Latest / Bloomberg Law / SCOTUS Gives Trump Okay to Fire Federal Workers
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Law with June Grossel from Bloomberg Radio.
- 0:08Speaker 1: After the Supreme Court term, come the statistics, which circuit
- 0:13Speaker 1: was reversed the most, which justice was in the majority
- 0:16Speaker 1: the most, how many closely divided cases were there. You
- 0:20Speaker 1: get the idea, and it's the Fourth Circuit that's drawing
- 0:24Speaker 1: attention this year. The Virginia based Court of Appeals used
- 0:27Speaker 1: to have the lowest rate of being reversed among the circuits,
- 0:31Speaker 1: but this term it had the dubious distinction of a
- 0:34Speaker 1: one hundred percent reversal rate. The Supreme Court overturned its
- 0:39Speaker 1: decisions in eight out of eight cases, and some of
- 0:42Speaker 1: those were high profile cases like Mahmood versus Taylor, where
- 0:46Speaker 1: the Court allowed religious parents to opt their children out
- 0:50Speaker 1: of classes where LGBTQ friendly books are read. My guest
- 0:55Speaker 1: is constitutional law expert Harold Krant, a professor at the
- 0:58Speaker 1: Chicago Kent College of Law. So how scotis blog has
- 1:03Speaker 1: come out with its annual stats for the last term
- 1:07Speaker 1: now from two thousand and seven through twenty twenty three,
- 1:11Speaker 1: the Supreme Court reversed decisions from the Fourth Circuit in
- 1:14Speaker 1: thirty six out of fifty eight cases. That's a sixty
- 1:18Speaker 1: two point one percent reversal rate, so it had the
- 1:21Speaker 1: lowest rate of being overturned among the circuits, and now
- 1:25Speaker 1: in this term it went to one hundred percent reversal rate.
- 1:29Speaker 1: Any idea why.
- 1:31Speaker 2: I think a little bit is just uplip. These variances
- 1:34Speaker 2: occur from time to time. But I also think that
- 1:36Speaker 2: given the location of Fourth Circuit, they are centered where
- 1:41Speaker 2: so many federal government employees are centered, where there's a
- 1:44Speaker 2: lot of grants in terms of HHS offices, Social Security Administration,
- 1:49Speaker 2: and so forth, that there's a lot of current litigation
- 1:53Speaker 2: against the tough administration which is just centered geographically in
- 1:58Speaker 2: that district. So it's not surprising that there's a higher
- 2:01Speaker 2: percentage of cases from the Fourth Circuit that are reaching
- 2:04Speaker 2: the Supreme Court. And of course it's a little bit
- 2:06Speaker 2: of a blip, but it's understandable that there's going to
- 2:09Speaker 2: be more cases that the Supreme Court is going to
- 2:11Speaker 2: resolve against the Fourth Circuit. Fourth Circuit is relatively ideologically balanced,
- 2:15Speaker 2: so it's not considered to be either a very liberal
- 2:19Speaker 2: or a very republican very conservative court. But nonetheless there's
- 2:23Speaker 2: a lot of these cases that have arisen there and
- 2:26Speaker 2: so we're seeing intention between the Fourth Circuit and the
- 2:29Speaker 2: Supreme Court.
- 2:30Speaker 1: The reversals included some of the blockbusters of the term,
- 2:35Speaker 1: cases where the Court made it harder for judges to
- 2:37Speaker 1: issue nationwide injunctions, the case where the Court allowed parents
- 2:41Speaker 1: to up their children out of lessons where LGBTQ friendly
- 2:45Speaker 1: books were read, and the case paving the way for
- 2:48Speaker 1: South Carolina to exclude a planned parented affiliate from its
- 2:51Speaker 1: medicaid program. And all those cases were six to three
- 2:54Speaker 1: with the liberals dissenting. So I'm wondering if the Fourth
- 3:00Speaker 1: Circuit is more in line with the liberals and less
- 3:02Speaker 1: in line with the conservatives. Is there a certain partisanship there.
