Jedidiah Murphy is dead, and the justices didn’t even have to tell us why they let it happen. Also: Louisiana's elections, and Montana's anti-drag law.
Thank you, Chris, for calling out a singular grievous instance of jurisprudential injustice and, frankly, a tidal wave of juducial malpractice by a maleovelent Supreme Court majority that was larded with incompetent Trump appointees.
As a law student, it’s really shocking to me how little coverage there is on issues like this. Even the words “shadow docket” are treated like taboo around here and honestly, legal education’s lack of anchorage in reality is complicit to the lack of transparency we later normalize. Thank you for covering this! You get the genz stamp of approval for being a cool dude and keeping us informed. Will be recommending your newsletter to other nerds around here. 👍🏽
Whatever one thinks on the merits, the court's silence and inaction would be easier to accept or even defend if the court's docket were pressed to the buffers. To the contrary, the can-it-possibly-go-lower declining number of grants has been a thing for as long as I've been watching the court; eighteen years now. Here's my pitch: I think that Congress should restore mandatory jurisdiction in some cases, and death penalty collateral review strikes me as an obvious candidate. We are talking about a baker's dozen cases a term. See https://www.statista.com/statistics/271100/number-of-executions-in-the-us. Don't tell me the court doesn't have time, cf. https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SCOTUSblog-Final-STAT-PACK-OT2021.pdf, or that someone's life isn't high enough stakes. I see no adequate reason why a court that takes seventy cases a year shouldn't at least be obliged to explain why—even if it's only in a one page per curiam opinion—a man's request that he not be killed by his government should be refused.
RIP Jedidiah Murphy. Texas’s legal insurrection continues aided by the Supremes tendency of silence in the shadow docket. Silence speaks loudly by SCUTUS’s shadow docket ruling lifting the stay that prevented Jedidiah’s execution not intelligently, not jurisprudentially, rather, institutional cowardice.
I not sure how to get these true facts to the US Supreme Court Justices. My name is Johnny Maloy. On 03-31-2011 my only bioson, Riley Maloy AB 8616 was beat to death in Folsom Prison Ad Seg PC by 3 lifers, involves 2 Folsom Prison Guards, was planned by Charles Manson from a differant Ca DOC Prison.
I have pictures. Then after Autopsey, CaAG Kamala Harris- now US VP Kamala Harris, rewro5e murder facts in attempt to save Ca money in a WRONGFUL DEATH LAW SEUIT. then Kamala Harris lied to US congress saying she never had contact with criminals other than prosecuting criminals, but by rewriting murder facts, or ordering it done, CaAG Harris should have a 1st degree murder charge after the fact aka aiding and abbetting a 1st degree murder.. These charges will remove her as US VP, and no statute of limitations on US Federal charges..
Please run a full scale US Federal Investigation on this matter, these are only the basic facts, there are more crimes involved in this crime like Riley Maloy wasn't read his Miranda Rights before questioning in a Long Beach, Ca hospital and the presiding judge is a PROTEM JUDGE not seated on the Ca Attorney's Bar, aka an Adolph Hitler loving street ppl with no formal education in LAW and LAW PRACTICES..
Thank-you for reading this document, I've been trying to find legal help with this matter but no attny will help because of the ppl involved..
Sotomayor used to occasionally dissent or provide statements of concern without dissenting.
Jackson dissented once after the execution. But, for whatever reason, this is coming to be the norm.
I don't like the lack of comments in these final orders generally. But, this was a more atypical case where the lower court granted a stay. Had to explain why it was wrong AND explain why they shouldn't have intervened. I'm annoyed at the liberals' silence.
We should stop acting like there are “unnoted” dissents in shadow docket orders and such. If a justice can’t be bothered to even note a dissent, much less write something, we should assume they voted in favor of the action. Stop pretending they silently object when there’s no evidence.
I strongly disagree. First, functionally: There is no "pretending." The justices do not need to note their vote on applications. I disagree with the fact that justices don't need to do so, and think application votes should be recorded. [Further explanation: There are internal reasons why justices might choose not to note dissents on applications at times, even if the practice has likely diminished with this court (and in death penalty cases in particular).] I'd argue that your recommended approach would be the "pretending" one, since it is factually inaccurate, so that's a no-go for me.
Second, as to my coverage, I do not think I have ever "pretend[ed] they silently object when there’s no evidence." I'm truly not sure why you worded it that way or if you even meant it as to me and my coverage, but factually presenting what we actually know and don't know is not "pretending" anything.
