Getting a sense of the mood after a momentous term.
A few weeks ago, I asked Adam Liptak — The Times’s Supreme Court correspondent — to preview the major cases that would make up the end of the court’s term. Adam was prophetic, correctly forecasting every big ruling. Today, he returns to the newsletter, answering my questions about the behind-the-scenes atmosphere at the court.
David: The last few months have been among the most unusual in the Court’s modern history — a major leak followed by an abortion decision that, as you’ve written, will change American life in major ways. Inside the court, do you think things also feel different?
Adam: The Supreme Court’s building has been closed to the public since the beginning of the pandemic. Then, not long after the leak in early May of a draft of the opinion that overruled Roe v. Wade, the courthouse was surrounded by an eight-foot fence. Always cloistered and remote, the court is now impenetrable.
The release of the decision in the abortion case highlighted another way in which the court has withdrawn from public scrutiny. For unexplained reasons, the justices have stopped announcing their decisions from the bench, abandoning a tradition that is both ceremonial and illuminating. In the old days, the author of the majority opinion would give a quick and conversational summary of the ruling that could be extremely valuable for a reporter on deadline and, by extension, for members of the public trying to understand a decision.
More important yet were oral dissents, reserved for decisions that the justices in the minority believed were profoundly mistaken. In ordinary times, one or more of the three liberal justices who dissented in the abortion case would have raised their voices in protest. These days, the court makes do with posting PDFs of its decisions, robbing the occasion of ceremony, drama and insight.
So the lawyers who argued the cases and the reporters covering the court find out about decisions the same way everybody else does — by refreshing their browsers. But the justices have returned to the courtroom for arguments, haven’t they?
Yes, they have taken a different approach with arguments. After hearing them by telephone for much of the pandemic, the justices returned to the bench in October. Reporters with Supreme Court press credentials were allowed to attend and the public could listen to live-streamed audio on the court’s website. It is not clear why opinions could not be announced in similar fashion.
I haven’t been to the courthouse since the last argument of the current term, on April 27, when Chief Justice John Roberts grew emotional in saying farewell to a retiring colleague, Justice Stephen Breyer. But there is every reason to think that the leak, the investigation it prompted, the controversy over Justice Clarence Thomas’s failure to recuse himself from a case that intersected with his wife’s efforts to overturn the election and the justices’ very real security concerns have made the court an unhappy place.
In remarks in May, not long after the leak, Justice Thomas reflected on how things had changed at the court since an 11-year stretch without changes in its membership before the arrival of Chief Justice Roberts in 2005. “This is not the court of that era,” Justice Thomas said, adding: “We actually trusted each other. We may have been a dysfunctional family, but we were a family.”
A less collegial court seems like it could be especially problematic for the three liberal justices. There are now five Republican-appointed justices who are even more conservative than Roberts. If the court is a less collaborative place, I would imagine it gives the justices in the minority — both the liberals and, in some cases, Roberts — less ability to shape decisions.
Yes, though it’s possible to overstate the power of collegiality. Justices cast votes based on the strength of the relevant arguments and the desired outcomes, not on how likable their colleagues are.
The justices say there is no vote-trading across cases, and I believe them. On the other hand, there are certainly negotiations within cases. It seems tolerably clear, for instance, that Justices Breyer and Elena Kagan shifted positions in one part of the 2012 case that upheld a key portion of the Affordable Care Act to make certain they would secure Chief Justice Roberts’s vote on another part.
Justices may well be prepared to narrow or reshape a draft opinion that seeks to speak for a five-justice majority in exchange for a vote. But once the author has gotten to five, the value of another potential vote plummets. It is that dynamic that must worry the court’s liberals.
On Thursday, Justice Breyer officially retired and helped swear in his replacement, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. How do the justices typically welcome a new member?
When a new justice joins the Supreme Court, tradition requires the second-most junior justice to arrange a little party. In 2006, for instance, when Justice Samuel Alito came on board, that task fell to Justice Breyer, who knew his new colleague to be a Phillies fan. Before dessert was served, Justice Breyer introduced a special guest: the Phillie Phanatic, the team’s mascot.
This year, Justice Amy Coney Barrett is the second-most junior justice and will presumably be in charge of the welcoming celebration for Justice Jackson.
And now that the court is on a break until October, what do the justices usually do?
They often teach courses in exotic places. In 2012, for instance, after voting to uphold the Affordable Care Act, Chief Justice Roberts left for Malta to teach a two-week class on the history of the Supreme Court. “Malta, as you know, is an impregnable island fortress,” he said. “It seemed like a good idea.”
