Wednesday round-up

Amy Howe reports for this blog, in a post that first appeared at Howe on the Court, that yesterday the court denied, at least for now, “a request by the federal government to put a temporary hold on an order by a federal court that could lead to the release or transfer of over 800 inmates from a federal prison where nine inmates have died from COVID-19.” For The Washington Post (subscription required), Robert Barnes reports that “[t]he court left open the door for the administration[:] It said a new filing could be appropriate later after the case proceeded through lower courts.” Additional coverage comes from Adam Liptak for The New York Times, who reports that “Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch said they would have granted the administration’s request for a stay.”

Yesterday the court also released orders from last week’s conference; the justices did not add any new cases to their merits docket. Amy Howe covers the order list for this blog, in a post that first appeared at Howe on the Court. At the Election Law Blog, Rick Hasen finds Monday’s denial without comment of the cert petition in Higginson v. Becerra, a challenge to California’s Voting Rights Act, surprising, because he “had thought this attack on the CA VRA could capture the attention of some of the Court’s conservatives, given their writings about race-based remedies in voting more generally.”

At CNN, Jamie Ehrlich reports that “[t]he Supreme Court’s solid conservative majority could soon choose to take up its first major Second Amendment case in nearly a decade, positioning the court to override state laws established to limit the availability and accessibility of some firearms and when they can be carried in public.” The editorial board of The Washington Post argues that “[t]he fact that the Supreme Court is now more conservative than it was a decade ago is no reason to upend — once again — its Second Amendment directives.”

Briefly:

• For this blog, in a post that first appeared at Howe on the Court, Amy Howe reports that “[a] southern California church has asked the Supreme Court to block the enforcement of stay-at-home orders issued by California and San Diego County, arguing that the orders are unconstitutional because they discriminate against places of worship.”
• At Freedom Forum, Tony Mauro reports that “[t]he Supreme Court may soon add another key First Amendment case to its docket — this time touching on the amendment’s lesser-known rights of assembly and petition” – Mckesson v. Doe, a petition “urging the court to uphold its tradition of protecting the rights of protesters.”
• At Legal Newsline, John Breslin covers Jarchow v. State Bar of Wisconsin, a pending petition “involving attorneys objecting to being compelled to join the Wisconsin state bar and pay fees.”
• At the ImmigrationProf Blog, Nancy Morawetz argues that the cert petition in Albence v. Arteaga-Martinez, “a case on the rights of post-removal order detainees to an individualized bond hearing,” “is devoid of any plausible argument for certiorari other than that the grant is sought by the SG.”

We rely on our readers to send us links for our round-up. If you have or know of a recent (published in the last two or three days) article, post, podcast or op-ed relating to the Supreme Court that you’d like us to consider for inclusion in the round-up, please send it to roundup [at] scotusblog.com. Thank you!