Ever since former President Donald Trump's three appointments, the Supreme Court has pursued a harsh right-wing agenda — but there are judges in lower courts who want to go so far that even this group of justices has to pull them back in a little bit, writes Marina Villanueve for Salon.
This comes as the justices are wrapping up a highly-charged term that has brought a number of hotly anticipated decisions — many of which have had to overrule the Fifth Circuit, a southern appellate court that is itself stacked with Trump appointees and has gained a reputation for issuing extreme right-wing rulings.
"In May, the Supreme Court reversed a Fifth Circuit ruling that found the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding violated the Constitution's separation of powers and Appropriations Clause. The Supreme Court's 7-2 decision found that the underlying statute authorizing the CRPB satisfies the appropriation's clause," wrote Villanueve. "And last week, the Supreme Court in an 8-1 ruling upheld a federal law that prohibits possession of firearms by individuals subject to domestic-violence restraining orders. The Fifth Circuit had agreed that the law was unconstitutional under New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, in which the U.S. Supreme Court established a new standard that modern gun control laws must be 'consistent with the Second Amendment's text and historical understanding.'"
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This is all on top of the Supreme Court also reversing the Fifth Circuit's decision to partially uphold an extreme-right district judge's order for the Food and Drug Administration to rescind approval for mifepristone, a commonly-used abortion medication, and their decision reversing the Fifth Circuit's ruling that the Biden administration cannot collaborate with social media companies on combating disinformation.
"What we're seeing here is a series of really sort of deranged cases bubbling up from the Fifth Circuit where the Supreme Court conservative super majority is basically having to say: 'Look we agree with you, Fifth Circuit broadly, but we can't countenance this,'" said Jay Willis, who heads up the Supreme Court monitoring outlet Balls and Strikes.
The Supreme Court has yet to decide more blockbuster cases this term, one of the most closely watched being the decision on whether and the extent to which former President Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution for acts taken in office.