SocraticGadfly: SCOTUS hypocrisy on lawsuits

June 27, 2023

SCOTUS hypocrisy on lawsuits

Remember a year-plus ago, before the Dobbs decision officially overturned Roe, how the Supreme Court let stand through repeated stall-outs the Texas law allowing for citizen abortion enforcement by lawsuit?

This piece, on SCOTUS saying that the feds have broad power to dismiss "qui tam" whistleblower lawsuits, shows the rank hypocrisy of the further-right justices:

A dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas was notable less for its arguments in favor of an alternative reading of the statute – Thomas agreed with Polansky that the government loses its authority to dismiss a suit once it declines to intervene – and more for its broader suggestion that the entire qui tam system may be unconstitutional. While only Thomas wrote in support of his argument about the extent of the government’s authority to dismiss, Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, in which he agreed with Thomas that “[t]here are substantial arguments that the qui tam device is inconsistent with Article II and that private litigators may not represent the interests of the United States in litigation … the Court should consider the competing arguments on the Article II issues in an appropriate case.”

Emphasis mine.

So, private litigators can't represent the USofA, but CAN represent the Great State of Tex-ass? Got it.

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