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The justices are already grappling with other high-profile cases that will shape the future of free speech online, the powers of federal agencies and access to the most widely used abortion drug. Additionally, there are two other lawsuits that have significant legal and political implications for Trump.
Then came the High Court Time was running out, with significant delays in issuing judgments on cases heard since the start of his term in October. The court has announced only five decisions, and 92% of the pending cases are expected to be formally resolved by the end of its term in late June or early July.
Steve Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor who closely tracks the justices’ activities in a weekly newsletter, said the fallout from recent landmark decisions and the unprecedented circumstances of a major president have pushed the nation’s highest court to a tipping point. He said that it has reached. candidates facing criminal charges; Emergency applications continue to pour in, and Congress remains deadlocked over the key issues of the day.
“The Supreme Court is being pulled in more directions than it should, and is in the middle of nearly every important public policy, political, and cultural debate of our time,” Vladek said. “This is not a play for sympathy on the part of the justices, but a genuine concern that the courts are not well placed to handle this onslaught of high-stakes, politically charged cases.”
Analysts said some of the buildup was self-inflicted, with key issues from past terms, such as abortion and gun rights, resurfacing. In the early weeks of their term, the justices were likely responding to controversy over lavish trips and gifts that some justices had received from billionaire friends, and questions about the contents of the high court’s decision announced in November. appears to have been distracted by efforts to publish its first code of conduct. Decided to refuse.
And while judges are accepting fewer cases overall, the cases they are spending their time on are complex. Courts have also been flooded with urgent requests known as “shadow cases,” contributing to the sense that judges are at the center of every major political issue.
“There are more demands and more controversial issues,” said Washington lawyer Carter G. Phillips, a veteran Supreme Court lawyer.Parties compete because judges often signal a willingness to intervene earlier in issues that have traditionally been resolved first by lower courts. “I feel comfortable coming to the courthouse for help on a daily basis.”
For example, the same week in April that the court will take up President Trump’s immunity claim, the justices are scheduled to consider a challenge to Idaho’s abortion law, which the Biden administration has warned will require even strict bans. They argue that it violates federal law that requires emergency medical treatment, including abortion, even in states where the procedure is open. The case was added to the calendar in response to an emergency request in January, before the Court of Appeals could rule on the matter.
Also in January, justices intervened in an immigration dispute between the Biden administration and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) over razor wire that Texas officials installed along a busy stretch of the southern border. Separately, the court could at any time respond to another urgent request from Idaho to clear the way for the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
All of this is happening due to long delays in issuing court opinions. Whether South Carolina will restore congressional maps drawn by a Republican-majority legislature that a lower court found to have “displaced” 30,000 black voters to create safer districts for white Republican incumbents. is still awaiting trial. The state had asked for answers by Jan. 1 so it could prepare new congressional maps, if needed, for the 2024 election, which is scheduled to have a primary in June. The court has also not yet announced a decision in a November Second Amendment case asking whether individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders can be prohibited from possessing firearms.
Adam Feldman, founder of Empirical SCOTUS, said the court’s current backlog is at the slowest pace in any period. During Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s tenure, by March 1 of his 2005 term, the court had decided more than one-third of the cases argued. That has fallen to 21% at this point in the 2020 period. This year, it is 8%.
“Last season was the slowest, and now it’s even slower,” Feldman said.
Some pointed to the absence from the court of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was always quick to get her opinions across and determined to set the pace by issuing her first opinion of her term.
It is likely that the justices completed majority opinions in more cases than those argued earlier in their terms. announced so far. However, these decisions cannot be made public until my colleagues complete both their dissent and concurrence. Dissenting opinions and concurrences are written by judges who agree with much or all of the ruling but are forced to explain how they would resolve the dispute differently.
As of the fall, the most important cases on the court’s schedule include three challenges to the power of the executive state and laws in Texas and Florida that regulate how content is curated by major social media platforms. It was expected that the case would result in two First Amendment lawsuits. Since then, Trump’s legal and political problems appear to have overwhelmed the lawsuit.
“That was then, this is now, and now it’s Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump,” said Pamela S. Karlan, a professor at Stanford Law School and co-director of the school’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. he said.
The justices agreed in January to decide whether states can disqualify President Trump from voting because of his actions before and after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The court will hear arguments as soon as five weeks later, with a majority of the justices appearing poised to block Colorado from taking over Trump’s presidency. However, they have not announced their decision.
The court also agreed to review the validity of the law used to charge hundreds of people in connection with the January 6 riot, which spans four counts in Washington. It is a key element in President Trump’s federal election interference case. The arguments are scheduled for the week before the court takes up Trump’s argument that he is protected by presidential immunity from criminal prosecution. In the latter case, the justices will consider a unanimous decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that forcibly rejected the president’s position.
It took 13 days after receiving the preliminary documents from both sides. The court’s announcement that it would consider the immunity case suggests there have been negotiations among the justices on how to proceed.The judges too We rephrased the specific questions to be considered during the discussion, a process that required an exchange of notes to clarify the final wording.
At least four of the nine justices must vote to add a case to the court’s calendar. Some people may have wanted to follow the normal course. That would mean Trump’s immunity case would be scheduled for his term, which begins in October, a month before his election, and a decision would be delayed even further. Alternatively, some may have wanted to leave the D.C. Circuit’s ruling in place and proceed with Trump’s trial, hoping to hear the case this month or early April, when they could add an argument date to their schedule. There may be some people.
The decision is Setting the case for the last full week of April suggests a compromise, even if it pushes back a potential date for Trump’s D.C. trial to late summer or early fall.
By the court’s standards, the justices acted quickly and filed extensive briefs on unprecedented issues, reducing the time it takes for lawyers to file initial briefs to three weeks instead of the usual 45 days. We provide a period for doing so.
But given the practical realities of the political calendar, the justices “appear to be indifferent to how this will affect whether a trial is even possible at all,” Karlan said. “If they’re going to say this prosecution should go forward, and we can’t get a verdict until May or June, then they’re kind of obstructing the case in a number of ways.”
After hearing arguments, the justices will meet privately, with only the justices present, as usual.each provides Before some debate and early voting, initial decisions will be made in order of seniority, starting with the presiding judge.
If Mr. Roberts is in the majority, he can assign the writing. Opinions about yourself or your colleagues. This begins the process of developing and distributing comments, objections, and agreements.
Court watchers expect Roberts to write for the court and rally a majority of supporters in the high-stakes case, which involves whether the president will be granted immunity from criminal prosecution or removed from the vote. As much as possible.
In some ways, legal analysts said, federal prosecutors are trying to put Mr. Trump on trial for election interference. The judge was left with little choice but to accept the immunity appeal. In December, prosecutors asked the High Court. To bypass the normal appellate process and consider the issue rather than leaving it to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“For the first time in our nation’s history, this case involves criminal charges against a former president based on conduct while in office,” said Special Counsel Jacques. Smith wrote. “It is of vital public interest that defendants’ immunity claims be resolved by this court and that trials proceed as expeditiously as possible if defendants’ immunity claims are denied.”
Jonathan Adler, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, wrote in a column Thursday that even if he wanted the D.C. Circuit’s ruling to stand, the case deserves consideration in the high court. He said there was no doubt about it.
He pointed to a number of factors, including the fact that it took until August to resolve the issue. The Justice Department has accused President Trump of alleged actions nearly three years ago, which helped push the D.C. trial forward. General election calendar.
“This leaves us with the unfortunate option of having the Supreme Court further define the contours of presidential immunity on the eve of a presidential election in which defendant is a candidate,” Adler wrote. “It’s not a great place, but that’s where we are.”
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