"With fear for our democracy, I dissent," are the words of Supreme Court #JusticeSoniaSotomayor in response to the case permitting #presidentialimmunity from prosecution for "official" acts. Indeed, this has been a #SCOTUS term for the ages.
In addition to the presidential immunity case, SCOTUS has also significantly weakened the #federalgovernment's power through 3 cases this term:
- in #LoperBright, SCOTUS overruled a 40 year old #doctrine known as #ChevronDeference. This doctrine afforded deference to #federalagencies (e.g., FDA, EPA, etc.) precisely to issue guidance, regulations, and other determinations that bring clarity to ambiguous areas of the law and that also provide protections through enforcement action (e.g., clean air and water, safe food and drugs, etc.), and thus, fairness and safety. Now, with this deference to federal agencies overruled, we will have to overly rely on the #judiciary to make such determinations.
- In #CornerPost, SCOTUS changed a critical element of the #statuteoflimitations for challenging federal regulations. The statute of limitations was previously 6 years, and now, with this ruling, challenges to federal regulations can be endless and without any certainty, due to a shift in when the statute of limitations clock starts to run.
- In #SECvJarkesy, SCOTUS stripped the #SEC of its ability to use in-house tribunals to adjudicate and enforce actions around securities laws violations, and in question is the enforcement power of many other agencies.
While there are other consequential decisions from this term, I wanted to highlight the ones above because in an instant, these, and other cases are part of a troubling trend reflecting legal and other power shifts that 1) weaken the federal government, 2) that concentrate more power in a judiciary that has a heavy lean along ideological, partisan lines (as we have seen with ignoring decades of precedent and overturning settled case law re: reproductive rights, affirmative action, voting rights, and many other areas), and 3) that enable the President as a "king above the law" in official acts, according to Justice Sotomayor.
So what now? I know that sometimes, it can seem like some of these cases don't impact us directly in our day to day lives, but they do. They are a part of the #legalstructure that governs the #remedies we seek, the #solutions and #designs we implement, and the #power we have to create a #justsociety, including an #equitable #economy as we do at Common Future. In my latest piece, I share more examples on where we are seeing these shifts and restrictions, as well as what we can do so that we can continue our journey toward the ideals of a #multiracial #democracy and an equitable economy. This is what I will be reflecting on this week as we mark #IndependenceDay, and as we are two years away from the #250th anniversary of the #DeclarationofIndependence. https://lnkd.in/e4vHhBrt