I'm Elizabeth Lattery, and I'm Tiffany Bates.

And welcome to SCOTUS 101, where we break down what's happening at the Supreme Court,

what the justices are up to, and other things related to our favorite branch of government.

This week, we're talking about recent cases at the court, an interview of Justice Thomas

by his wife, Ginny, and we'll interview Ohio Solicitor General Eric Murphy. Well, welcome back to our listeners. And what's happening at the Supreme Court this week? Well, there are no new grants. There are no new opinions. So what have they been up to? Yeah, what are they doing over there? I am not sure. Well, the orders this week included some disappointing denials, including the Utah Prairie Dog case. This is, I love the name, it's people for the ethical treatment of property owners versus U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Such a great name. Petpo. Dealing with Congress's Commerce Clause power to regulate activity that could affect the ecosystem of a species found only within

one state and that is not traded or used in commercial activity.

So we were sorry to see that that case was denied.

So Tiffany, there was also a procurium opinion.

You want to tell us a little bit about it and maybe remind our listeners what a procurium

opinion is?

Yes.

So these opinions are generally short, unsigned

opinions, so no justice puts their name on it. And they're usually unanimous, but that's not

always the case. And so in this one, Justice Thomas had a scathing dissent, joined by

justices Alito and Gorsuch. So the case was Tharp v. Sellers, and in the case,

the petitioner, Tharp, was convicted of brutally murdering his wife's sister, and he was sentenced

to death by a jury in Georgia. And years later, he tried to reopen his case, claiming that

one of the jurors was biased against him because he's black.

And he showed this by producing an affidavit from a white juror that they signed like seven years

later, making some really horrible and racist statements. But the lower court ruled against him,

said he can't reopen his case,

...