Jordan Rubin
@Jordan_S_Rubin
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Author of BIZARRO: The Surreal Saga of America’s Secret War on Synthetic Drugs and the Florida Kingpins It Captured. Writer @MSNBC . Ex-prosecutor @ManhattanDA .
Joined March 2017
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NEW: Justice Ginsburg undergoing treatment for "recurrence of cancer."
She says "I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam. I remain fully able to do that."
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NEW: a divided SCOTUS denies execution stay for Brandon Bernard.
He’ll be the ninth federal inmate executed this year and the second of the lame-duck period.
The next federal execution, Alfred Bourgeois, is scheduled for tomorrow.
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Excited to announce I’ve joined
@MSNBC
this week!
I’ll be writing legal analysis for the forthcoming
@DeadlineWH
blog that’s launching next year, but look for my byline in the meantime on
And reach me at Jordan.Rubin
@nbcuni
.com
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Kavanaugh revised his opinion from the Wisconsin case on Monday (changed "election" to "election-deadline" when discussing Vermont law, ):
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RBG "resting comfortably and will stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment," SCOTUS says.
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Sotomayor: SCOTUS "allows the Federal Government to execute Brandon Bernard, despite Bernard’s troubling allegations that the Government secured his death sentence by withholding exculpatory evidence and knowingly eliciting
false testimony against him."
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"This is not justice," Sotomayor said in dissent. "After waiting almost two decades to resume federal executions, the Government should have proceeded with some measure of restraint to ensure it did so lawfully. When it did not, this Court should have. It has not."
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New: SCOTUS sides with the Trump administration again on federal executions over dissent from the Democratic appointees, vacating a lower court stay that was in place for Dustin Higgs.
Breyer and Sotomayor both write dissents.
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Revision comes after Vermont Secretary of State said Kavanaugh's Monday opinion was wrong on Vermont law:
We have formally requested that
#SCOTUS
correct the erroneous claim by Justice Kavanaugh that
#VT
has not changed voting procedures for the
#2020Elections
due to
#COVID19
. When it comes to issuing decisions on the voting rights of American citizens, facts matter.
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NEW: in latest emergency voting order at SCOTUS, Republicans lose bid to tighten Rhode Island voting rules.
Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissent.
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Though orders like tonight's from the court's "shadow docket" don't require justices to indicate how they voted, this is another early data point since Barrett's confirmation showing a 6-3 court on capital punishment.
The issue of faith and capital punishment featured in Justice Barrett's confirmation hearings. But that did not appear to be an issue for the newest justice last night as a majority of the Court condoned the latest federal execution.
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Sotomayor said the majority let DOJ execute 13 people in 6 months "without resolving the serious claims the condemned individuals raised. Those whom the Government executed during this endeavor deserved more from this Court."
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New: SCOTUS sides with Texas prison in Covid-19 dispute with medically vulnerable inmates. Denies inmates’ request to reinstate injunction that required prison to comply with list of sanitary protections. Sotomayor, Kagan dissent.
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Now at SCOTUS: Ben and Jerry (yes the ice cream guys, they're in the baseball caps, that's Ben on the mic) speaking out against qualified immunity:
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Both dissents take aim at the federal government's resumption of executions and the various legal issues that's raised.
As he has before, Breyer questions the constitutionality of the death penalty.
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"Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch appear on the list"
A staff checklist for Pompeo's "Madison Dinners" shows a harpist is brought in to play cocktail hour, and a photographer to take a group photo in front of a fireplace -
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Note the extraordinary procedural aspect.
Appeals court argument in Higgs's case was set for later this month.
That would have not only been past the date on which DOJ wanted to execute him, but into an anti-death penalty Biden administration.
FWIW, I can’t think of a single prior case in which the Court issued a summary merits decision — as opposed to a merits decision after argument or a remand in light of a new precedent — on a petition for certiorari before judgment (an appeal that bypasses the court of appeals).
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Prosecutors, ex-DOJ officials, and former judges want SCOTUS to make it easier to sue police:
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Today: Trump's DOJ intends to execute Corey Johnson. Would be Trump's 12th execution since July, & 2nd of 3 scheduled for this week before Biden takes over.
DOJ executed Lisa Montgomery early Wednesday morning following late night of appeals at SCOTUS.
