The Supreme Court has summarily dismissed a Republican-appointed judge and appeals court, dismissing a right-wing lawsuit. No, this is not the recent Mifepristone ruling in which that dynamic came into play, but a new decision, issued Wednesday, about the Biden administration’s contacts with social media platforms on disinformation.
Notably, the decision on mifepristone was unanimous, while Wednesday’s ruling in Murthy v. Missouri drew dissenting opinions from Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch. Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s ruling for the six-judge majority said the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was wrong to uphold what Barrett called a “sweeping preliminary injunction” against the government.
“To establish standing, plaintiffs must demonstrate that they face a substantial risk that they will suffer harm in the foreseeable future that is traceable to a government defendant and remediable by the injunction they seek,” Barrett wrote, and concluded that “because no plaintiff has “carried that burden,” no one has the right to seek a preliminary injunction.”
She noted that the court “relied on the trial court’s factual findings, many of which unfortunately appear to be clearly incorrect.” That district court judge is Trump appointee Terry Doughty in Louisiana.
Meanwhile, Alito’s dissent for the GOP-appointed trio seemed to come from another planet. He complained that “for months, high-ranking government officials have relentlessly pressured Facebook to suppress Americans’ freedom of speech. Because the Court improperly refuses to address this serious threat to the First Amendment, I respectfully dissent.”
Wednesday’s ruling continues a theme this term of requiring the Supreme Court to check the rogue circuit, which sometimes goes too far even for this court. Still, the three justices’ dissent shows that with additional Republican appointments, the Supreme Court could become more like the 5th Circuit.
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This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
