Supreme Court Roundup: Insights from June 18 and 20 Decisions and New Cert Grant
Supreme Court Roundup: Insights from June 18 and 20 Decisions and New Cert Grant  
Podcast: SCOTUS Oral Arguments and Opinions
Published On: Mon Jun 23 2025
Description: In today's episode, we analyze the Supreme Court's recent activities across three key areas:Last week's 11 opinions and emerging patternsTerm statistics and remaining docket overviewMajor religious liberty case granted certiorari via June 23rd Order ListKey Topics CoveredTerm Statistics (As of June 23, 2025)Total cases heard: 62 unique cases this termCases decided: 52 (approximately 84%)Cases pending: 11 (approximately 16%)Methodology: Consolidated cases counted onceLast Week's Opinion AnalysisUnanimous consensus: 7 of 11 cases showed stable coalition of seven justicesOpinion distribution: Justice Thomas, Sotomayor, Gorsuch, and Barrett each authored exactly 4 opinionsChief Justice Roberts: Finally joined dissent after 41 consecutive majority opinionsMethodological splits: Justices divided on simple textual approaches vs. complex multi-factor testsFeatured Case Deep Dive: Esteras v. United StatesIssue: Whether judges can consider retribution in supervised release decisionsMajority (Barrett): Applied "expressio unius" canon - Congress deliberately excluded retributionDissent (Alito/Gorsuch): Criticized majority's "mind-bending exercises" for trial judgesVote: 7-2 with additional splintering on implementation detailsStanding Doctrine Analysis: FDA v. Reynolds & Diamond Energy v. EPACommon thread: When can businesses challenge regulations affecting market participants?Identical 7-2 splits with completely different reasoning approachesBarrett's approach: Traditional statutory interpretation and precedent analysisKavanaugh's approach: Practical economic reasoning and regulatory dynamics Certiorari Grant: Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections | Case No. 23-1197 | Docket Link: Here.Question Presented: Whether the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) permits individual-capacity damages suits against state prison officials who violate prisoners' religious exercise rights.The Shocking FactsPetitioner: Damon Landor, devout Rastafarian with 20-year religious dreadlocksIncident: Prison officials threw away Fifth Circuit decision protecting his rights, then forcibly shaved his headTimeline: Occurred with just 3 weeks left in his sentenceLegal precedent: Clear violation of Ware v. Louisiana Department of CorrectionsLegal FrameworkRFRA (1993): Applies to federal government; Tanzin v. Tanvir (2020) permits individual damagesRLUIPA (2000): Applies to state/local governments receiving federal fundsSister statutes: Nearly identical language and purposesCircuit split: All courts of appeals currently reject RLUIPA individual damagesPetitioner’s (Landor) Key...