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Latest in the SCOTUS case that won't decide the election:
Pennsylvania Republicans ask Scotus to order county election boards to segregate late-arriving ballots. PA officials had already directed counties to do that, but GOP says guidance doesn't go far enough. PA Secretary Boockvar said yesterday the # of ballots will be quite small.
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On this latest Cases and Controversies episode,
@KimberlyRobinsn
& I talk w/
@neal_katyal
about the historic
#SCOTUS
move to hold telephone arguments in May, what that means for the lawyers arguing, the future of technology at the Court, and more:
.
@KimberlyRobinsn
and
@Jordan_S_Rubin
discuss a unique PSA recorded by Justice Stephen Breyer that reminds New Yorkers to fill out their census forms.
Subscribe to
#CasesPod
wherever you get your podcasts.
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Virginia makes it official. First southern state to abolish the death penalty.
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New: SCOTUS blocks execution of Texas inmate Ruben Gutierrez, who says state’s practice of keeping his chaplain out of the death chamber violates religious rights.
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@JacklynWille
This opinion is in all ways an absolute unit—in making light of an admittedly serious topic, in doing so poorly, and in the author probably thinking they did a good job.
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Kavanaugh revised his opinion from the Wisconsin case on Monday (changed "election" to "election-deadline" when discussing Vermont law, ):
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Today: the Trump DOJ intends to execute Dustin Higgs, the final execution in the government's unprecedented run. Higgs would be the 13th execution since July and the third this week.
President-elect Biden, who takes office next week, has vowed to end the death penalty.
NEW: over dissent, SCOTUS denies execution stays for Corey Johnson. He’ll be the 12th person executed by the Trump administration since July. He argued his intellectual disability & Covid-19 diagnosis should block his execution.
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With Trump facing calls to resign and possible removal, his administration plans to execute 3 more people this week before Biden’s anti-death penalty administration starts next week.
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This case's outcome is different from other recent cases in that SCOTUS effectively agreed to allow easier voting.
Why? Per SCOTUS order: "here the state election officials support the challenged decree, and no state official has expressed opposition."
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New: SCOTUS denies stay for Alfred Bourgeois; he raised an intellectual disability claim.
Sotomayor dissents; Kagan joins.
He’ll be 10th federal inmate executed by Trump-Barr DOJ this year & 3rd since Election Day.
More executions scheduled for week before Biden inaug.
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"We find by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election," the special grand jury wrote.
A judge just released portions of the Fulton County special grand jury's report. Read them here. (via Deadline: Legal Blog)
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Update:
#SCOTUS
press office says that court told reps for Chairman Goudy ahead of time headdress only ok for religion & that Goudy's rep said argument not religious event so not needed. Goudy disagrees w/ court's account & more broadly w/ its religion/non-religion distinction
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Today's the day, people.
#SCOTUS
streams at 10.
For the first time in history, people outside the U.S. Supreme Court's walls will be able to hear arguments as they happen.
Here is
@KimberlyRobinsn
's analysis of the cases 👇
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Louisiana votes YES on Amendment 2 to abolish non-unanimous jury verdicts in criminal cases, a vestige of the Jim Crow-era.
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That is, in rejecting the Republican political groups' attempt to halt easier voting, SCOTUS basically said the groups had no business intervening, because state officials agree with easier voting (in legalese, SCOTUS said the groups therefore "lack a cognizable interest").
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Today’s my last day at Bloomberg Law.
Grateful for the experience and looking forward to the next adventure.
Got a couple exciting announcements coming up. Stay tuned.
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Rep. Quigley to Chief Justice Roberts: "You recently invited members of Congress to observe oral arguments at the Court. I encourage you and your fellow justices to extend that invitation to the American people...."
JUST IN: Letter from
@RepMikeQuigley
(chair of
@AppropsDems
subcmte. in charge of judiciary's budget) to CJ Roberts requesting livestreaming of all
#SCOTUS
arguments: (1/2)
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NEW from me: the bizarre chronicle of two film producers getting locked up for selling drugs they swear they thought were legal, and the top DEA chemist who agreed with them—but now he’s locked up, too. . . .
SPECIAL REPORT: Two men could spend the rest of their lives in prison for selling synthetic drugs they say they thought were legal.