- 3:07Speaker 2: I would frame it that the Fourth Circuit is aligned
- 3:09Speaker 2: with traditional conservative judicial principles. That this Court has veered
- 3:14Speaker 2: from those traditional conservative judicial principles, which is why we're
- 3:18Speaker 2: seeing the gap. I think that that Fourth Circuit is
- 3:21Speaker 2: cautious and it's trying to adhere to the sort of
- 3:25Speaker 2: judicial principles or judicial customs perspectives the way they've understood
- 3:30Speaker 2: them for a generation. And that's running against the current
- 3:35Speaker 2: Supreme Court's position, which seems to be far more solicitous
- 3:40Speaker 2: of both judicial power as well as presidential power.
- 3:45Speaker 1: It used to be that the Ninth Circuit was the
- 3:47Speaker 1: most reviewed this term. The Ninth Circuit had fewer than
- 3:50Speaker 1: a third of the cases that the Court reviewed from
- 3:54Speaker 1: the Fifth Circuit, the most conservative pellet court in the country,
- 3:57Speaker 1: and it's sort of taken the place of the Ninth
- 4:00Speaker 1: in the last couple of terms. Of the sixty two
- 4:02Speaker 1: cases the Supreme Court decided this term, thirteen came from
- 4:06Speaker 1: the Fifth Circuit, more than from any other circuit, and
- 4:10Speaker 1: it was reversed in ten of the thirteen cases. The
- 4:13Speaker 1: last term, it was reversed in six of the nine cases.
- 4:17Speaker 2: Well, the Fifth Circuit is known as the most conservative
- 4:20Speaker 2: but an activist conservative court. The Ninth Circuit has been
- 4:24Speaker 2: historically known as the most activist of progressive or liberal courts.
- 4:28Speaker 2: So it's not surprising that decisions from those two circuits
- 4:33Speaker 2: disproportionately go to the Supreme Court. And indeed, we've seen
- 4:37Speaker 2: an interesting switch now in the Fifth Circuit because the
- 4:39Speaker 2: Fifth Circuit led the charge against the Biden administration in
- 4:42Speaker 2: some very surprising cases, including two delegation cases in which
- 4:46Speaker 2: the Supreme Court struck them down. This term and the
- 4:49Speaker 2: question is will they be as anti administration when it
- 4:53Speaker 2: comes time to review that which the Trump administration is doing.
- 4:57Speaker 2: And early records are mixed, so that's something to look too.
- 5:00Speaker 2: I think that some of the ardor of the Fifth
- 5:02Speaker 2: Circuit in terms of being anti administration will be damp.
- 5:04Speaker 2: And now with the switch politically at the top of
- 5:07Speaker 2: the helm.
- 5:08Speaker 1: Has the Fifth Circuit been trying to push the envelope,
- 5:12Speaker 1: so to speak, and be more aggressive in terms of
- 5:15Speaker 1: conservative policies or jurisprudence.
- 5:19Speaker 2: Well FITSIRKA has been at the cusp in terms of
- 5:22Speaker 2: pushing against administrative power, power of the agencies to rule.
- 5:29Speaker 2: I mean, for instance, in the telecommunications case, they had
- 5:33Speaker 2: sought to curb the power of the Communications Commission to
- 5:39Speaker 2: impose attacks on telecoms, and that of course was upheld.
- 5:43Speaker 2: I mean, the Biden administration pursued that plan, but so
- 5:47Speaker 2: did the Trump administration. And so the question is will
- 5:49Speaker 2: the fith Circuit continue its sort of skepticism about administrative
- 5:55Speaker 2: power given that President Trump is now a top of
- 5:59Speaker 2: the executive branch. So time will tell whether they'll continue,
- 6:03Speaker 2: But clearly they have marked in case after case, particularly
- 6:07Speaker 2: during the bidennistration, they challenged the legitimacy of the this
- 6:12Speaker 2: rap agencies, you know, in terms of the vaccine policies,
- 6:16Speaker 2: in terms of the student loans and more.
- 6:18Speaker 1: When the justices take cases, they usually take them to reverse,
- 6:22Speaker 1: don't they. I mean, forty four out of the fifty
- 6:25Speaker 1: nine cases they took this term were reversed.
