You Should See the Other Guy
· 1 h 10 min · S7 E1
Episode You Should See the Other Guy
Divided Argument — S7E1: Summary & Highlights One-line summary (Beamly)
Season 7 opens with a Court busy not deciding: an Alito recusal, a quorum lost to four book deals, and a stern Purcell per curiam for Missouri.
Show notes
Season 7 opens after a long delay, a dead sound mixer, and a host who punched himself in the face, so we start with the things the Court didn't decide. Justice Alito's late recusal from Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County and the four book deals that cost the Court a quorum in BMG Rights Management v. Vetter get us into the recusal rules and the odd machinery of 28 U.S.C. § 2109. Then the Court's fall run of Purcell rulings: the stay denied in U.S. Postal Service v. California, the unusually stern per curiam in People Not Politicians v. Onder that ended Missouri's redistricting saga, and the stay in Scanlan v. Coalition for Open Democracy. We close with the third trip of Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D. and its oddly open-ended questions presented. Along the way: Dan's new essay on the justices' books, John Marshall's unread biography of Washington, Rehnquist's unpublished novels, and the other Dan Sullivan.
Highlights
•
[00:00:22] Opening: the long delay, Will's dead sound mixer, and a water cooler that punched back.
•
[00:03:05] Why some interim-docket rulings land on the opinions page: the words "per curiam," not the length.
•
[00:04:53] Suncor v. Boulder County: Justice Alito's recusal a week before the first argument of the Term, his wife's energy stocks, and the awkwardness of spousal conflicts.
•
[00:09:59] The Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish recusal letter, four days before argument, and the worry that recusal timing tracks whether a vote is needed.
•
[00:11:49] Suncor itself: a jurisdictional puzzle about the finality of a Colorado Supreme Court remand, and a preemption case with nothing clearly on point.
•
[00:18:55] Petitioners' best case is Franchise Tax Board v. Hyatt; Will and Steve Sachs's unread amicus brief on interstate sovereign immunity as general law.
•
[00:21:25] BMG Rights Management v. Vetter: four recusals, no quorum, Bertelsmann and Penguin Random House, and why Paul Clement filed anyway.
•
[00:24:04] 28 U.S.C. § 2109: holding a case over, the Alcoa precedent of circuit judges sitting as the Supreme Court, and whether the statute needs a certiorari-era fix.
•
[00:30:59] The rule of necessity, the litigant who sues all nine justices, and Justice Breyer waiting in the wings.
•
[00:32:27] Justice Alito's So Ordered and Dan's "Reading the Justices' Books": John Marshall's five-volume Washington, Rehnquist's unpublished novels, and whether a justice's book can be "good."
•
[00:36:40] The case for short opinions: Rehnquist's reputation, Holmes's dissents, and Will's pitch that long opinions get edited by their enemies.
•
[00:39:34] U.S. Postal Service v. California: the three-sentence denial, Justice Kavanaugh's concurrence, the Alito–Thomas dissent, and two predictions scored.
•
[00:44:35] Missouri redistricting, Act 3: the referendum petition, the Secretary of State's last-hour rejection, a TRO that wasn't, and an Eighth Circuit that misread a red light.
•
[00:48:52] People Not Politicians v. Onder: an unusually stern per curiam, the Robert Alton Harris "no further stays" precedent, and no noted dissents.
•
[00:52:36] Purcell as federal judicial restraint, not an anti-chaos principle: state courts can change the rules late.
•
[00:54:59] Scanlan v. Coalition for Open Democracy: New Hampshire student IDs, a stay over Justice Jackson's lone dissent.
•
[00:57:07] DHS v. D.V.D., round three: third-country removals, a stay application treated as a granted cert petition, and a fourth question presented that says "whatever else you want."
•
[01:01:58] Docket archaeology: the phantom petition, a response due date that will never arrive, and whether deporting the class representatives moots the case.
•
[01:06:59] A term…
Links in the notes 20
- https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/suncor-energy-inc-v-county-commissioners-of-boulder-county/
- https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/bmg-rights-management-v-vetter/
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a305_4g15.pdf
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a388_q86b.pdf
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/26pdf/26a512_new_daeh.pdf
- https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/department-of-homeland-security-v-dvd-2/
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2026/25-170
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-170/425819/20260928133032324_Letter%20to%20Counsel%20in%20No.%2025-170.pdf
- https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/case-files/chevron-usa-inc-v-plaquemines-parish-louisiana-2/
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-813/391167/20260108162001341_Letter%20from%20Clerk%20in%20No.%2024-813.pdf
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/101926zor_q8l1.pdf
- https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/2109
- https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/1
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/26pdf/26a476_k537.pdf
- https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/us-postal-service-v-california-2/
- https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/people-not-politicians-v-onder-2/
- https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/scanlan-v-coalition-for-open-democracy/
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/092926zr2_1a7d.pdf
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/26-426.html
- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7585720
Transcript
Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them. Explicit shows are for adult profiles only, and children’s profiles hear only children’s shows. More about this list.