Professor Barrett Was At Home In CASA

After the Supreme Court decided Trump v. CASA, the Wall Street Journal editorial page took a victory lap. The editors, who have consistentyl defended Barrett, wrote “What an end-of-term rejoinder to the MAGA loudmouths who have been complaining that Justice Barrett is a pushover.” On July 4, the WSJ published a letter to the editor as a follow-up:

A few months ago I ran into Justice Neil Gorsuch and lamented some of his colleagues’ recent opinions. I criticized Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in particular, both of whom had recently ruled against the Trump administration. Justice Gorsuch was characteristically gracious and spoke of how each was entitled to his own opinions.

I once was what your editorial “The Supreme Court Kills ‘Universal’ Injunctions” (June 28) refers to as a “MAGA loudmouth.” After reading Justice Barrett’s superb opinion in Trump v. CASA, I am a repentant MAGA loudmouth. She is a star—and I regret ever doubting it.

Joel Marks

Richmond, Va.

Did this encounter with Justice Gorsuch actually happen? I find this conversation so implausible. And I cannot find any record for a Joel Marks who is an attorney in Richmond. I searched the Virginia State Bar for a Joel Marks and found nothing. I did find a news story from Henrico County, Virginia, where a Joel Marks complained about a broken water main.

I provide this background to illustrate how poorly the criticism of Justice Barrett is understood. If Marks criticized Barrett for simply ruling against Trump, he has no idea what he is talking about. And if he thinks that Justice Barrett’s decision in CASA suggests she will not rule against Trump in the future, then Marks really has no clue what he is talking about. Why then did the WSJ give Marks the time of day? Marks fit the template–those who doubted Justice Barrett now have no doubts.

My doubts remain. Indeed, they are reinforced. These doubts predated Trump’s re-election, and were never premised on whether Barrett rules for Trump. Brackeen and Vidal are critical data points, combined with a string of emergency docket rulings, and a consistent record of denying cert on important cases. My concern is this: how much evidence does Barrett requires to reach an originalist ruling. Academics, as a whole, require fully-developed theories based on a volume of scholarly articles to reach a solid conclusion. Judges, generally, do not.

Trump v. CASA should not have been a particularly difficult case. There is fairly overwhelming evidence that universal injunctions are recent innovations, and that under Grupo Mexicano, such novelty is doubtful. Justices Thomas and Gorsuch reached this conclusion years ago with ease. I can imagine Justice Scalia disposing of this case pretty easily.

Yet, Justice Barrett’s opinion reads like a law review article that summarizes the academic literature. On point after point, Barrett contrasts the views of Sam Bray, Will Baude, and Michael Morley on the one hand with the views of Mila Sohoni on the other. Indeed, Barrett refers to Amanda Frost as the “mainstream” view. For readers of this blog, these names may be familiar. But for most lawyers, this sort of scholarly debate is quite esoteric.

Footnote 7 illustrates the point.

⁷There is some dispute about whether Wirtz was the first universal injunction. Professor Mila Sohoni points to other possible 20th-century examples, including West Virginia Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette, 319 U. S. 624 (1943), Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U. S. 510 (1925), and Lewis Publishing Co. v. Morgan, 229 U. S. 288 (1913). See M. Sohoni, 133 Harv. L. Rev., at 943; Brief for Professor Mila Sohoni as Amica Curiae 3; see also post, at 21 (opinion of SOTOMAYOR, J.). But see M. Morley, Disaggregating the History of Nationwide Injunctions: A Response to ProfessorSohoni, 72 Ala. L. Rev. 239, 252–256 (2020) (disputing these examples).

Justice Sotomayor in dissent argues that West Virginia v. Barnette and Pierce v. Society of Sisters were examples of universal injunction. Yet, in a footnote, Justice Barrett leads off by citing Professor Sohonoi, with a see also to Justice Sotomayor’s dissent! Doesn’t that seem backwards? Shouldn’t the Justice come first? And does Justice Barrett discuss those landmark cases, and explain why Sotomayor is wrong? No, she includes a But see citation to Michael Morley who “disputes” those examples. I suppose it is fair enough to cite a law review article that parses some history or arcana. But wouldn’t it fall to a Supreme Court majority on how best to interpret landmark Supreme Court cases. I would like to know why Barnette and Pierce did not approve of universal injunctions. This is the sort of footnote that is all too common in academia. When there is contrary authority, just cite someone else who disputes it. But this is not how the Supreme Court usually handles a central disagreement.

I am grateful that Bray, Baude, and Morley have made such a compelling case against universal injunctions. But what if they hadn’t? What if the theoretical framework was not so airtight? What if some earlier injunctions could plausibly have been characterizes as universal? Or what if this case came to the Court several years ago when many of these arguments were still being developed? Would Barrett have had enough of a theory to go on? I’m not sure. In short, Justice Barrett was able to write the strong opinion she did because of the scholarly work done by others. What would she have done in a case like Lopez, or even Heller, where the scholarly literature was not so solid?

We will have to wait for the next case that presents a novel constitutional question, and where there is not a clear scholarly consensus. That will provide the real test of where Justice Barrett is–and not the uncertain views of a MAGA loudmouth.

I appreciate my friend Ilya Shapiro’s defense of Justice Barrett in the Washington Post. I find myself in agreement with much of it. Still, there are caveats. Ilya writes that Barret “will join the conservative majority on the substance of issues that are squarely presented [like] overturning Roe v. Wade.” But Barrett voted to deny cert in Dobbs, and the Court only took the case after (likely) Justice Kavanaugh granted cert. Ilya writes that Barrett gave “Trump the immunity he needed to escape the lawfare he faced in the run-up to the last election.” Sort of. It isn’t clear which parts of the majority opinion she actually joined, and she would have allowed a trial to consider a range of otherwise immune conduct. Ilya writes that Barrett has “join[ed] the conservative majority” to “preserv[e] religious freedom.” Except she refused to join Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch on overruling Employment Division v. Smith, and has shown no interest in revisiting the interest since Fulton.  Ilya wrte Barrett voted to “ending racial preferences in college admissions.” But she has denied review in a cases where schools are flagrantly violating Students for Fair Admissions. Justice Barrett’s Skrmetti concurrence read like the efforts of a law professor to make sense of Footnote Four–a Footnote that has no basis in the Constitution. I am still befuddled why Justice Thomas joined it, given that he agreed with Justice Scalia that Footnote Four should be jettisoned. And Ilya does acknowledge Barrett’s opinion in Murthy, which erected an almost insurmountable standard for standing.

I could go on, but I won’t. At a high level, Barrett’s record look great. But if you drill down just a bit, things look differently. See the wall of receipts.

Still, OT 2024 was far better for Barrett than last term, or the term before. If we are grading terms, I would give her a solid B. I would give Justice Kavanaugh a B+. And Justice Gorsuch would get an A-. All three Trump appointees lose points for AARP. There is always hope for next term.

And with that, I have finished blogging about the decisions of the OT 2024 Term. Perhaps.

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