We are approaching lawlessness on the part of the courts in a way that has not been seen before. First the Fifth Circuit defied the Supreme Court on abortion issues, now here comes the Eighth Circuit blatantly ignoring the Supreme Court’s RODRIGUEZ v. UNITED STATES decision. As techdirt explains, this is such a clear violation of precedent the SCOTUS should reverse instantly; BUT, techdirt failed to notice that RODRIGUES was decided 6-3 in 2015, thus if the court was similarly constituted as it was in 2015 this decision would have been met with a “bitchslap” from the SCOTUS. Unfortunately, 3 of the 6 are gone – Ginsburg, Scalia, Breyer – with Roberts, Sotomayor & Kagan remaining. That means for this ruling to be reversed one of the 3 Trump appointees – Gorsuch, Kavanaugh or Barrett – would have to join Roberts, Sotomayor, Kagan & Jackson. (Jackson will replace Breyer next term and supports the RODRIGUEZ decision).
BUT first Felipe Noriega, (United States v. Felipe Noriega, Jr., No. 21-1421 (8th Cir. 2022)) will have to seek SCOTUS review & they’ll have to grant it. This will be a case to watch, as it’s fundamental to curtailing our current “police state” where the “ends justify the means”.