REASON – Free Minds & Free Markets | This, That and The Other

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There is much to say about the Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc. The majority opinion by Justice Kavanaugh and the dissent by Justice Thomas disagree on just about every point. But one area where there is substantial agreement concerns the line between an "Officer of the United States" and a mere employee. Indeed, I think the majority and dissent state this issue with more clarity than in previous cases. Justice Kavanaugh's majority opinion explains: The Appointments Clause in Article II of the Constitution specifies how "Officers of the United States," as distinct from employees, must be appointed. §2, cl. 2. Here, the Court draws a bright line between an "Officer of the United States" and a mere employee. And what is that line? Quoting Lucia, Justice Kavanaugh explains the line turns on whether the individual exercises "significant governmental authority." An officer exercises "'significant authority pursuant to the… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Gundy v. United States (2019) and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2020) signaled that the Court was open to changing course in two important doctrines. First, in Gundy, Justice Gorsuch's dissent, which was joined by the Chief Justice and Justice Thomas, signaled that the Court should rethink the non-delegation doctrine. Justice Alito also seemed to be on board in the appropriate case. Plus Justice Kavanaugh sent similar signals in his later opinion in Paul v. United States. Second, in Fulton, Justices Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch were ready to overrule Employment Division v. Smith. Justice Barrett wrote a short concurrence, joined by Justice Kavanaugh. They acknowledged that Smith had problems, but worried about what test would replace it. Barrett also posed some questions, which in theory at least, would help her get to yes. Five years later, have the Gundy and Fulton moments passed? FCC v. Consumers' Research solidified the intelligible principle test, at least in the… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Justice Kavanaugh's concurrence in FCC v. Consumers' Research is one of his most significant separate writings. He lays out a roadmap for how he sees the separation of powers, and in particular the removal power cases. First, as I was reading Justice Kavanaugh's concurrence, I could hear the voice of a former White House lawyer. Indeed, Kavanaugh stresses how former Justices who served in the Executive Branch Court accepted the "intelligible principle" test: Notably, the intelligible principle test was accepted and applied over the years by Justice Scalia, Chief JusticeRehnquist, and Chief Justice Taft—three jurists who, based on their Executive Branch experience and judicial philosophies, deeply appreciated the risks of undue judicial interference with the operations of the Presidency. Second, Kavanaugh repeats at several points that the deferential "intelligible principle" test respects the separation of powers. How? To ensure the President has the latitude to faithfully execute the laws: To be… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

In Employment Division v. Smith, Justice Scalia identified the concept of hybrid rights: a restriction that targets two constitutional rights would be reviewed with heightened scrutiny. For example, a ban on saying "Merry Christmas" would offend both the freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion. The hybrid rights doctrine was a useful way for Justice Scalia to distinguish the outcome in Smith with earlier free exercise clause cases that applied heightened scrutiny. Yet, this doctrine never quite caught on in the Free Exercise context. Still, the hybrid rights doctrine always made sense to me as a logical matter. Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Even if individual features of some policy are barely constitutional, when those features are combined, the policy becomes unconstitutional. The Court employed this reasoning in Free Enterprise Fund, in which the two layers of insulation triggered a violation of the Appointments… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.