There was a lot doing in the country's courthouses on Wednesday. The Supreme Court heard a case that could set the administrative state back to the second Cleveland administration and Elon Musk's glorified SLAPP suit against Media Matters won the wingnut judge lottery in Texas. Wheeee! Originalmalism!
First up, the Supreme Court heard a massive case called SEC vs. Jarkesy, a three-headed attack on the SEC which, if it goes the wrong way, has the potential to demolish every government institution that has inconvenienced the rich, the powerful, and the conservative since the dawn of the New Deal. From Vox:
Jarkesy, however, could potentially end differently. None of the three rationales the Fifth Circuit offered for neutering the SEC are especially persuasive, but one of them is grounded in a pet project of the conservative Federalist Society known as the “unitary executive "...A sweeping decision affirming the Fifth Circuit could potentially enable former President Donald Trump to stack the federal civil service with MAGA loyalists, should he become president again. Under the strongest version of the unitary executive theory, there are few, if any, limits on a president’s power to fire government employees who refuse to swear personal loyalty to that president.
Well, that sounds disastrous. What else is on offer here?
Nevertheless, the first of Jarkesy’s objections to the SEC’s proceeding against him is that the law permitting the SEC to choose which venue to bring...
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