First this:
Breaking: SCOTUS Grants Injunction in Tandon v. Newsom
In a nutshell, California COVID restrictions prevented at-home worship services after they closed and/or limited occupancy for Churches.
The Governor was sued because how dare the state say “you can’t have a bible study at home” but allow businesses to open.
The Supreme Court overturned the 9th Circuit (of course they did) and said that the government cannot treat religious activities any differently than secular ones. If it’s not too dangerous to open businesses, it’s not too dangerous to have religious worship services.
First, California treats some comparable secular activities more favorably than at-home religious exercise, permitting hair salons, retail stores, personal care services, movie theaters, private suites at sporting events and con-certs, and indoor restaurants to bring together more than three households at a time.
Second, the Ninth Circuit did not conclude that those activities pose a lesser risk of transmission than applicants’ proposed religious exercise at home. The Ninth Circuit erroneously rejected these comparators simply because this Court’s previous decisions involved public buildings as opposed to private buildings.
Where the government permits other activities to proceed with precautions, it must show that the religious exercise at issue is more dangerous than those activities even when the same precautions are applied.
Third, instead of requiring the State to explain why it could not safely permit at-home worshipers to gather in larger numbers while using precautions used in secular activities, the Ninth Circuit erroneously declared that such measures might not “translate readily” to the home. Id., at *8. The State cannot “assume the worst when people go to worship but assume the best when people go to work.”
This was the right decision.
It was also a 5-4 decision.
On a side note, I think Justice Roberts will go down in history as one of the worst Justices ever to serve on the court and the most unforgivable act committed by President GW Bush. The endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the abridgements of our civil liberties under the PATRIOT Act will pale in comparison to the long term damage done by Justice Roberts.
So the Supreme Court, with three Trump appointed Justices, told Governor Newsom to shove his anti-Religious COVID restrictions up his ass.
(This is why I would love to be and would not be allowed to be a SOUTS Justice. My opinions would include quotes like that above.)
It was a bad day for Leftists who want to use COVID as an excuse to crackdown on civil liberties, especially civil liberties more often enjoyed by Conservatives, like religious worship.
So it was no surprise that the same day, Biden released this Executive Order:
President Biden will today issue an executive order forming the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, comprised of a bipartisan group of experts on the Court and the Court reform debate. In addition to legal and other scholars, the Commissioners includes former federal judges and practitioners who have appeared before the Court, as well as advocates for the reform of democratic institutions and of the administration of justice. The expertise represented on the Commission includes constitutional law, history and political science.
The Commission’s purpose is to provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform, including an appraisal of the merits and legality of particular reform proposals. The topics it will examine include the genesis of the reform debate; the Court’s role in the Constitutional system; the length of service and turnover of justices on the Court; the membership and size of the Court; and the Court’s case selection, rules, and practices.
The Left just cannot have a Supreme Court that overturns Leftist edicts against civil liberties.
So the court must be reformed.
“Court’s role in the Constitutional system” is judicial review. They want to eliminate judicial review.
“Length of service and turnover of justices on the Court.” Justice Thomas is the longest-serving Justice who is still on the bench. He will be forcibly retired.
“Membership and size of the Court” mean jam in a bunch of Leftist justices to rubber-stamp anything the Left wants.
“Court’s case selection, rules, and practices.” The Court won’t be able to even hear the cases the Left doesn’t want them to hear. This is the belt and suspenders to eliminate judicial review.
Remember how Biden was supposed to be a return to the norms?
He’s going to undo 2018 years of the accepted role of the Supreme Court in the United States to make himself a dictator.
I hope those nice Tweets are worth having judicial review eliminated so no Leftist law can ever be overturned.
It would be interesting to see them try to retire Justice Thomas.
He could “retire” the same way Scalia retired.
(I also really, really hate where the Dems actions and words are taking my thought processes these days. Honestly, I’m not a conspiracy theorist. But more and more, recently, I find myself wondering.)
This is the ” unity” president?
Steal an election. Pack the Court.
What could possibly go wrong?
Under what authority does the Executive branch think they can tell the Judicial branch how to select cases, or run the court?
Now, I do think they can pass a law establishing size, or term, but I would LOVE to see them pass a law that tells the court how to operate. Unconstitutional to the extreme
How many divisions does SCOTUS have to defend itself, though?
This is where you and I fundamentally disagree. You are still laboring under the assumption that the rule of law still applies. You still favor words, talk, and debate.
Any hope of that still working died last November. The left is not following those rules any longer.
We will soon be faced with naught but the ultimate review of government abuse:
When a government becomes destructive to the liberties of the people, the people retain the right to alter or abolish it. This is the ultimate purpose of the Second Amendment.
“When a government makes peaceful change impossible, they make violent change inevitable.”
Rule 308.