America’s secret drug war is entangling defendants who say they’re being blind-sided by charges under a little-known law.
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Gorsuch writes 5-4 opinion joined by liberal bloc to strike down a law the government says is critical to prosecuting violent crime. Law too vague, Gorsuch says. Kavanaugh writes dissent.
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TODAY's the day: BIZARRO officially onsale.
Learn all about the secret war on drugs with my book that's been called "fascinating," "fun," "distressing," and other things, too!
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The issue of faith and capital punishment featured in Justice Barrett's confirmation hearings. But that did not appear to be an issue for the newest justice last night as a majority of the Court condoned the latest federal execution.
ICYMI last night: in the first emergency death penalty order with Barrett on the court, SCOTUS sides with DOJ to let the latest federal execution proceed, with only the three Democratic appointees noting their dissent.
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And while the outcome here is different from other recent voting case outcomes, this case fits within the broader pattern that
@KimberlyRobinsn
reported on recently, of SCOTUS deferring to local officials' judgments during the pandemic.
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New: DC Circuit panel of majority Trump-appointed judges (Katsas and Walker) again rules against inmates, vacating (over dissent) judge's injunction that would have let Corey Johnson and Dustin Higgs recover from Covid-19 before they're executed.
While waiting for Montgomery's filings to get to SCOTUS, some news for Johnson & Higgs, who tested positive for Covid-19 & are scheduled for execution Thursday & Friday.
Judge blocks their executions until March 16 so they can recover.
(Obligatory reminder that DOJ can appeal)
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Update on RBG health, per SCOTUS spox: "Justice Ginsburg has been discharged from the hospital. She is home and doing well."
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SCOTUS args done for today but Neal Katyal arguing in Minn. appeals court now seeking to reinstate 3rd-degree murder charge against Derek Chauvin ahead of upcoming trial for George Floyd’s death.
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Deadline: Legal Blog launched today, check it out!
Excited to announce I’ve joined
@MSNBC
this week!
I’ll be writing legal analysis for the forthcoming
@DeadlineWH
blog that’s launching next year, but look for my byline in the meantime on
And reach me at Jordan.Rubin
@nbcuni
.com
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Good talking to
@RepRaskin
today about Jan. 6, Trump, SCOTUS, democracy, and the intersection thereof. Interview here:
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Interesting lineup in late-night execution action.
Barrett joins Breyer/Sotomayor/Kagan to vote for inmate.
Thomas/Roberts/Kavanaugh dissent.
Alito and Gorsuch don't note their votes either way but at least one of them had to side with the inmate to form a majority.
NEW: Amy Coney Barrett joined the Supreme Court’s Democratic appointees to stall an inmate's execution without his pastor in the chamber.
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Texas plans to execute Quintin Jones tonight. He has a stay application pending at SCOTUS. Raises intellectual disability & due process issues. Was deemed 'psychopath' in since-discredited expert testimony.
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And now we have SCOTUS vacating the stay, clearing way for Hall's execution barring any other relief for him on his other appeals. Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan note their dissent.
Latest in the litigation re: Orlando Hall, who is scheduled for execution tonight. In a ruling that's already being appealed by DOJ to DC Circuit (and presumably would be appealed further to SCOTUS tonight if needed), DC district judge stays his execution:
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Expect appeals in Johnson's case to end up at SCOTUS today, too, including his intellectual disability claim.
Late last night, DC Circuit panel (2-1 Trump judges) vacated ruling that had paused his execution so he can recover from Covid-19.
New: DC Circuit panel of majority Trump-appointed judges (Katsas and Walker) again rules against inmates, vacating (over dissent) judge's injunction that would have let Corey Johnson and Dustin Higgs recover from Covid-19 before they're executed.
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As covid rages and Biden looms, the Trump-Barr DOJ spends its final days in the death chamber.
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ICYMI yesterday evening: judge blocked what was set to be the first federal execution in 17 years on Monday, citing victim family member concerns about Covid.
DOJ appealing the ruling over victim family member objections.
DOJ is appealing to the 7th circuit.
Notably the victim family members oppose the execution and likewise said they hoped DOJ wouldn't appeal.
Barr has said DOJ brought back executions "for victims and their families."
