SCotUS Today
1. Ohio v. EPA (Gorsuch 5-4)
Dissent: Barrett, Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson.
This was a case about whether the Supreme Court should temporarily block a rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce air pollution from power plants and other industrial facilities while litigation continues. The case arises from the EPA’s interpretation of a law known as the “good neighbor” provision of the Clean Air Act, which requires “upwind” states to reduce emissions that affect the air quality in “downwind” states.
The court grants the states' application to put the rule on hold while the case proceeds in the lower courts.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23a349_0813.pdf
2. Harrington v. Purdue Pharma (Gorsuch, 5-4)
Dissent: Kavanaugh, Roberts, Sotomayor, Kagan
This was a case about whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit was correct to approve a multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma, the maker of the highly addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin, that would release members of the Sackler family, which owned the company but did not declare bankruptcy, from any future liability for claims against them. The justices agreed last summer to put the bankruptcy plan on hold while it reviewed the challenge, brought by (among others) the federal government, to the plan’s legality. A bankruptcy judge originally approved the plan in 2021, reasoning that although the confirmation was a “bitter result” it was also the only way to provide funding for communities to address the problems caused by opioids.
The court holds that the bankruptcy code does not authorize this kind of order.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-124_8nk0.pdf
3. SEC v. Jarkesy (Chief Roberts, 6-3)
Dissent: Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson.
This was a case about whether the structure and enforcement powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission violate the Constitution. The case began as an administrative proceeding by the SEC against George Jarkesy, an investment adviser and the founder of a hedge fund. The SEC ruled that Jarkesy and his firm had committed securities fraud, and it ordered them to pay $300,000 in fines and nearly double that in repayments. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit agreed with Jarkesy and held that three different aspects of the SEC’s operations are unconstitutional.
The court holds that when the SEC seeks civil penalties against a defendant for securities fraud, the Seventh Amendment entitles the defendant to a jury trial.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-859_1924.pdf
4. Moyle v. United States leaked yesterday (Barrett, 6-3)
Dissent: It's a hodgepodge.
Whether a federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires emergency rooms at hospitals that participate in Medicare to provide “necessary stabilizing treatment,” can sometimes trump an Idaho law that makes it a crime to provide an abortion except in a handful of narrow circumstances, including to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest.
Dismissed.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-726_6jgm.pdf