At base, I disagree with this because it runs counter to one of my core beliefs: The court should be transparent whenever possible. When it is not, I will describe that lack of transparency. You are asking me to do their work for them and pretend that they are being transparent where they are not. They should do so. Until they do, I will describe their non-transparent practices as they are.
I meant it more as a transparency issue for the court as well not directed at you or other journalists. It was more advocating that all votes should be noted and public.
Then we agree! Sorry if I was over-the-top in my response, but, truly, my "I'm not doing the court's transparency work for them if they won't" deal is a big one to me. It's *because* I care so much about transparency that I won't act like something is clear when the court won't make it clear.
Absolutely and you were right to push back forcefully if that was my intention. The comment was poorly phrased. You and others like Steve Vladeck have done a lot to move in the direction of more transparency.
I think in a way that when the justices don't publicly dissent, they are in a fashion consenting. Silence is dissent. A few times it came out justices privately dissented. But, that's all they did.
I know the rules. An opinion says it is "unanimous" while an order doesn't. It's okay to carefully make that clear. But, private dissent isn't much either. It's like privately being against something in your life and publicly not saying anything.
I agree with the principle, insofar as, again, they chose not to note their dissent. A justice doing so is obviously OK with not being publicly known as having voted against the majority. But, as I describe in the “Further explanation” bracketed section above, there are reasons why justices might not note their vote. Particularly, internal reasons — as to the specific case, as to the issue more broadly, and as to larger court dynamics. So, because of the lack of transparency, it complicates reading too much motive into it.
Ultimately, I wouldn’t have a problem with a description, “None of the Republican appointees voiced disagreement with the decision.” That is accurate. (Honestly, though, that raises more questions — ie, this whole discussion — than it answers if standing alone in a piece, so I generally don’t use that framing myself.)
Yes, that goes back to at least to Chief Justice John Marshall, who sometimes didn't note his opposition as part of his wider goals.
I'm sure the liberals are acting reasonably on some level. It's good that court reporters help clarify the dynamics involved.
But, bottom line, I think it's wrong that no explanation is given at the very least when an execution is involved. On balance, I wish there was a rule but there isn't.
Thank you, Chris, for calling out a singular grievous instance of jurisprudential injustice and, frankly, a tidal wave of juducial malpractice by a maleovelent Supreme Court majority that was larded with incompetent Trump appointees.
Landry...[sigh], he makes Bobby Jindal look like a crusading reformer.
As a law student, it’s really shocking to me how little coverage there is on issues like this. Even the words “shadow docket” are treated like taboo around here and honestly, legal education’s lack of anchorage in reality is complicit to the lack of transparency we later normalize. Thank you for covering this! You get the genz stamp of approval for being a cool dude and keeping us informed. Will be recommending your newsletter to other nerds around here. 👍🏽
Thanks! And, yes, definitely send all the nerds this way!
Whatever one thinks on the merits, the court's silence and inaction would be easier to accept or even defend if the court's docket were pressed to the buffers. To the contrary, the can-it-possibly-go-lower declining number of grants has been a thing for as long as I've been watching the court; eighteen years now. Here's my pitch: I think that Congress should restore mandatory jurisdiction in some cases, and death penalty collateral review strikes me as an obvious candidate. We are talking about a baker's dozen cases a term. See https://www.statista.com/statistics/271100/number-of-executions-in-the-us. Don't tell me the court doesn't have time, cf. https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SCOTUSblog-Final-STAT-PACK-OT2021.pdf, or that someone's life isn't high enough stakes. I see no adequate reason why a court that takes seventy cases a year shouldn't at least be obliged to explain why—even if it's only in a one page per curiam opinion—a man's request that he not be killed by his government should be refused.
Chris,
RIP Jedidiah Murphy. Texas’s legal insurrection continues aided by the Supremes tendency of silence in the shadow docket. Silence speaks loudly by SCUTUS’s shadow docket ruling lifting the stay that prevented Jedidiah’s execution not intelligently, not jurisprudentially, rather, institutional cowardice.
The only solution I see is for Biden to increase the size of SCOTUS.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention
RIP Jedediah Murphy.
I not sure how to get these true facts to the US Supreme Court Justices. My name is Johnny Maloy. On 03-31-2011 my only bioson, Riley Maloy AB 8616 was beat to death in Folsom Prison Ad Seg PC by 3 lifers, involves 2 Folsom Prison Guards, was planned by Charles Manson from a differant Ca DOC Prison.
