NEW - Supreme Court to announce one or more decisions in argued cases on Thursday May 21, at 10amET.

JUST IN - Supreme Court, in an apparent 7-2, allows mail access to mifepristone, over the public dissent of Justice Thomas and Justice Alito. Justices Thomas and Alito both filed dissenting opinions.

Dissents - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25a1207_21p3.pdf

JUST IN - Supreme Court tosses a Hail Mary bid from Virginia Democrats to overturn a state Supreme Court ruling which voided a referendum that would’ve made a 10D-1R congressional map. There were no noted dissents.

Happy Opinion Day Everyone!

Each opinion day is a day closer to summer recess, where we can, for the most part, let our guard down and take a break without worrying too much about unexpected Supreme Court cases to report on.

At 10amET, the justices will convene to release at least one or, hopefully more, opinions in argued cases this term. As always, we will be here to deliver them to you as soon as they are live on the website.

Here is the first opinion of the day from the Supreme Court.

Case - M & K Employee Solutions LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund.

Authored by: Justice Jackson

Joined by: Unanimous Court.

Holding: The provisions of ERISA governing the calculation of withdrawal liability—§§1391 and 1393—do not require the actuarial assumptions underlying that calculation to be selected on or before the measurement date.

Dissent: N/A

Link to opinion: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/23-1209_i3kn.pdf

Here is the second case of the day from the Supreme Court.

Case: Havana Docks Corp. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Authored by: Justice Thomas

Joined by: Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Alito, Sotomayor, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Jackson.

Holding: The cruise lines’ use of the docks is sufficient to establish that they used “property which was confiscated by the Cuban Government”; Havana Docks is not required to establish that the cruise lines trafficked in Havana Dock’s property interest.

Dissent: Justice Kagan.

Link to opinion: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-983_c07d.pdf

Hamm v. Smith is dismissed as improvidently granted. Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Jackson joined, concurred in the dismissal. Justice Thomas dissented. Justice Alito also dissented, join by Justice Thomas and Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Gorsuch in part.

Link - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-872_ec8f.pdf

That’s all for today folks.

JUST IN - Supreme Court to release one or more opinions in argued cases on Thursday May 28, at 10amET.

Here is the first opinion of the day from the Supreme Court.

Case - Fernandez v. United States.

Authored by - Justice Barrett

Joined by - Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh. Justices Sotomayor and Kagan concur in the judgment.

Holding - A prisoner who collaterally attacks the validity of his conviction
must proceed through 28 U. S. C. §2255, not 18 U. S. C. §3582; the supposed invalidity of a conviction is not among the “extraordinary and
compelling reasons” that justify compassionate release.

Dissent - Justice Jackson

Link to opinion - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-556_8m58.pdf

Here is the second opinion of the day from the Supreme Court.

Case: Rutherford v. United States.

Authored by - Justice Barrett

Joined by - Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh.

Holding - When Congress declines to make a sentencing amendment retroactive—as with the change to §924(c)—the resulting sentencing disparity cannot serve as an “extraordinary and compelling” reason that warrants a sentence reduction under 18 U. S. C. §3582(c)(1)(A)(i).

Dissent - Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson.

Link to opinion - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-820_97be.pdf

Here is the third opinion of the day from the Supreme Court.

Case - Pitchford v. Cain

Authored by - Justice Kavanaugh

Joined by - Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson.

Holding - The Mississippi Supreme Court unreasonably applied the clearly established Batson precedents and unreasonably determined that Pitchford waived his opportunity to rebut the prosecutor’s asserted race-neutral reasons for the peremptory strikes of four black prospective jurors.

Dissent - Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justices Thomas, Alito, and Barrett.

Link to opinion - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-7351_jiel.pdf

Here is the fourth and final opinion of the day from the Supreme Court.

Case - Flowers Foods. V. Brock

Authored by - Justice Gorsuch

Joined by - Unanimous Court.

Holding - A worker who transports goods on an intrastate leg of an interstate journey can qualify for §1’s exemption without crossing state lines or interacting with vehicles that do

Dissent - none.

Link to opinion - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-935_k53m.pdf

That’s all for today folks.

JUST IN - Supreme Court to release one or more opinions in argued cases on Thursday June 4, at 10amET.

NEWS - Justice Barrett’s home was targeted in an apparent “swatting incident” late Wednesday evening. Because every Supreme Court Justice is assigned a 24-7 security detail provided by the Supreme Court Police Personnel, authorities coordinated with the specific detail and no additional resources were dispatched for the matter.