More about Adam Liptak: He started his Times career as a copy boy in 1984, fetching coffee for editors and occasionally writing. After law school and a stint at a Wall Street law firm, he returned to the paper in 1992, joining its corporate legal department before moving to the newsroom as a reporter a decade later. He reads a lot and plays a lot of poker.
More on the court
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The Supreme Court’s latest term was its most conservative since 1931, as these graphics by Alicia Parlapiano demonstrate.
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Dysfunction in Congress has given the court inordinate power, Adam writes.
NEWS
The Latest
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Russia claimed to have seized Lysychansk, a prize city in Ukraine’s east, and blamed Ukraine for explosions that rocked a Russian border town. Here’s the latest.
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Ukrainian men volunteered to protect their homes. Now, many of these untrained soldiers are dying on the other side of the country.
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For months, Russia has pummeled Ukrainian civilians — and offered excuses to dodge responsibility.
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The investigation into Russian war crimes, by Ukrainian and international agencies, may be the largest in history.
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The rising price of fuel is hitting poorer countries especially hard, with many residents struggling to keep the lights on or cook food.
Other Big Stories
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The school police chief in Uvalde, Texas, resigned from the city council amid continued outrage over officers’ slow response to the school shooting.
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A cohort of young women — many of them Christian, some of them progressive — are fighting against abortion.
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Holiday headache: Thousands of flights were delayed as travel reaches prepandemic levels.
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Tropical Storm Colin is bringing heavy rain to the Carolinas.
FROM OPINION
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Restricting abortion access will hurt rich women, too, says Elizabeth Spiers.
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The far right and far left both think women don’t count, Pamela Paul argues.
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Margaret Renkl fears for American democracy. She’s reclaiming the flag anyway.
The Sunday question: Is Roe’s fall transforming the midterms?
Commentary’s Noah Rothman has doubts, arguing that crime and inflation remain voters’ top concerns. CNN’s Harry Enten thinks the ruling could lift Democrats in state-level races, whose winners will shape whether abortion is legal.
MORNING READS
Mango man: After 82 years, his days are spent taking care of the tree he loves.
Other worlds: The powerful new James Webb Space Telescope will search for signs of life in the universe.
Frozen: A baby woolly mammoth, preserved in the ground for more than 30,000 years.
Culture wars: Solveig Gold is proud to be the wife of a “canceled” Princeton professor.
Sunday routine: Anthony Almojera, a paramedic, cooks a family meal at Station 40 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Advice from Wirecutter: The best beach gear.
A Times classic: The un-divorced.
BOOKS
Fiction in the city: Contemporary authors shared their favorite New York City novels.
By the Book: Alice Elliott Dark ruins books by reading them in the bathtub.
Our editors’ picks: The history of the bicycle, and nine other new books.
Times best sellers: Riley Sager’s “The House Across the Lake” settles in this week on our hardcover fiction best-seller list. See all our lists.
The Book Review podcast: Gabrielle Zevin discusses her new novel, “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,” about two friends who design a video game.
THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE
On the cover: Moderate Democrats are going extinct.
Rituals: How do you prepare for a school shooting?
Recommendation: The Instagram account @b_a_l_l_h_a_u_s will change how you see basketball.
Diagnosis: He could barely walk and had to give up golf. What was wrong?
Eat: In Hawaii, mac salad isn’t just a side dish; it’s a condiment unto itself.
THE WEEK AHEAD
What to Watch For
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A law banning nearly all abortions in Mississippi is set to take effect on Thursday. Here’s our tracker of abortion laws across the country.
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President Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 17 people on Thursday, including Simone Biles, Denzel Washington and John McCain.
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Much of the country is in for a hot and humid next couple days.
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Tomorrow Independence Day is celebrated in the U.S., and millions of Americans will be traveling. Expect delays.
What to Cook This Week
If you’ve had your fill of burgers and hot dogs, Emily Weinstein recommends Pati Jinich’s Sonoran carne asada tacos.
NOW TIME TO PLAY
Here’s a clue from the Sunday crossword:
113 Across: Space heater
Take the news quiz to see how well you followed the week’s headlines.
Here’s today’s Spelling Bee. Here’s today’s Wordle. After, use our bot to get better.
Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — David
Claire Moses, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Tom Wright-Piersanti and Ashley Wu contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at themorning@nytimes.com.
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