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The Supreme Court's Chance To Not Double Down On Bipartisan Hackery Is Here. Will They?

'We are not final because we are infallible — just slide in our coworker's DMs.'

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If not Gorsy, maybe Barrett?

Remember Erie and its progeny? Me neither —  I’m sure preventing forum shopping, traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice, and Elton John at a clocktower are in the ballpark, or railroad rather, but I openly admit I am not a civil procedure professional. I’m not too stressed though, as it appears that we’ve gone far past forum shopping. Today, the move is to go directly for the robes of your choice. After litigants fighting a vaccine mandate for teachers under a religious belief exemption got denied by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, they did the most logical thing one does when dealt that hand. They went behind her back and hit up Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Justice Shopping

My gut check assumption is that this is going to go nowhere quickly, but in this time of jurisprudential twilight, that may be the hubris talking. It appears to be permissible under Rule 22.4. Not to mention Schlesinger v. Holtzman did happen after all, with Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Douglas lobbing reverse cards at each other in quick succession. That was a War Powers case sure, but with the way mask mandates get occasionally referred to as “basically slavery,” this could play out as some goofy this-is-about-liberty case even the wildest Con Law professor wouldn’t dare dream up on a final. Let us not forget that Justice Gorsuch already played the “I don’t feel like it” card after Chief Justice John Roberts asked him to mask up in light of Sotomayor’s health. Will he stop at effectively vacating her from the room, or will he do the next logical step and vacate her denials? I’m not doubting the earlier claim that all of the justices have a warm relationship as colleagues and friends, but I can easily foresee some chilling effects on amicability if Gorsuch gives in to the “We didn’t like what mom said” gambit.

Ok, I’ve Heard Of Judge-Shopping, But This Is Just Getting Ridiculous: There’s Justice-Shopping Now [Reddit]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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