The morning read for Friday, September 12

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read:

• Fourth Circuit debates role in DOGE Social Security data fight (Joe Dodson, Courthouse News Service) — In June, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, to access Social Security data by putting a district court’s injunction on hold. Now, the case is back in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, and judges there don’t agree on what the Supreme Court’s short, unsigned order from June means for their current work. During oral argument in the case on Thursday, Republican-appointed judges argued that the court “should simply affirm the Supreme Court’s decision,” while Democrat-appointed judges called for a fuller consideration of the case since the justices in the majority didn’t explain their June decision, according to Courthouse News Service.
• Trump’s ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ Immigration Raids Have Strong Statistical Backing (Jason Richwine, National Review) — The Supreme Court on Monday paused a ruling that prevented federal agents from using any combination of four factors — “apparent race or ethnicity,” speaking in Spanish or accented English, being present at a location where undocumented immigrants “are known to gather,” and working at specific jobs, like landscaping — to justify making immigration stops in the Los Angeles area. In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh defended the use of those factors, contending that “[u]nder this Court’s precedents, not to mention common sense, those circumstances taken together can constitute at least reasonable suspicion of illegal presence in the United States.” Public policy analyst Jason Richwine argued in a column for National Review that Kavanaugh’s opinion is borne out by Census data. “As of the 2019-2023 period that the data set covers, about 17 percent of all ‘landscaping and groundskeeping workers’ in the U.S. were illegal immigrants. Put another way, a randomly-selected landscaping worker has a 17 percent chance of being illegal. That’s already a fairly high percentage without adding any additional information,” Richwine wrote. If you do add additional factors, like living in Los Angeles, being Hispanic, and speaking English “less than very well,” to your analysis, the chance of a randomly selecting an illegal immigrant surges, he added.
• The Real Stakes in Trump’s Bid to Fire Lisa Cook (Victoria Guida, Politico) — As the lawsuit over Trump’s effort to remove Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook draws closer to the Supreme Court, investors are remaining calm about the future of the Fed, according to Politico. However, that might change if a Supreme Court win in the Cook case leads to a situation in which the Fed appears less independent. “If the court ultimately gives Trump broad authority to decide the grounds on which Fed board members can be ousted, it could create a pathway to removing other central bank officials — even, theoretically, Chair Jerome Powell, an event that would send shockwaves through the global economy,” Politico reported.
• Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reflects on path to the Supreme Court in campus lecture (Isaac Bernstein and Justus Wilhoit, The Daily Princetonian) — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson visited Princeton University on Wednesday to discuss “her historic path to the nation’s highest court, the challenges of public life, and the lessons that have guided her career,” according to The Daily Princetonian. She also addressed her penchant for writing dissenting opinions, describing dissents as “an extraordinary aspect of our American legal tradition.” “They symbolize something that is core to who we are as Americans, freedom of expression,” she said. “It’s spectacular that there is this opportunity for the people whose positions have not prevailed today to lay down a marker to explain why they think the majority has gotten wrong, and to hopefully plant seeds for the future.”
• Kentucky church asks Supreme Court to help recover costs after blocking COVID-19 ban on gatherings (Alex Swoyer, The Washington Times) — Maryville Baptist Church in Louisville successfully fought Kentucky’s ban on in-person worship services in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was left with a hefty legal bill. It did not “recoup attorney’s fees and legal costs,” unlike members of the church who separately sued over the gathering ban, according to The Washington Times. In a cert petition filed this summer, the church has asked the Supreme Court to enable it to recover costs. “The facts, the Church, the Pastor, and the people were the same. The Governor’s unconstitutional orders were the same. The preliminary injunctions were the same. The right to prevailing party status vested the same. The results should have been the same,” the petition reads.