In major victory for California, Supreme Court rejects Trump's challenge to state sanctuary law

[demmiblue]

Source: LA Times

WASHINGTON —

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the Trump administration’s challenge to a California “sanctuary” law, leaving intact rules that prohibit law enforcement officials from aiding federal agents in taking custody of immigrants as they are released from jail.

Only Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. voted to hear the administration’s appeal.

The court’s action is a major victory for California in its long running battle with President Trump.

At issue was a clash between federal power and states’ rights.

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-06-15/supreme-court-rejects-trumps-challenge-to-california-sanctuary-law

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Once again, Thomas and Alito are the knee-jerk RWers.

I've said in other posts that those two are the most extreme members of the court. I'm no fan of Kavanaugh or Gorsuch but so far they haven't been as bad as Thomas and Alito. And Rehnquist was worse than any of them, even Scalia.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. It's time to find Justices

from somewhere other than Scalia-Alito Territory. What were they teaching in those schools that brought 2 of them to the Supreme Court?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. There are a number of schools of thought in legal studies.

Scalia was an originalist (as Gorsuch and Kavanaugh also claim to be), meaning he believed the Constitution should be interpreted in light of what was going on in society at the time the Constitution was written, and that courts shouldn't apply modern conditions or reasoning to its words. IMO that's nuts, but what do I know? There are other legal philosophies as well - Critical Legal Studies is a theory that proposes that the law is always intertwined with social issues and has inherent social biases. Proponents of CLS believe that the law supports the interests of those who create the law, and is intended to maintains the status quo in favor of existing power structures. There are also legal realists, legal relativists, believers in natural law, etc., etc. Law students are exposed to many of these theories but there might be a chicken/egg thing going on - that is, if a person were already inclined to be conservative they'd probably be attracted to originalism; if they were already liberal they'd probably go for legal realism or CLS.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Two

Supreme Court Justices hailing from Lawrenceville NJ or thereabouts? And both right wingers? Is it a school of thought that predates the Republic? Ignore the law and laissez-faire and all that?

I mean I know Nuclear scientists mostly graduated from the same school in Germany. They were teaching something important.

And Joe Garagiola and Yogi Berra lived across the street from one another as kids.

Something's going on in the world.

Bernanke taught at nearby Princeton. Somebody had GWB's ear.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. It's the cities they're from and the schools they went to and who their families knew

and the political and social connections they've developed. As in all professions, there are informal networks; it's not what you know, it's whom you know. If your friends from your town or your school have connections you can tap into them. It's the way everything works everywhere.

[sandensea]

12. Like most Repub justices, he was an "originalist" except when it didn't suit him

When it came to installing Dubya, it was "because I said so."

[forgotmylogin]

15. I saw a Tweet that summed this up.

Basically "Yeah, we can't take any modern technology they didn't have into account except for the 2nd amendment yeah go ahead with your laser sighted high-fire-rate machine guns that's totally okay LOL"

[reACTIONary]

17. The schools of thought contrary to the originalist position...

.... are sometimes grouped under the concept of "the living constitution".

An interesting book concerning this distinction is David Strauss The Living Constitution.

https://www.amazon.com/Living-Constitution-INALIENABLE-RIGHTS/dp/0195377273

[klook]

18. You have to use the WayWayback Machine to find John Jay's emails.

Those have been very helpful in bolstering the originalist viewpoint.

[Jersey Devlin]

3. Whoa!

Worse than Scalia? HE's the one today's "conservatives" get all teary-eyed about!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Scalia was popular with the RWers because his writing style

was both clever and caustic, and they loved the jabs he took at the liberal justices. But although Scalia was a Constitutional originalist - IMO a silly theory, but I'm not on the Supreme Court - and he almost always took the side of corporations vs. individuals, he wasn't such a crackpot that he couldn't come up with an argument supporting his decisions. He also was a strong advocate for the First Amendment. I didn't like him but he wasn't a knee-jerk reactionary like Alito and especially Thomas.

[cstanleytech]

8. Good as it was a vast overreach for Trump to try and order the states to do this.

[dvduval]

9. Free link

Read it for free here
https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/national/in-major-victory-for-california-supreme-court-rejects-trump-s-challenge-to-state-sanctuary-law/article_6fb9824d-6167-5322-a57e-6a78967fa51b.html
News should be a right not a privilege

[DeminPennswoods]

10. Court is on a roll

Two surprising decisions today rejecting rw arguments.

[ancianita]

11. So far, SCOTUS and the Constitution are holding against fascism.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

13. The dotard can't be happy about that.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

14. Taxpayer money wasted defending against executive action contrary to human rights.

Lookie who spearheaded this challenge.....

(snip)

The Trump administration’s challenge was launched by former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. He insisted California was unconstitutionally interfering with federal immigration enforcement. But the Supreme Court, in a decision written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, has said state and local officials are not obliged to carry out federal enforcement. That state’s rights doctrine appears to have prevailed.

But Trump still got his free bully pulpit moment on Faux News.......

[roamer65]

16. California Uber Alles!

I had to steal a little from Jello Biafra.