SCOTUS is dumping a ton of decisions before its summer recess. Among these is the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. Barbara. I like the name. Tomorrow is the last day before recess. Are they waiting until the last minute before they dash out the door before bombing the 14th Amendment? Stay tuned.

I’ve been following along on SCOTUSblog. It hasn’t been all bad news so far. The Court will not hear Trump’s appeal of the $5 million a jury awarded to E. Jean Carroll. (Trump’s reaction is unhinged.) They upheld a Mississippi law that allows election officials to count mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and received within five days after. They stopped Trump from firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.

However, John Roberts’s campaign to implement the Unitary Executive Theory continues. Kate Riga writes at TPM:

The Supreme Court cast its long-telegraphed death blow to independent agencies Monday, confirming that the president can fire at-will civil servants that were meant to be insulated from political backlash. In a second opinion, though, the Court gave the Federal Reserve a special carveout from this new reality. 

The odd baby-splitting in the combination of Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook — both authored by Chief Justice John Roberts — reveals the right-wing Court’s priorities: It may be sanguine about the demolition of agencies mostly used to regulate big business and protect worker rights, but is far less willing to let President Trump take over the Fed and unleash global economic chaos. 

Translation: The Chief Justice draw the line as far as his personal financial investments are concerned. See also Josh Marshall’s commentary, The Supreme Court’s Corruption Must Be Broken.

And see also Paul Krugman:

… but much more important is Humphrey’s Executor, which is the generations-long precedent that says that when Congress creates an independent agency, it is independent. It’s able to make decisions.

Of course, the president has some role. Typically, the president can choose the agency’s head subject to congressional approval, but the president can’t just go and fire officials that he doesn’t like for whatever reason or for no reason, because the agencies that operate the U.S. government and basically run our society are supposed to be professional. They’re supposed to be following their legal mandate. They’re not supposed to be personal tools of a dictator in the White House.

Well, the court just scrapped that. Now, lawyers, people who are legal experts, can do a better job of explaining just what went down. But what I think is important to understand is not only does this give essentially dictatorial powers to the occupant of the White House, but it also makes it extremely difficult for the economy to function. It makes it extremely difficult for society to function.

John Roberts (and the justices who agree with hm) seem to have a cognitive dysfunction that doesn’t allow him to anticipate the effects of his decisions. Or else he doesn’t care. Citizens United anyone? Of course it had a corrupting influence on politics. Gutting the Voting Rights Act brought on a return of Jim Crow in several southern states. Now Trump can merrily destroy whatever federal agencies are still functioning. No skin off Roberts’s nose, I guess.

I guess they’re done for today. Tomorrow we’re supposed to get the decisions on birthright citizenship, transgender athlete bans, and a challenge brought by Republicans to how much money candidates can spend in coordination with their political party. I’m gong to assume the Republicans will win that one.