- 6:28Speaker 2: That's generally the case. But obviously more generally they take
- 6:31Speaker 2: cases when there's a split and the Court needs to
- 6:33Speaker 2: resolve a split in the circuits. So sometimes it's just
- 6:36Speaker 2: the matter which of the two cases they take, because
- 6:39Speaker 2: one case goes one way and one case goes the other.
- 6:42Speaker 2: So sometimes those figures are a tad misleading.
- 6:45Speaker 1: Chief Justice John Roberts, when he talks about the Court
- 6:48Speaker 1: loves to talk about the number of unanimous opinions forty
- 6:52Speaker 1: two percent this term. But all of the controversial cases
- 6:56Speaker 1: involving social issues like religious rights, lgbt Q rights, they
- 7:01Speaker 1: all fall down ideological lines. So why does unanimity in
- 7:06Speaker 1: less than half the cases matter?
- 7:09Speaker 2: Well, begive and me, I think as a reminder to
- 7:11Speaker 2: us that it's still a court, and yet members of
- 7:14Speaker 2: the Court can't agree with each other in questions in
- 7:17Speaker 2: terms of you know, air review, in terms of the
- 7:20Speaker 2: courts with appeals making mistake, which is in terms of
- 7:22Speaker 2: reconciling a split in the circuits. And I think it's
- 7:25Speaker 2: a good reminder that the court is a court, but
- 7:27Speaker 2: that shouldn't obscure the fact that, as you said, in
- 7:30Speaker 2: socially divisive cases, there's almost inevitably a six' three split
- 7:36Speaker 2: with some changes around the.
- 7:38Speaker 1: Margins Adam felman has come out with his stat pack
- 7:42Speaker 1: for this past. Term roberts was in the majority ninety
- 7:46Speaker 1: five percent of the, time the most of any of the,
- 7:48Speaker 1: justices followed By Brett kavanaugh eighty six, percent In Amy
- 7:52Speaker 1: Cony barrett at eighty one. Percent do any of those
- 7:55Speaker 1: numbers surprise you or just to tell you that the
- 7:57Speaker 1: middle of the court.
- 7:58Speaker 2: Is, Ruling, no it doesn't surprise me at. All they
- 8:03Speaker 2: obviously those three justices do wield a lot of the
- 8:06Speaker 2: power on this current, court and they will do so
- 8:08Speaker 2: for the foreseeable. Future obviously there's some changes around the.
- 8:12Speaker 2: MARGIN i, mean Sometimes Justice corsic sides with majority or the,
- 8:16Speaker 2: minority same thing With Justice, barrett AND i think we've
- 8:18Speaker 2: even Seen Justice kagan occasionally trying to side with the
- 8:23Speaker 2: more conservative wing of the court in order TO i,
- 8:25Speaker 2: think in her view probably try to establish more than middle.
- 8:30Speaker 1: Ground, yeah what's gotten a lot of tension in the
- 8:32Speaker 1: legal press was That Justice kagan came in. Fourth she
- 8:36Speaker 1: was in the majority of seventy percent of the terms
- 8:39Speaker 1: non unanimous. Outcomes there was a thirteen percent drop in
- 8:44Speaker 1: agreement Between kagan And Justice Sonya Soto, mayor and the
- 8:48Speaker 1: agreements Between kagan and conservative justices up twenty two points
- 8:53Speaker 1: With Justice alito and up twenty nine points With Justice.
- 8:55Speaker 1: Thomas some people, say, oh, well she's getting more, Conservative
- 8:59Speaker 1: but is that really the case?
- 9:01Speaker 2: NOW i think she tries to find common ground when she,
- 9:05Speaker 2: can and maybe that can be criticized as bet she's
- 9:09Speaker 2: sort of tempering her own views to that of trying
- 9:12Speaker 2: to help the institution gain a middle. Ground BUT i
- 9:16Speaker 2: think it is perhaps a positive institution. Development is she
- 9:20Speaker 2: is lease in my, view and some of her decisions
- 9:23Speaker 2: trying to establish that there is common ground amongst the
- 9:28Speaker 2: so called conservatives so called liberal, justices and not in all,
- 9:32Speaker 2: cases but in some ways she. Can't AND i don't
- 9:34Speaker 2: know if that'll have any kind of long lasting impact
- 9:37Speaker 2: or if it will change the trajectory of the. Court
- 9:40Speaker 2: BUT i think that's her.