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Rare loss for officials on qualified immunity at SCOTUS:
Justices rejected correctional officers’ claim of qualified immunity in what they said was an egregious case from Texas involving prison officials who confined a man naked for days in filthy cells.
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"We’ll be quoting passages in this opinion for the rest of our lives," Riyaz Kanji, who argued on behalf of the Creek Nation, said of Gorsuch's opinion.
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Big day in Washington as Chief Justice Roberts is set to preside over . . . oral argument in Shular v. United States, the latest Armed Career Criminal Act dispute.
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SCOTUS denies Willie Smith an execution stay.
Sotomayor writes respecting the denial (not a dissent):
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Supreme Court hears argument this morning in the case of Curtis Flowers, a black man tried six times for the same crime by the same white prosecutor.
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Ya never know who you'll run into at
#SCOTUS
. Pictured here with my old man, who was last at the Court like 20 years ago:
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Ever the strict adherent to precedent, Justice Kagan once again ages precisely one year.
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Chauvin verdict is in. Per court update: "A verdict has been reached and will be read in open court between 3:30-4:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 20."
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And now the Seventh Circuit vacates the injunction against Lee's execution (i.e. does what DOJ just asked SCOTUS to do), saying victim family member's administrative claim "lacks any arguable legal basis and is therefore frivolous."
NEW at SCOTUS: DOJ seeking stay/vacatur of injunction against execution of Daniel Lee, scheduled for tomorrow.
Trial judge entered injunction at request of victim family members opposed to the execution but who want to attend/are worried about Covid.
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SCOTUS declines appeal from prisoner who's "serving a life sentence for convictions that rest on the testimony of one witness who unequivocally recanted a year after his trial":
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#SCOTUS
kicks off its last argument week of the term today with a big one: McGirt v. Oklahoma, a long-running, high-stakes Indian law dispute that could come down to Gorsuch’s vote.
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Justices Sotomayor and Kagan noted their dissent from the intellectual disability stay denial, and Breyer joined them on the Covid-19 denial.
As was the case with the orders earlier this week against Lisa Montgomery, no explanations from majority or dissent.
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NEW at SCOTUS: DOJ seeking stay/vacatur of injunction against execution of Daniel Lee, scheduled for tomorrow.
Trial judge entered injunction at request of victim family members opposed to the execution but who want to attend/are worried about Covid.
ICYMI yesterday evening: judge blocked what was set to be the first federal execution in 17 years on Monday, citing victim family member concerns about Covid.
DOJ appealing the ruling over victim family member objections.
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Notably Justice Kavanaugh, when he was a law student (at Yale), wrote an article advocating robust protections for defendants alleging race discrimination in jury selection. We'll see if today's argument gives any hint at his current views on the subject.
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#SCOTUS
livestream quick takeaways:
- Overall went very smoothly
- Chief Justice Roberts keeps things moving briskly
- Justice Thomas speaks! (and other justices piggyback off of his Qs)
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And McGirt (if they actually decide the issue this time)!
NEW:
#SCOTUS
will release it's final three opinions, including in the Trump tax cases, tomorrow at 10.
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ICYMI: there were actually two arguments at
#SCOTUS
yesterday, and this one definitely isn't moot:
U.S. Supreme Court justices quizzed lawyers over states’ ability to copyright annotated legal codes during oral arguments in a case that both sides say has broad consequences for access to and cost of legal materials.
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Kavanaugh tests positive for Covid. No symptoms, court says.
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Roberts notes that he did something similar in the death penalty case of Bobby Moore: dissented the first time around, but then felt bound to vote with the majority the second time around, given the precedent established the first time.
BREAKING: Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion law that required doctors to get admitting privileges at local hospital. Chief Justice Roberts joins liberals in 5-4 majority, saying he is bound by precedent.
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Excited to announce that I have a book coming out (via
@ucpress
):
BIZARRO: The Surreal Saga of America’s Secret War on Synthetic Drugs and the Florida Kingpins It Captured
Available for preorder NOW:
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A very Gorsuch opinion this morning in an immigration case, siding against the government. Barrett and Thomas with him too, along with the Democratic appointees. Roberts/Alito/Kavanaugh dissent.
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Next week SCOTUS will hear the case of Curtis Flowers, who was tried six times for the same murders. His appeal focuses on jury selection in his trials, where the prosecutor routinely blocked black people from sitting on the jury.
