USPol; SCOTUS Today
Four #SCOTUS cases dropped today. Two are wonky & confusing, two are very important.
Let's talk wonky first.
Dubin v. United States - In a unanimous decision, SCOTUS ruled that someone "uses another's identity" in a crime only if the use of said identity is a core component of the crime being committed. Basically - if you commit a crime (for ex. healthcare overbilling for Medicaid services, as was the case here) you can't also be charged with identity theft because you happened to use a patient's name on the paperwork. So...that happened.
USPol; SCOTUS Today
Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC - This was another unanimous one. And an odd one. Jack Daniel's sued a company that made & trademarked dog toys that they claimed made fun of their brand. SCOTUS's response? If you're clearly making fun of a brand (ex. Jack Daniels), you can't trademark the mockery otherwise that's trademark infringement.
Now the next two...they're more important from a human rights perspective.
USPol; SCOTUS Today
Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion Cty. v. Talevski - In this case, residents of a nursing home were suing claiming their rights per federal law were violated in regard to how a series of publicly owned / run nursing home handled a patient. SCOTUS agreed in a 7-2 decision that you can sue based on federal spending laws if you believe a nursing home is not providing you with what you were entitled.
USPol; SCOTUS Today
Allen v. Milligan - This is the one everyone is going to talk about. This one is big. The State of Alabama redistricted and, in so doing, SCOTUS by a 5-4 margin ruled that they violated the Voting Rights Act by disenfranchising Black voters. In so doing, they also upheld that remaining affirmative action / majority-minority district requirements of the Voting Rights Act. This one is huge & unexpected with the current make-up of the court.
USPol; SCOTUS Today
I don’t think it was an unexpected result, though. It seems pretty in keeping with both the history and practice of the #SCOTUS.
This is the sort of thing where I really feel like people who found this surprising need to reevaluate who they listen to for news, since a lot of people were caught offguard based on being mislead about how the Court actually operates.
To put it in scientific terms, many news outlets sell dramatic theories that aren’t quite right, and these moments are the experiments that show those theories to be wrong.