- 9:40Speaker 1: Goal Justice Katanji Brown jackson had the honor of being
- 9:44Speaker 1: in the, majority the least of all the justices at
- 9:48Speaker 1: seventy two, percent and she's written some biting.
- 9:52Speaker 2: Descents, again she is carving out her role as being
- 9:56Speaker 2: the most progressive justice and the one least willing to
- 10:00Speaker 2: compromise with the rest of the. Court voices like that
- 10:03Speaker 2: are important to, hear but they're not necessarily positive ways
- 10:07Speaker 2: to galvanize a majority of The.
- 10:08Speaker 1: Court Although Justice Antonin scalia was known for his brilliant,
- 10:13Speaker 1: descents and now the ideas he advanced about originalism and
- 10:17Speaker 1: textualism are all the rage on The.
- 10:20Speaker 2: COURT i, Mean scolia's legacy has been most powerful in
- 10:24Speaker 2: terms of raising the level of understanding about the, text
- 10:28Speaker 2: because all the court are, texts far more now than
- 10:33Speaker 2: they used to. Be but the question about originalism, STILL i,
- 10:36Speaker 2: think fractures The, court and we've seen that both in
- 10:39Speaker 2: terms of the importance of originalism but also the methodology of.
- 10:43Speaker 2: Originalism and so there's a lot of work to be
- 10:46Speaker 2: done before there's any kind of unified voice in The
- 10:49Speaker 2: court on that.
- 10:50Speaker 1: Respect coming up next on The Bloomberg Lawn, Show i'll
- 10:52Speaker 1: continue this conversation With Professor Harold krant Other Chicago Kent
- 10:57Speaker 1: college Of. Law in another order on the emergency, docket
- 11:01Speaker 1: The Supreme court is Allowing President trump to move ahead
- 11:05Speaker 1: with plans to drastically reduce the size of the federal,
- 11:08Speaker 1: government lifting a court order that had blocked nineteen federal
- 11:12Speaker 1: departments and agencies from slashing their. Workforces I'm June, grosso
- 11:18Speaker 1: and you're listening To. Bloomberg last, Month Chief Justice John,
- 11:23Speaker 1: roberts in a discussion of his time on the, bench
- 11:26Speaker 1: explained how he views criticism of The court's. Decisions what
- 11:30Speaker 1: they're angry about or upset about is probably not that
- 11:34Speaker 1: you applied the principle Of euston generous in a context
- 11:38Speaker 1: in which it had not been applied. Before it's that
- 11:40Speaker 1: they lost whatever they were looking. FOR i, mean and
- 11:44Speaker 1: in a sense, again it's not it would be good
- 11:47Speaker 1: if people appreciate. It it's not the judge's fault that
- 11:49Speaker 1: a correct interpretation of the law meant, that, no you
- 11:52Speaker 1: don't get to do. This i've been talking To Professor
- 11:56Speaker 1: Harold krant of The Chicago Kent college Of. Law get
- 12:00Speaker 1: your reaction to The chief's critique of criticism of the.
- 12:04Speaker 1: Court is he overlooking the fact that those six to
- 12:08Speaker 1: three decisions mean that interpretations of the law can be
- 12:11Speaker 1: different depending on whether you take a conservative or a liberal.
- 12:15Speaker 2: Approach, YEAH i mean there is no one. Way there's
- 12:18Speaker 2: no perfect way to understand Whether PARTY a Or PARTY
- 12:22Speaker 2: b should. Prevail it's based upon a judge's view of
- 12:28Speaker 2: things like, originalism things like how the best to interpret a,
- 12:31Speaker 2: statute as well as whether there is a living constitution or.
- 12:35Speaker 2: Not so a party can be upset because they end
- 12:39Speaker 2: up with the case before justices that have a different
- 12:42Speaker 2: worldview in terms of interpreting The constitution more statutes than they.
- 12:47Speaker 2: Do so it's not a matter of venting against. Judges
- 12:50Speaker 2: it's a matter of feeling that it's just too bad
- 12:53Speaker 2: that you don't have justices who think the way you
- 12:56Speaker 2: do deciding your.