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SCOTUS rejected Higgs's (and Corey Johnson's) stay application last night that they pressed on Covid-19 grounds; both men had tested positive and said that would make their executions more painful.
The three Democratic-appointed justices would have granted their application.
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A case being argued at SCOTUS today, Tanzin v. Tanvir, involves Muslim men trying to sue FBI agents for putting them on the no fly list.
It's one of a few cases coming up early this term highlighting barriers to suing law enforcement:
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"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters she doesn’t support the bill and has no plans to bring it to the floor for a vote."
JUST IN: Democratic lawmakers propose legislation that would add four justices to the Supreme Court amid pressure from progressives who see expansion as a way to dilute the conservative majority’s power.
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The field quickly whittles down to a mere 43 potential supreme court nominees:
I appreciate the President’s confidence in listing me as a potential Supreme Court nominee. But as I told the President, Missourians elected me to fight for them in the Senate, and I have no interest in the high court. I look forward to confirming constitutional conservatives
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SCOTUS hears argument in a Fourth Amendment case this morning, Lange v. California.
Issue: Do cops need warrants to enter homes when in "hot pursuit" of misdemeanor suspects?
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ICYMI last night: SCOTUS takes the religion-at-execution issue out of the shadows and onto the merits docket for briefing and argument this fall.
NEW: SCOTUS *grants* execution stay for John Ramirez. His appeal asked for contact/prayer with his pastor in the Texas death chamber. SCOTUS sets case for argument this fall.
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Before that happened what I was going to note was that kavanaugh still appears to feel same way about juror discrimination and that majority of court appears poised to rule for Flowers. Question is how broadly court will rule on issue of taking history into account
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Big news in the case of the man tried six times for the same crime, following his SCOTUS win last year ():
BREAKING NEWS: The Mississippi Attorney General has just dropped the case against Curtis Flowers. After six trials and 23 years, the case against Curtis Flowers is finally over. We’ll have a special episode of
@InTheDarkAPM
out later today.
#CurtisFlowers
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The crowds have formed and camera crews assembled for afternoon arguments on mens rea and Fourth Amendment blood draws.
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Among the SCOTUS denials this morning is what the rejected petition called "a case with no precedent. It appears to be the first time in our Nation’s history that someone faces the death penalty for charges of which a jury acquitted him."
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#SCOTUS
March calendar out.
Has some of the bigger ones this term, including gerrymandering on 3/18 & 3/26.
Also agency deference on 3/27, and jury discrimination on 3/20 in the case of Curtis Flowers, who was tried 6 times for the same crime in Mississippi.
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Sotomayor agrees with bottom line in Thomas's opinion but doesn't fully join it because, she writes, "it includes an unnecessary, incomplete, and sanitized history of the 100-to-1 ratio," referring to the crack-to-powder ratio. "The full history is far less benign."
BREAKING: Supreme Court limits the reach of a 2018 law that retroactively reduced some drug sentences, ruling that it doesn’t apply to potentially hundreds of people convicted of possessing small quantities of crack cocaine.
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NEW: SCOTUS grants review in DOJ’s appeal trying to reinstate Boston Marathon Bomber’s death sentences. Puts the anti-death penalty Biden admin in potentially awkward position. DOJ launched appeal under Trump.
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At end of arg he asked Flowers' lawyer about defense use of peremptory strikes
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ICYMI last night: in the first emergency death penalty order with Barrett on the court, SCOTUS sides with DOJ to let the latest federal execution proceed, with only the three Democratic appointees noting their dissent.
And now we have SCOTUS vacating the stay, clearing way for Hall's execution barring any other relief for him on his other appeals. Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan note their dissent.
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Among RBG's notable dissents, the case of a man locked up for two decades, facing execution, after prosecutors hid favorable evidence. He was acquitted in a retrial after the evidence came to light. SCOTUS majority said he couldn't sue the DA.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was famous for her powerful dissents. But she didn’t start out that way.
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Today: DOJ is scheduled to carry out its second of three executions this week.
As with Daniel Lee yesterday morning, whether and when Wesley Ira Purkey is executed will again likely come down to SCOTUS.
Multiple appeals working through courts now.
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