Supreme Court (5/28/19) - 3 decisions, no CVSGs, 1 new grant, 1 abortion related per curiam with a concurrence by Thomas and a dissent by Ginsburg

Link to today’s order, which features 1 new grant and a per curiam regarding Indiana’s recent abortion related regulations, upholding statutes regarding disposal of fetal remains and overturning statutes regarding abortion for sex selection, disability of the fetus, etc. The text of the per curiam itself, Thomas’s concurrence and Ginsburg’s dissent is at the bottom of the order list.

Today’s granted case is Hernandez v Mesa.

Issue : Whether, when the plaintiffs plausibly allege that a rogue federal law-enforcement officer violated clearly established Fourth and Fifth amendment rights for which there is no alternative legal remedy, the federal courts can and should recognize a damages claim under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

This is the case involving the United States Border Patrol Agent who shot and killed a Mexican teen across the border.

Below are the three cases decided today.

Holding : A Social Security Administration Appeals Council dismissal on timeliness grounds of a request for review after a claimant has had an administrative law judge hearing on the merits qualifies as a “final decision . . . made after a hearing” for purposes of allowing judicial review under 42 U.S.C. §405(g).

Judgment : Reversed and remanded, 9-0, in an opinion by Justice Sotomayor on May 28, 2019.

Holding : Neither the general removal provision, 28 U.S.C. §1441(a), nor the removal provision in the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, §1453(b), permit a third-party counterclaim defendant to remove a class-action claim from state to federal court.

Judgment : Affirmed, 5-4, in an opinion by Justice Thomas on May 28, 2019. Justice Alito filed a dissenting opinion, in which Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh joined.

While I won’t go into the merits of this case, it is notable that Thomas joined with the liberal justices for the majority here, which just goes to show you can never pigeonhole any Justice.

Holding : Because police officers had probable cause to arrest Russell Bartlett, his First Amendment retaliatory arrest claim fails as a matter of law.

Judgment : Reversed and remanded, 6-3, in an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts on May 28, 2019. Justice Thomas, who joined the opinion of the Supreme Court except as to Part II–D, filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. Justice Gorsuch filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. Justice Ginsburg filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part. Justice Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion.

This is why I joined the forum. Always look forward to your summaries.

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Thanks.

Today was relatively quiet, except for the abortion stuff.

We are entering June and things should start heating up at the Supreme Court as we race to the end of the term.

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