{"id":5489,"date":"2021-06-29T16:07:12","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T16:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=5489"},"modified":"2021-06-29T16:07:12","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T16:07:12","slug":"brett-kavanaughs-latest-decision-should-alarm-liberals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=5489","title":{"rendered":"Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s latest decision should alarm liberals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Edwards<\/em> did not simply limit the scope of Ramos<\/em>. Justice Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s majority opinion also overruled a 32-year-old decision governing when the Supreme Court\u2019s precedents apply retroactively. Kavanaugh did so, moreover, without following the ordinary procedures that the Court normally follows before overruling one of its previous decisions. As Justice Elena Kagan points out in dissent, no one asked the Court to overrule anything in Edwards<\/em>, and the Court \u201cusually confines itself to the issues raised and briefed by the parties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards<\/em>, moreover, is the second time in less than a month that Kavanaugh authored a majority opinion that overrules a prior decision without following the Court\u2019s normal procedures. In late April, Kavanaugh handed down a decision in Jones v. Mississippi<\/em><\/a> that effectively overruled a 2016 decision<\/a> establishing that nearly all juvenile offenders may not be sentenced to life without parole.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“this matters because Kavanaugh is the median vote on the Supreme Court. Last week, SCOTUSBlog published an analysis finding that Kavanaugh voted with the majority in 97 percent of cases<\/a> decided so far this Supreme Court term \u2014 more than any other justice. If you want to win a case before the Supreme Court, you\u2019ve got a tough road ahead of you if you can\u2019t secure Kavanaugh\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, Kavanaugh is signaling in Edwards<\/em>, Jones<\/em>, and in a few other significant opinions that he does not particularly care about precedent”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When deciding whether to overrule a precedent, Kavanaugh wrote, the Court should consider whether the previous decision is \u201cnot just wrong, but grievously or egregiously wrong.\u201d It should consider whether \u201cthe prior decision caused significant negative jurisprudential or real-world consequences,\u201d and it should ask whether overruling the prior precedent would upset \u201clegitimate expectations of those who have reasonably relied on the precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Kavanaugh engaged in none of this analysis in Edwards<\/em>, and it\u2019s hard to see how Teague<\/em> would qualify as worthy of being overruled under the standard Kavanaugh articulated in Ramos<\/em>. Kavanaugh doesn\u2019t claim in Edwards<\/em> that Teague<\/em> was egregiously wrong or that it\u2019s led to \u201csignificant negative jurisprudential or real-world consequences.\u201d Indeed, he claims the exact opposite \u2014 that Teague<\/em>\u2019s holding regarding \u201cwatershed\u201d rules should be overruled because it\u2019s had no jurisprudential or real-world consequences whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Kavanaugh also ignored the standard he laid out in Ramos<\/em> in his opinion in Jones v. Mississippi, <\/em>the decision involving whether juveniles who commit homicide crimes can be sentenced to life without parole.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Kavanaugh, the median justice on most contentious issues that arise before the Court, is perfectly willing to overrule more than a century worth of precedent. And he\u2019s willing to do so even when overruling those precedents would upend fundamental assumptions about how state election laws work \u2014 and who is in charge of deciding how our elections are conducted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More broadly, much of American law \u2014 the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act<\/a>, the right to an abortion<\/a>, the power of the EPA to protect the environment<\/a>, the power of states to require businesses not to discriminate<\/a> against LGBTQ workers and customers, and numerous other laws \u2014 hinges on the Supreme Court\u2019s willingness to honor past decisions that Republicans don\u2019t like very much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberals, in other words, are depending on the doctrine of stare decisis<\/a> \u2014 the idea that courts should typically be bound by their prior decisions \u2014 to stave off a conservative legal revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as liberals shout for stare decisis to save them, the Court\u2019s median justice is looking down upon them, and whispering \u201cno.\u201d<\/a>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2021\/5\/18\/22440256\/brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-edwards-vannoy-abortion-criminal-justice-constitution-stare-decisis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Edwards did not simply limit the scope of Ramos. Justice Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s majority opinion also overruled a 32-year-old decision governing when the Supreme Court\u2019s precedents apply retroactively. Kavanaugh did so, moreover, without following the ordinary procedures that the Court normally follows before overruling one of its previous decisions. As Justice Elena Kagan points out in dissent, no one asked the Court to overrule anything in Edwards, and the Court \u201cusually confines itself to the issues raised and briefed by the parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards, moreover, is the second time in less than a month that Kavanaugh authored a majority opinion that overrules a prior decision without following the Court\u2019s normal procedures. In late April, Kavanaugh handed down a decision in Jones v. Mississippi that effectively overruled a 2016 decision establishing that nearly all juvenile offenders may not be sentenced to life without parole.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“this matters because Kavanaugh is the median vote on the Supreme Court. Last week, SCOTUSBlog published an analysis finding that Kavanaugh voted with the majority in 97 percent of cases decided so far this Supreme Court term \u2014 more than any other justice. If you want to win a case before the Supreme Court, you\u2019ve got a tough road ahead of you if you can\u2019t secure Kavanaugh\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

And yet, Kavanaugh is signaling in Edwards, Jones, and in a few other significant opinions that he does not particularly care about precedent”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“When deciding whether to overrule a precedent, Kavanaugh wrote, the Court should consider whether the previous decision is \u201cnot just wrong, but grievously or egregiously wrong.\u201d It should consider whether \u201cthe prior decision caused significant negative jurisprudential or real-world consequences,\u201d and it should ask whether overruling the prior precedent would upset \u201clegitimate expectations of those who have reasonably relied on the precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Kavanaugh engaged in none of this analysis in Edwards, and it\u2019s hard to see how Teague would qualify as worthy of being overruled under the standard Kavanaugh articulated in Ramos. Kavanaugh doesn\u2019t claim in Edwards that Teague was egregiously wrong or that it\u2019s led to \u201csignificant negative jurisprudential or real-world consequences.\u201d Indeed, he claims the exact opposite \u2014 that Teague\u2019s holding regarding \u201cwatershed\u201d rules should be overruled because it\u2019s had no jurisprudential or real-world consequences whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Kavanaugh also ignored the standard he laid out in Ramos in his opinion in Jones v. Mississippi, the decision involving whether juveniles who commit homicide crimes can be sentenced to life without parole.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Kavanaugh, the median justice on most contentious issues that arise before the Court, is perfectly willing to overrule more than a century worth of precedent. And he\u2019s willing to do so even when overruling those precedents would upend fundamental assumptions about how state election laws work \u2014 and who is in charge of deciding how our elections are conducted.<\/p>\n

More broadly, much of American law \u2014 the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the right to an abortion, the power of the EPA to protect the environment, the power of states to require businesses not to discriminate against LGBTQ workers and customers, and numerous other laws \u2014 hinges on the Supreme Court\u2019s willingness to honor past decisions that Republicans don\u2019t like very much.<\/p>\n

Liberals, in other words, are depending on the doctrine of stare decisis \u2014 the idea that courts should typically be bound by their prior decisions \u2014 to stave off a conservative legal revolution.<\/p>\n

And as liberals shout for stare decisis to save them, the Court\u2019s median justice is looking down upon them, and whispering \u201cno.\u201d”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1319,528],"class_list":["post-5489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-kavanaugh","tag-supreme-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5490,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489\/revisions\/5490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}