Welcome back, Deadline: Legal Newsletter Readers. The Supreme Court held its final hearings of 2024, rejected a trio of controversial issues and is starting… a lottery? And Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is about to appear on Broadway? Yes, on both strange-sounding points, as I’ll explain. We also await Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling on newly elected President Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss the New York hush money case, as the clemency legacies of both Trump and outgoing President Joe Biden continue to take shape.
With an environmental appeal as the headline This week’s hearings, in a dispute reported by The New York Times, could “limit the scope of environmental reviews required by federal law in a variety of circumstances.” The issue in the case, called Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, is whether federal law requires an agency to investigate environmental impacts beyond the “proximate effects” of the action over which the agency has regulatory authority. After Tuesday’s hearing on a proposed rail line in Utah to transport oil, it appears the court is ready to say “no.”
We should know by summer how the Eagle County court operates. But in another environmental case this week, the justices rejected a Kentucky utility’s bid to halt the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling on coal ash disposal while the lawsuit continues in the federal appeals court. But the case known as East Kentucky Power Cooperative v. EPA could return to court after the appeals court ruling.
The court also added two appeals on Friday that will be heard later this term. One is the latest business challenge to environmental regulations – this time over vehicle emissions in California – and the other case, from Wisconsin, concerns religion and tax exemption.
Speaking of SCOTUS hearings, ever been to one? I would recommend it if you haven’t already, even if it’s not for one of the “larger” cases. One barrier to public attendance is uncertainty about whether seats will be available. But the Supreme Court announced a pilot program for a lottery where winners will be given reserved seats. The court streams audio of its arguments live – it should broadcast them on television, but chooses not to – but more information about the lottery is here for those interested.
There won’t hold hearings soon in cases involving guns, race in school admissions, and school policies regarding student gender transitions. The court on Monday declined to hear appeals that mentioned these issues on its routine order list. But Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh expressed interest in raising various aspects of these disputes.
The positions of GOP appointees are being spotlighted the fact that, despite the 6-3 split between the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, any widening of that gap matters not only for How the judge decides in cases but also for which one cases it chooses to hear – and when. For example, in the rejected appeal on gender identity policy, Kavanaugh, Alito and Thomas noted that they wanted to hear the case. It takes four justices to agree to review a petition, so the court fell just one vote short.
And what about KBJ on Broadway? On Saturday, the Biden appointee, who wrote a unanimous immigration decision this week, will fulfill another dream of hers when she debuts a tailor-made role in the musical comedy “& Juliet.” The production says it is “flipping the script on the greatest love story ever told,” asking:[W]What would happen next if Juliet didn’t end it in Romeo?’ To be fair, this is a different type of question than the judge usually considers. But working on the short side of the 6-3 court could lead her to consider alternate realities.
Meanwhile, the president who made history with the appointment of Jackson made more history this week with his latest clemency grants. After pardoning his son Hunter and raising the question of the extent to which he would grant executive pardons to non-family members before leaving office, Biden responded by setting a modern record. In one day, he commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people placed in house arrest during the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to pardoning 39 people who he said had shown successful rehabilitation and community involvement.
It remains to be seen how much further the president is offering clemency before Trump takes office next month — including whether he will commute the sentences of death row inmates to life before a pro-death penalty administration takes over. There is also the question of whether Biden will grant preemptive pardons to potential targets of the next administration, as the president-elect has said he will quickly pardon the Jan. 6 suspects — though it is unclear how many and when exactly.
On Trump’s personal roleHis motion to dismiss his criminal case in New York due to his election is pending before Judge Merchan. Prosecutors in Manhattan filed their opposition this week, arguing that a less drastic option than outright dismissal would be to delay the proceedings during Trump’s term. We’ll see what Merchan does — and how Trump, and perhaps the appeals courts, responds when the judge rejects the defendant’s bid to dismiss the case and tries to move the newly elected president toward a conviction.
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This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