I have pictures. Then after Autopsey, CaAG Kamala Harris- now US VP Kamala Harris, rewro5e murder facts in attempt to save Ca money in a WRONGFUL DEATH LAW SEUIT. then Kamala Harris lied to US congress saying she never had contact with criminals other than prosecuting criminals, but by rewriting murder facts, or ordering it done, CaAG Harris should have a 1st degree murder charge after the fact aka aiding and abbetting a 1st degree murder.. These charges will remove her as US VP, and no statute of limitations on US Federal charges..
Please run a full scale US Federal Investigation on this matter, these are only the basic facts, there are more crimes involved in this crime like Riley Maloy wasn't read his Miranda Rights before questioning in a Long Beach, Ca hospital and the presiding judge is a PROTEM JUDGE not seated on the Ca Attorney's Bar, aka an Adolph Hitler loving street ppl with no formal education in LAW and LAW PRACTICES..
Thank-you for reading this document, I've been trying to find legal help with this matter but no attny will help because of the ppl involved..
JCM
noneyajohn78@gmail.com
5755185869
Sotomayor used to occasionally dissent or provide statements of concern without dissenting.
Jackson dissented once after the execution. But, for whatever reason, this is coming to be the norm.
I don't like the lack of comments in these final orders generally. But, this was a more atypical case where the lower court granted a stay. Had to explain why it was wrong AND explain why they shouldn't have intervened. I'm annoyed at the liberals' silence.
I'm not sure I'd use the word "annoyed," but, yes, we agree here.
We should stop acting like there are “unnoted” dissents in shadow docket orders and such. If a justice can’t be bothered to even note a dissent, much less write something, we should assume they voted in favor of the action. Stop pretending they silently object when there’s no evidence.
I strongly disagree. First, functionally: There is no "pretending." The justices do not need to note their vote on applications. I disagree with the fact that justices don't need to do so, and think application votes should be recorded. [Further explanation: There are internal reasons why justices might choose not to note dissents on applications at times, even if the practice has likely diminished with this court (and in death penalty cases in particular).] I'd argue that your recommended approach would be the "pretending" one, since it is factually inaccurate, so that's a no-go for me.
Second, as to my coverage, I do not think I have ever "pretend[ed] they silently object when there’s no evidence." I'm truly not sure why you worded it that way or if you even meant it as to me and my coverage, but factually presenting what we actually know and don't know is not "pretending" anything.
At base, I disagree with this because it runs counter to one of my core beliefs: The court should be transparent whenever possible. When it is not, I will describe that lack of transparency. You are asking me to do their work for them and pretend that they are being transparent where they are not. They should do so. Until they do, I will describe their non-transparent practices as they are.
I meant it more as a transparency issue for the court as well not directed at you or other journalists. It was more advocating that all votes should be noted and public.
Then we agree! Sorry if I was over-the-top in my response, but, truly, my "I'm not doing the court's transparency work for them if they won't" deal is a big one to me. It's *because* I care so much about transparency that I won't act like something is clear when the court won't make it clear.
Absolutely and you were right to push back forcefully if that was my intention. The comment was poorly phrased. You and others like Steve Vladeck have done a lot to move in the direction of more transparency.
I didn’t intend this to be directed at you and I’m sorry it came across that way.
I didn't *think* so, but the last sentence read really weird to me.
I think in a way that when the justices don't publicly dissent, they are in a fashion consenting. Silence is dissent. A few times it came out justices privately dissented. But, that's all they did.
I know the rules. An opinion says it is "unanimous" while an order doesn't. It's okay to carefully make that clear. But, private dissent isn't much either. It's like privately being against something in your life and publicly not saying anything.
I agree with the principle, insofar as, again, they chose not to note their dissent. A justice doing so is obviously OK with not being publicly known as having voted against the majority. But, as I describe in the “Further explanation” bracketed section above, there are reasons why justices might not note their vote. Particularly, internal reasons — as to the specific case, as to the issue more broadly, and as to larger court dynamics. So, because of the lack of transparency, it complicates reading too much motive into it.
Ultimately, I wouldn’t have a problem with a description, “None of the Republican appointees voiced disagreement with the decision.” That is accurate. (Honestly, though, that raises more questions — ie, this whole discussion — than it answers if standing alone in a piece, so I generally don’t use that framing myself.)
Yes, that goes back to at least to Chief Justice John Marshall, who sometimes didn't note his opposition as part of his wider goals.
I'm sure the liberals are acting reasonably on some level. It's good that court reporters help clarify the dynamics involved.
But, bottom line, I think it's wrong that no explanation is given at the very least when an execution is involved. On balance, I wish there was a rule but there isn't.