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SCOTUS Moves Capital Case From Shadow Docket to Rocket Docket
Instead of issuing summary order, Court grants cert, and orders oral argument in Ramirez v. Collier for "October or November 2021."
Who could have imagined that the phrase "shadow docket" would take off? What was once a clever, but obscure term in Will Baude's scholarship has become yet another fulcrum in debates about the Supreme Court. Justice Breyer used the phrase in an interview, and Justice Kagan dropped it in her WWH dissent.
Perhaps the most common criticism of the shadow docket is that the Justices are deciding cases too quickly, without the benefit of full-dress briefing and oral arguments. The Court could address this criticism by simply accelerating the time it takes to resolve a case.
On Wednesday evening, the Court took that action. The Justices moved a capital case from the shadow docket to the rocket docket. In Ramirez v. Collier, a Texas death row inmate wanted his preacher to lay hands on him during the execution. The Fifth Circuit denied a stay of execution. The Supreme Court could have granted a stay of execution. Or it could have denied a stay of execution. Instead, the Justices–without noted dissent–took door number 3. The Court granted cert, and called for a super-expedited briefing schedule:
The Clerk is directed to establish a briefing schedule that will allow the case to be argued in October or November 2021.
In theory at least, the Court could resolve this issue before Thanksgiving. Perry v. Perez (2012) followed a similar trajectory. The case was granted on December 9, 2011, argued on January 9, 2012, and decided on January 20, 2012.
The rocket docket approach will not work for all emergency stay applications. Some cases truly need to be decided in the span of days, if not weeks. But Ramirez is a good vehicle. In recent years, the Court has been asked to decide many cases involving religious leaders during executions. Deciding this case on the merits would help settle the doctrine, and give guidance to the lower courts.
I hope we have more of these rocket docket cases. Decide the matters quickly, but deliberately.
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Not sure if Josh is a fan of John Grisham’s novel The Litigators (my favorite Grisham novel, though that’s not high praise, as I find most of his stuff boring—Michael Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer series is far superior IMO), but that book is all about a Chicago federal judge’s “rocket docket.”
This is another example of why the death penalty should be banned by a federal statute. The appellate business is a $billion lawyer scam. Condemned wants to be touched by his pastor, so let’s have a full Supreme Court debate, costing $million. You lawyers are real crooks.
I have come to favor the Italian death penalty. Prisoner is very difficult. Guard waves a carton of cigarettes. He is stabbed 50 times. The investigation finds he committed suicide.
Yeah, he was forced into early retirement because he kept offering to show his “rocket docket.”
Hmm…I guess I’m not that good at tasteless jokes…I should have had the judge say “I’ve got a rocket docket in my pocket.”
“I have come to favor the Italian death penalty. ”
David,
That line is offensive bigotry.
But it is very funny.
The prison “suicide ” rate of Italy was condemned as a crime against humanity by the EU.
What is the rush in reviewing a capital case? Does it really matter whether he is executed in November or May?
Justice delayed… You want to keep him in suspense? Then bring back hanging.
Yes, keep him alive, to generate another $million in death penalty appellate lawywe salaries.
He was convicted 13 years ago in 2008. He’s probably outlived several family members of the victim.
TX could also moot the case by saying “OK, fine, he can have a pastor present”. The odds that the S.Ct. petition is a setup for a prison break movie are pretty darn slim.
“Perhaps the most common criticism of the shadow docket is that the Justices are deciding cases too quickly, without the benefit of full-dress briefing and oral arguments.”
A criticism generally made by people who had absolutely no problem with SCOTUS blocking all sorts of Trump Admin action via the shadow docket, before later sticking a knife in them.
because it’s perfectly ok to do that when pushing Left wing politics. It’s just when you’re actually following the law / Constitution that there’s a problem
What are the “all sorts of Trump Admin action” that SCOTUS blocked via the shadow docket? SCOTUS mostly gave Trump victories on the shadow docket.