SCOTUS watch

This is a difficult post for me.

I want the Supreme Court to hear a Second Amendment case this term. I don’t think it is going to happen.

The normal procedure is for a case to get on the docket. The Court gives the party time to file briefs. Once all the briefs are filed, the case is ready for the next step.

The next step is for the Justices to discuss the case in private. This is done in Conference.

There are Wed. and Fri. Conferences. Cases that are petitioning for cert are discussed in the Friday Conferences.

We are informed when a case will be discussed by an entry in the case docket of the form “DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/24/2025”

During the Conference, the Justices will make decide to deny cert in a number of the cases. They will decide to grant cert in others. And some they will need more time to discuss.

In general, we hear about the results of the Conference on the following Monday. This is when the “Order List” is released.

The Order List will consist of GVRs. These are of the form “The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. The Judgement is vacated, and the case is remanded to the COURT for consideration in light of CASE“.

There will be Orders In Pending Cases. These are motions not related to granting cert. They are motions for stays, to file under seal, to proceed in forma pauperis (in the form of a pauper.)

Then there is the “Certiorari Denied”. This is a list of case numbers and case names. That is it. No other information is supplied.

There are other sections for Mandamus Denied, Rehearings Denied, and Attorney Discipline.

Finally, there are statements of the Justices.

These are of the form, “NAME, dissenting”, Title of case, case number, and date.

Following this is the actual dissent. This can be short or long, depending on the Justice writing it and how much they have to say about the denial of certiorari.

I’ve seen them as short as a page and some extending a half dozen or more pages.

What about the cases that aren’t listed?

This is where people get to panic.

If a case is not listed in the Order List, it can be for many reasons. The Justices might be planning a “Miscellaneous Order” for later in the week. We’ve seen that from time to time.

Unfortunately, the most likely reason is that the Justices decided to deny cert.

Given Thomas’ support of the Second Amendment, if they are denying cert, he will be writing a statement dissenting with the judgement.

Conclusion

I’m torn, I don’t want these cases to be denied cert. On the other hand, I can’t think of a reason that there is nothing posted about them, except that there is a dissenting Justice writing a statement.

Last week was a week of winning with Trump 2.0.

Maybe we’ll hear really good news later this week. I’ll keep an eye out for any news and keep you updated.