- 12:57Speaker 1: CASE a lot of the action this term has been
- 13:00Speaker 1: on the emergency, docket and yesterday The court ruled That
- 13:05Speaker 1: President trump can move ahead with plans to dramatically reduce
- 13:09Speaker 1: the size of the federal. Government it lifted a court
- 13:13Speaker 1: order that had blocked nineteen federal departments and agencies from
- 13:18Speaker 1: slashing their, workforce so hundreds of thousands of federal workers
- 13:23Speaker 1: could lose their. Jobs is this just part of the
- 13:27Speaker 1: trend of The court on the emergency docket lifting lower
- 13:31Speaker 1: court orders that blocked The trump. Agenda, Well i'm of two.
- 13:35Speaker 2: Minds about the most recent. DECISION i, mean what The
- 13:38Speaker 2: court did is removed as an injunction on the administration
- 13:42Speaker 2: from trying to carry out the, Rift but it did
- 13:45Speaker 2: not say that the riff was appropriate or consistent With congressional.
- 13:49Speaker 2: Direction AND i think that was made clear as well
- 13:53Speaker 2: because the fact That Justice kagan went along with the
- 13:57Speaker 2: majority in terms of allowing theministration's action to, proceed and
- 14:02Speaker 2: the executive order says that the ref for the Reduction
- 14:06Speaker 2: force must proceed according to applicable, law and the applicable,
- 14:10Speaker 2: law of, course Is congress's very detailed instructions for how
- 14:14Speaker 2: agencies should. Proceed AND i think the reason Why Justice
- 14:18Speaker 2: kaikin did join the majority was because we have yet
- 14:22Speaker 2: to see whether the administration will conform to the congressional
- 14:26Speaker 2: blueprint for shiding out The Reduction force or. Not and so,
- 14:31Speaker 2: yes The court is giving the benefit of the doubt
- 14:34Speaker 2: the administration and the spending would think that the administration
- 14:37Speaker 2: doesn't deserve the benefit of the. Doubt BUT i think
- 14:40Speaker 2: what the court's action is, saying, well let's wait until
- 14:43Speaker 2: there's a merit's decision as to whether the applicable congressional
- 14:48Speaker 2: rules were followed before we actually tell the administration they
- 14:53Speaker 2: can't move forward in that.
- 14:54Speaker 1: Way, well all, along The court has been letting The
- 14:57Speaker 1: trump administration go ahead for. Now but the problem is
- 15:02Speaker 1: that getting to the merits of these cases take so,
- 15:05Speaker 1: long and by that time the damage is. Done people
- 15:09Speaker 1: have been.
- 15:09Speaker 2: Fired, sometimes the Art reing, stated and we've had instances
- 15:12Speaker 2: already this term where there have been governmental employees who
- 15:15Speaker 2: have been. Reinstated there's also questions of back pay that
- 15:18Speaker 2: can at least partially. Address BUT i, mean, yes from
- 15:22Speaker 2: a matter of the employees who have been riffed and
- 15:25Speaker 2: perhaps illegally, riffed there is, dislocation financial, privation and obviously
- 15:31Speaker 2: a lot of hardship on their side in that.
- 15:34Speaker 1: Case Justice Sonya, sotomayor who usually does not go along
- 15:40Speaker 1: with the majority Involving trump administration, actions so she joined
- 15:45Speaker 1: the majority in that. Case why do you think she
- 15:48Speaker 1: went along with? Them?
- 15:49Speaker 2: There, again part of the reason may have been that
- 15:53Speaker 2: there is no review on the marriagchat of the, rift
- 15:55Speaker 2: but part of the issue may be one of. Jurisdictions
- 15:57Speaker 2: The court did not address the jurisdictional, issue but there's
- 16:00Speaker 2: been a simmering dispute about whether or not federal employees
- 16:05Speaker 2: can go to federal court to raise Their constitutional And
- 16:09Speaker 2: Administrative Procedure act, claims or whether they should go to the.
