1/ THREAD:

Can we talk about the total lack of consistency at the Supreme Court in how quickly they are deciding high profile and time-sensitive cases during this COVID-19 pandemic?

#appellatetwitter #SCOTUS #COVID19

2/ First, take the Wisconsin case, which the court decided in *two days*. The application for a stay was filed on April 4, a response was filed on April 5, and the Court decided the case on April 6 without oral argument, including a 4-page majority opinion and a 6-page dissent.

3/ The Wisconsin case has huge consequences: the Court’s decision denied thousands of voters the ability to cast an absentee ballot, forcing them to risk their health in order to effectuate their right to vote. But the Court acted quickly because it was a time-sensitive issue.

4/ Compare that speedy decision with the lengthy delays in the cases concerning congressional subpoenas for Trump’s financial records. Those subpoenas were issued last spring, and the cases were granted by #SCOTUS last November, but they still haven’t been decided.

5/ They were supposed to be argued on March 31, but the Court indefinitely delayed argument given the pandemic. The problem is that the Court has not said if it will hold telephonic arguments or simply decide the case on the papers if it can’t hold in-person arguments.

6/ Like the Wisconsin case, these cases are important and time-sensitive too. The subpoenas expire at the end of this year. Also, Congress needs this information quickly so that it can make decisions about potential legislation before the end of this congressional session.

7/ Yet the Court has treated these cases like it does any other case on its merits docket, letting it sit for months without a decision. The 116th Congress is more than halfway done, and Congress is little closer to getting the information it needs to legislate effectively.

8/ But the Wisconsin case demonstrates that the Court *can* act quickly. To be sure, that case was an application for a stay, but the point is that the Court was able to decide an important and time-sensitive legal issue in 48 hours, without argument, even with a dissent.

9/ There is no reason why the Court could not similarly fast-track the cases regarding subpoenas for Trump’s financial records. Their failure to do so could give Trump a default win by preventing Congress from getting records until it is too late for Congress to act this session.

10/ #SCOTUS needs to do its job and decide these cases quickly. People across the country are getting their work done during this pandemic, and #SCOTUS can do so as well, as it just demonstrated. It is past time for the Court to decide these congressional subpoena cases. //END