The Shadow Docket of the (current extremist majority) of the Supreme Court of the USA

[RockyRoadTravel]

The shadow docket, historically, was rarely used.  However since 2017, the current extremist majority of the Supreme Court has been using the shadow docket as a means of issuing emergency stays of lower-court rulings at the behest of the Incompetent-in-Chief's Justice Department.  The shadow docket has been rightly criticized for it's lack of transparency or accountability.  These are unsigned rulings where no oral arguments have been heard and little is any legal basis for the decision is provided.  Ruling without arguments or precedents.

My question is given the lack of transparency, the lack of accountability, the lack of any provision of a legal reasoning and the clear political bias of the current right-wing extremism of the Court's majority, what's to prevent this Court's majority to rule in a completely opposite way with the same set of circumstances when a non-rightwing-extremist Administration is back in the White House.  For example, with shadow docket overruling Humphrey’s Executor,  the Supreme Court allowed for the firing of federal agencies' leadership without a rationale, even though this countered 100 years of legal precedent regarding the separation of powers. Given a sane Administration in the White House after 2028, would this extremist Supreme Court majority maintain these shadow docket rulings or would decide to flip their unexplained unsigned decisions and run interference for the extreme right?   

[stevenkesslar]

1 hour ago, RockyRoadTravel said:

The shadow docket, historically, was rarely used.  However since 2017, the current extremist majority of the Supreme Court has been using the shadow docket as a means of issuing emergency stays of lower-court rulings at the behest of the Incompetent-in-Chief's Justice Department.  The shadow docket has been rightly criticized for it's lack of transparency or accountability.  These are unsigned rulings where no oral arguments have been heard and little is any legal basis for the decision is provided.  Ruling without arguments or precedents.

My question is given the lack of transparency, the lack of accountability, the lack of any provision of a legal reasoning and the clear political bias of the current right-wing extremism of the Court's majority, what's to prevent this Court's majority to rule in a completely opposite way with the same set of circumstances when a non-rightwing-extremist Administration is back in the White House.  For example, with shadow docket overruling Humphrey’s Executor,  the Supreme Court allowed for the firing of federal agencies' leadership without a rationale, even though this countered 100 years of legal precedent regarding the separation of powers. Given a sane Administration in the White House after 2028, would this extremist Supreme Court majority maintain these shadow docket rulings or would decide to flip their unexplained unsigned decisions and run interference for the extreme right?   

 

Great question.   Who the heel knows?

 

 

I'm surprised that in this Gallup poll it is is still around 50/50 favorable.  I have seen other polls that show SCOTUS as net unfavorable.

Clearly right now conservatives are lovin it.  And Democrats don't.   We'll see if they can manage to maintain any sense of balance.  I was worried that do to same sex marriage what they did to abortion.  They haven't.  At least not yet.

Since Democrats basically have no power in the executive and legislative branches, and SCOTUS is seeming more and more like a Trump rubber stamp, it is definitely setting the stage for a reaction back toward Democrats.  That reaction has clearly already started.  If and when we have Democrats in charge again, it would not surprise me to see a right wing SCOTUS resist what Democrats can do.  It already happened under Biden - like student loan forgiveness.