- 16:13Speaker 2: Tribunals The congress itself has set up to hear employee,
- 16:17Speaker 2: disputes such as THE Neuri Assistance Protection board and The
- 16:21Speaker 2: Federal Labor Relations. Authority so it may be that that,
- 16:25Speaker 2: question which there is no definitive answer about when employees
- 16:29Speaker 2: can bypass those administrative. Tribunals but it may be that
- 16:33Speaker 2: she has doubts about whether The court even had proper
- 16:37Speaker 2: jurisdiction over this, case because instead those claims should have
- 16:42Speaker 2: followed the congressional course and been vetted first in these specialized.
- 16:46Speaker 2: Tribunals The court has.
- 16:48Speaker 1: Been making so many important decisions on the emergency.
- 16:52Speaker 2: Docket you're certainly right that the shadow docket has become
- 16:56Speaker 2: more and more, important and the number of so called
- 17:00Speaker 2: wins of The trump administration certainly exceed their. Losses and you,
- 17:05Speaker 2: know one hopes that a lot of these cases will
- 17:07Speaker 2: get to final judgment and so The Supreme court be
- 17:10Speaker 2: forced to actually weigh in on the merits of the,
- 17:13Speaker 2: case as opposed to just stopping the lower courts from
- 17:18Speaker 2: enjoining the government's actions prior to a final.
- 17:22Speaker 1: Decision and you, know to The trump, administration everything's in
- 17:25Speaker 1: emergency at some, point shouldn't The court, say, no this
- 17:28Speaker 1: is not an.
- 17:29Speaker 2: Emergency, yeah The court has been very, cavalier if you,
- 17:33Speaker 2: will in terms of balancing the. HARMS i think the
- 17:36Speaker 2: reduction in forced case that we talked about is a
- 17:39Speaker 2: good illustration of, that, because, yes the government wants to
- 17:42Speaker 2: save money and restructure the federal, government and there is
- 17:46Speaker 2: a loss if they can't do that to what they
- 17:49Speaker 2: consider to be the public. Good but on the other,
- 17:51Speaker 2: hand the dislocation and financial deprivations that these employees may
- 17:56Speaker 2: face should be, counted perhaps even more, greatly and the
- 18:01Speaker 2: court's not doing that.
- 18:02Speaker 1: ALSO i, mean they're doing this on the emergency, docket
- 18:05Speaker 1: without full, briefing without oral, arguments and then sometimes you,
- 18:09Speaker 1: know there's not even an opinion to explain what they.
- 18:13Speaker 1: Decided it doesn't leave much guidance for the lower. Courts.
- 18:17Speaker 2: No in a greed illustration of that is the birthright citizenship,
- 18:20Speaker 2: case because The court ignored the very question of birthright.
- 18:25Speaker 2: Citizenship both in terms of the balance of hardships somebody
- 18:29Speaker 2: who might be supported who otherwise could claim birthright citizenship is,
- 18:34Speaker 2: enormous and in terms of the merits of the. Question
- 18:37Speaker 2: it seems like it's almost a well god conclusion that
- 18:40Speaker 2: The trump position will be. Reversed and yet The court
- 18:44Speaker 2: chose not even to address those kinds of harms in
- 18:48Speaker 2: deciding that the universal injunction was. Inappropriate so what the
- 18:52Speaker 2: court picks and chooses in the shadow docket to ADDRESS
- 18:56Speaker 2: i think should be open to.
- 18:58Speaker 1: Criticism it certainly has been, criticized even by some of
- 19:02Speaker 1: the justices. Themselves thanks so, Much. Hal That's Professor Harold
- 19:06Speaker 1: krent of The Chicago Kent college Of. Law and that's
- 19:09Speaker 1: it for this edition Of The Bloomberg Law. Show remember
- 19:12Speaker 1: you can always get the latest legal news on Our
- 19:14Speaker 1: Bloomberg law. Podcasts you can find them On Apple, Podcasts,
- 19:18Speaker 1: spotify and at www Dot bloomberg dot, Com slash Podcast Slash.
- 19:23Speaker 1: Law and remember to tune Into The Bloomberg Law show
- 19:26Speaker 1: every weeknight at ten. Pm Wall Street. Time I'm June
- 19:30Speaker 1: grosso and you're listening To bloomberg