. The challenged tariff orders are enjoined. cit.uscourts.gov/sites/cit/fi...

submitted 1 day ago • 12 comments

Going on @weeknightmsnbc.bsky.social in about an hour to talk about Trump's anti-constitutional and venal abuse of the presidency for profit

submitted 1 day ago • 5 comments

This seat is open because asshole Democrats in the Senate wouldn’t confirm Biden’s pick for the 3rd Circuit because Biden’s pick was Muslim and did pro bono work for Muslim clients.

submitted 1 day ago • 99 comments

This man, Judd Stone, has argued some of Texas' most evil cases in front of the Supreme Court. He defended the state's abortion bounty hunter law, sought to dismantle tribal sovereignty, and repeatedly asserted Texas' right to seize control over the southern border and immigration policy from Biden.

submitted 1 day ago • 98 comments

Boston people: This Friday at 10 a.m., I'll be talking about the Supreme Court's disastrous embrace of a monarchical presidency—and Trump's inevitable abuse of his extreme new powers—with @jedshug.bsky.social at the WBUR Festival! You can buy tickets here: www.wburfestival.org

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

A great thread that may help explain why the three liberals didn't join with Gorsuch and Thomas. This case was NOT litigated by the tribe itself, but by the Becket Fund—a conservative group that regularly argues for Christian supremacy and clearly saw this dispute as a vehicle for its broader aims.

submitted 2 days ago • 7 comments

The Supreme Court takes up one new case for next term, a messy dispute over the scope of the First Step Act. I am cautiously optimistic that the court will read the statute broadly here. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

This is some classic Clarence Thomas B.S. He reiterates his belief that kids have no First Amendment rights at school—but says the court should extend free speech rights to a kid who wants to wear anti-LGBTQ shirts in the classroom. You can't have it both ways! www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

submitted 2 days ago • 15 comments

The Supreme Court refuses to consider whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act bars the government from destroying a sacred Western Apache site by turning it into a copper mine. Gorsuch, joined by Thomas, has an incandescently angry dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

submitted 2 days ago • 43 comments

John Roberts' atrocious opinion inventing criminal immunity for presidents paved Trump's path to a second term. Now Trump has embraced Roberts' dark vision of the presidency as corrupt, self-serving, and all-powerful—and it threatens to render the Supreme Court irrelevant. slate.com/news-and-pol...

submitted 2 days ago • 20 comments

There are many good reasons to shift control over U.S. marshals to the judiciary. A big one: There’s no way Trump’s DOJ will also marshals to enforce contempt orders against administration officials, so the threat of criminal contempt is largely empty. We should fix that! www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

submitted 4 days ago • 14 comments

A deep dive into the awful provision that House Republicans smuggled into their reconciliation bill to prevent federal courts from enforcing their orders against the Trump administration, with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social: slate.com/news-and-pol...

submitted 5 days ago • 23 comments

Glad to see this—Paul Weiss deserves to go extinct after its cowardly capitulation to Trump. Every partner and associate with any integrity should flee ASAP. The firm is irredeemable. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/b...

submitted 6 days ago • 17 comments

Pleased to see an opinion by JUSTICE Riggs after spending months worried her seat would be stolen from her. Displeased that it’s a dissent from a decision—by the justices who tried to overturn her victory—letting Republicans take over the state election board. appellate.nccourts.org/orders.php?t...

submitted 6 days ago • 3 comments

The NC Supreme Court—in an opinion released at 4:30 on a holiday weekend—affirms the Court of Appeals ruling that gives the GOP control of NC elections. It's 5-2 party-line decision, with Earls dissenting. appellate.nccourts.org/orders.php?t... #ncpol

submitted 6 days ago • 33 comments

You can tell this is gonna be a good one from the very start storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

submitted 6 days ago • 6 comments

NEW: Chief Justice Roberts temporarily halts an order compelling the government to turn over key DOGE documents under FOIA. The pause will last until the full court takes action.

submitted 6 days ago • 33 comments

The Supreme Court keeps letting Trump break the law because he's doing it in a way that aligns with the conservative majority's own agenda. I think the justices will regret this approach when they tell Trump to stop doing something they don't like and he says "make me." slate.com/news-and-pol...

submitted 6 days ago • 17 comments

This is my first time seeing someone fundamentally misunderstood an article I wrote then send a screenshot of AI slop to prove I'm wrong. I fear it will not be the last.

submitted 6 days ago • 12 comments

This bespoke exception for the Fed is one of the most brazenly made-up things I've ever seen the Supreme Court do (which is saying something). There is no principled basis to distinguish the Fed from other independent agencies. The conservative justices just don't want Trump to crash the market!

submitted 7 days ago • 180 comments

I don’t mean to be a caricature, but this just isn’t law. The Supreme Court is always making policy. But this is beyond. “This dicta in an emergency order will reassure the markets but just uh trust us on the law here ok no we’re not overruling Humphrey’s yet and when we do we’ll spare the fed.”

submitted 7 days ago • 60 comments

BREAKING: The Supreme Court just effectively overruled 90 years of precedent on the shadow docket, greenlighting Trump's firing of multi-member agency leaders while their cases are pending—despite Congress' effort to protect them against removal. A huge decision. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

submitted 7 days ago • 117 comments

Today the Supreme Court came one vote away from launching a frontal assault on secular public education in the name of religious freedom. The facts of this case remain completely crazy to me. slate.com/news-and-pol...

submitted 7 days ago • 6 comments

House Republicans smuggled this👇attack on the federal judiciary into their reconciliation bill. Courts rarely require plaintiffs to post security, so this provision, if passed into law, would render a vast number of existing judgments—including Boasberg's contempt order—effectively unenforceable.

submitted 7 days ago • 68 comments

I am distressed by how many people do not understand what Senate Republicans did last night. It's true, of course, that the Congressional Review Act isn't subject to the filibuster. But *California's emission waivers are not subject to the Congressional Review Act*! slate.com/news-and-pol...

submitted 7 days ago • 18 comments