4 ms·

> Because this is “a court of review, not of first view,” Cutter v. Wil- kinson, 544 U. S. 709, 718, n. 7, this Court cannot undertake the needed inquiries. And

> Because this is “a court of review, not of first view,” Cutter v. Wil- kinson, 544 U. S. 709, 718, n. 7, this Court cannot undertake the needed inquiries. And because neither the Eleventh nor the Fifth Cir- cuit performed the facial analysis in the way described above, their decisions must be vacated and the cases remanded. Pp. 9–12. Big nothing-burger here. As I see it, this means it could be years yet before a real Supreme Court decision comes down.

dylan604 2y ago
so why did the court even accept to hear the case? I thought there were other mechanisms to tell the case it had no standing before the court. yes, it will probably take years to get a case with actual standing, but you know there are people itching to offend a state's law specifically to take bring it before SCOTUS. this one was just a bit premature.
- ARandomerDude 2y ago
  As I read it, the decision wasn't just "we refuse to decide your case." It was "lower courts, you should not have ruled the way you did because you didn't consider all the relevant facts. Go do your homework then decide the case, not the other way around." The lower court rulings were vacated (struck down) because they didn't consider the full scope of the relevant law. IANAL. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-277_d18f.pdf https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-277_d18f.pdf
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago
  > so why did the court even accept to hear the case? Because the Fifth District and the Ninth (?) District decided their respective cases in different ways. The Supreme Court often deals with cases where district courts are doing different things with the same area of law.
  - jcranmer 2y ago
    Fifth and Eleventh Circuits. The districts are the actual courts at the lowest level; the circuits are the way they're organized into appeals courts.
AnimalMuppet 2y ago
Not quite nothing. It means that the laws don't go into effect now. They won't for years, if ever.
legitster 2y ago
If you look at the court documents, they provide a litany of reasons the case had no merit and also that the circuit courts were in the wrong. The core principles of content moderation and editorial review being protected free speech are pretty strongly worded throughout the decision.
dwallin 2y ago
You are missing the key bit right after that where they basically scolded the 5th circuit for not having a basic understanding of free speech. They then proceeded to outline in detail why said analysis should almost certainly lead to the law failing to pass constitutional muster. This was not the Supreme Court throwing up their hands, this was the Supreme Court saying "This is basic stuff you shouldn't be getting wrong, try it again." > It is necessary to say more about how the First Amendment relates to the laws’ content-moderation provisions, to ensure that the facial analysis proceeds on the right path in the courts below. That need is especially stark for the Fifth Circuit, whose decision rested on a serious misunderstanding of First Amendment precedent and principle.
- red-iron-pine 2y ago
  sounds to me like the Fifth Circuit saw how the wind was blowing and didn't want to make a call least they upset The Powers That Be. Plus the 5th is based out of Texas and getting appointed there usually means getting alignment with the locals.

dylan604 2y ago

so why did the court even accept to hear the case? I thought there were other mechanisms to tell the case it had no standing before the court. yes, it will probably take years to get a case with actual standing, but you know there are people itching to offend a state's law specifically to take bring it before SCOTUS. this one was just a bit premature.

ARandomerDude 2y ago
As I read it, the decision wasn't just "we refuse to decide your case." It was "lower courts, you should not have ruled the way you did because you didn't consider all the relevant facts. Go do your homework then decide the case, not the other way around." The lower court rulings were vacated (struck down) because they didn't consider the full scope of the relevant law. IANAL. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-277_d18f.pdf https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-277_d18f.pdf
AnimalMuppet 2y ago
> so why did the court even accept to hear the case? Because the Fifth District and the Ninth (?) District decided their respective cases in different ways. The Supreme Court often deals with cases where district courts are doing different things with the same area of law.
- jcranmer 2y ago
  Fifth and Eleventh Circuits. The districts are the actual courts at the lowest level; the circuits are the way they're organized into appeals courts.

AnimalMuppet 2y ago

Not quite nothing. It means that the laws don't go into effect now. They won't for years, if ever.

legitster 2y ago

If you look at the court documents, they provide a litany of reasons the case had no merit and also that the circuit courts were in the wrong. The core principles of content moderation and editorial review being protected free speech are pretty strongly worded throughout the decision.

dwallin 2y ago

You are missing the key bit right after that where they basically scolded the 5th circuit for not having a basic understanding of free speech. They then proceeded to outline in detail why said analysis should almost certainly lead to the law failing to pass constitutional muster. This was not the Supreme Court throwing up their hands, this was the Supreme Court saying "This is basic stuff you shouldn't be getting wrong, try it again." > It is necessary to say more about how the First Amendment relates to the laws’ content-moderation provisions, to ensure that the facial analysis proceeds on the right path in the courts below. That need is especially stark for the Fifth Circuit, whose decision rested on a serious misunderstanding of First Amendment precedent and principle.

red-iron-pine 2y ago
sounds to me like the Fifth Circuit saw how the wind was blowing and didn't want to make a call least they upset The Powers That Be. Plus the 5th is based out of Texas and getting appointed there usually means getting alignment with the locals.