From around the internet

Free Speech

The U.S. Supreme Court may take up an interesting free speech case soon. The NRA brought a claim against former New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, and Superintendent of New York State Financial Services, Maria Vullo, in their official capacities, alleging a violation of the NRA’s First Amendment rights. The complaint alleges that the New York government pressured financial institutions to cease doing business with the NRA. The two officials publicly declared this goal. Soon thereafter, several financial institutions severed ties with the NRA. At least one financial executive has stated his company wanted to continue business with the NRA, but feared the company would lose its license in New York State. The Second Circuit U.S. Court of appeals ruled in favor of the government, but in doing so expanded the circumstances under which government officials can violate free speech rights. That ruling puts the state of the law in a bit of flux, which is why there is an expactation that the Supreme Court may step in.

Separation of powers

Last week, I wrote about the abortion drug case moving through the Federal Court system. I commented on the separation of powers issues involved after Congresswoman Alexadria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Senator Ron Wyden called on the FDA to ignore the Federal District Court ruling and continue to provide the drug, whether the ruling was upheld or not. The case has now made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court issued an initial stay on the ruling through this past Wednesday, but then extended the stay to today. So, action from the Court is expected today. In a happy turn of events, Democratic U.S. Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) this week rejected calls for the FDA to ignore the ruling, stating, “It’s hard to ignore the rule of law.” Indeed.

More separation of powers

Recently, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, has come under what are widely agreed to be baseless attacks from a left-wing advocacy organization. The organization published an article claiming that Thomas improperly accepted gifts, in the form of vacations, from businessman Harlan Crow. Thomas and Crow have been friends for decades, and their families often vacation together. Apparently, Crow pays for much of the trips. The article alleges that such activity creates a conflict of interest, even though the trips are not required to be reported under the Supreme Court’s rules and Crow has had no cases before the Court. This led some advocacy groups on the left to propose calling Thomas to testify in front of the U.S. Senate Judciary Committee, currently controlled by Demcrats. U.S. Senator, Richard Durbin (D-IL), the Committee Chair, has instead opted to call U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Roberts, to testify about ethics concerns with the Court. This is a rare event, as Supreme Court members typically only testify in Congress regarding budget matters for the Court. The move sets up a potential separation of powers showdown. Roberts has not yet responded to the request.