Welcome to the Friday, July 2, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- SCOTUS issues final two opinions of term
- Support Information for All
- #FridayTrivia
California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (D) announced that a recall election seeking to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will take place on Sept. 14. Click here to read more about the recall effort.
We hope you have a happy and safe Independence Day weekend with family and friends! The Brew will be back in your inbox on Tuesday, July 6.
SCOTUS issues final two opinions of term
Yesterday, July 1, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its final two opinions of the October 2020-2021 term. These two decisions brought the total number of opinions issued this term to 66.
The court will now be in recess until the start of the next term in October. Now that this term is wrapped up, let’s look quickly at some top-level numbers.
- The court issued 31 reversals (47%) this term.
- Last year, that number was 22 (35%).
- The court issued eight 5-4 decisions this term.
- Last year, that number was 13. The year before, it was 19.
- Between 2007 and 2019, the Supreme Court released opinions in 993 cases, averaging 76 cases per year. During that period, the court reversed a lower court decision 696 times (70.1%) and affirmed a lower court decision 289 times (29%). This year’s reversal rate of 47% was lower than the average by 23 percentage points.
Here’s an overview of the two cases decided yesterday.
- Americans for Prosperity v. Bonta: In a 6-3 opinion, the Supreme Court reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit’s ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings, holding that the district court was correct in entering judgment in favor of the petitioners and permanently enjoining the California attorney general from collecting their Schedule B forms, and that the Ninth Circuit erred when it vacated those injunctions and directed the entry of judgment for the attorney general.
- The case: Two conservative advocacy groups, the Thomas More Law Center and Americans for Prosperity, challenged a California policy requirement that tax-exempt §501(c)(3) charitable organizations must disclose the names and addresses of major donors. The groups argued that the policy violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of the state.
- Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee: In a 6-3 opinion, the Supreme Court reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit’s ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings, holding that Arizona’s out-of-precinct policy and HB 2023 did not violate §2 of the Voting Rights Act, and that HB 2023 was not enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose.
- The case: In 2016, several arms of the Democratic Party (ongoing referred to as the DNC) sued Arizona, saying its out-of-precinct policy and its ballot-collection law violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The U.S. District Court denied the DNC’s petition, which a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed. In an en banc rehearing, the 9th Circuit granted a preliminary injunction, which the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the next day.
We have much more data about this year’s term on Ballotpedia. Click the link below to explore it all.
Support Information for All
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#FridayTrivia
On Tuesday, I wrote about the first Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential election cycle, which took place two years ago this week. The debate featured 20 candidates, including Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
For today’s question, I’m asking: How many Democratic primary presidential debates took place during the 2020 election?