The Supreme Court hands down some incomprehensible gobbledygook about canceled federal grants

vox ^ | Aug 21, 2025, 5:00 PM PDT | by Ian Millhiser

[cuz1961]

...As Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writes in a partial dissent, the decision is “Calvinball jurisprudence,” which appears to be designed to ensure that “this Administration always wins.”...

[cuz1961]

JKB

aka

KJB commie infiltrator..

Spit

[Chickensoup]

She didn’t really write that??

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Is that the one who’s not a biologist? 🤡

[kiryandil]

Jumanji Brown Jackson’s clerks weigh in with their opinions.

[kiryandil]

Her clerks probably wrote that.

[rktman]

Kadisha Jackson brown has peeps to write for her. Sorta shows how important having a JD is worth.

[Red Badger]

BRAVE AI

Calvinball

Calvinball is a game invented by Calvin and Hobbes. It is used recurringly in several strips. The game may involve wickets, mallets, volleyballs, and additional sports-related equipment, but a mask is always required.

There is only one permanent rule in Calvinball: players cannot play it the same way twice. For example, in one game of Calvinball, the goal was to capture the opponent’s flag, whereas in a different game of Calvinball, the goal was to score points by hitting badminton birdies against trees using a croquet mallet.

[PGR88]

In case anyone missed the reference. Urban elite leftists who grew up with Calvin and Hobbes often refer to "Calvinball" when talking about government regulations.

[cuz1961]

I don't know , or care really /-) I stopped reading this tripe at the paragraph excerpted, it's all just Communist drivel. This is the commie urinalist who wrote this progressive (communist) trope. Ian Millhiser is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and the editor of ThinkProgress Justice. He received his JD from Duke University and clerked for Judge Eric L. Clay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His writings have appeared in a diversity of publications, including the New York Times, the Guardian, the Nation, the American Prospect, and the Yale Law & Policy Review

[fwdude]

[9YearLurker]

No, they just want to make sure the idiot on their bench never wins.

[throwthebumsout]

According to Jackson, “the court found, as a factual matter, ‘an unmistakable pattern of discrimination against women’s health issues’ ...”

Yet she doesn’t know what a woman is.

[blackdog]

“Women’s Health” = Abortion, and nothing more.

[iamgalt]

0 chance that incompetent idiot wrote that. Brown doesn’t even know what it means

[alancarp]

[RightOnTheBorder]

Satire until it isn’t.

https://babylonbee.com/news/kbj-issues-savage-dissent-in-form-of-tiktok-dance

[cuz1961]

Don’t care .

[CapandBall]

The only incomprehensible gobbledegook was Karate Jackson Browns dissent, which used the term “Calvinball”, proving she got her education from, and has the reasoning of, a cartoon comic character.

Sad

[tired&retired]

How do you read the article without subscribing? It keeps screen freezing on the subscription form as soon as it’s opened.

[alancarp]

From the judgment:

"(JACKSON, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 21). This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist. Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins."

Overall...

THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, JUSTICE KAGAN, and JUSTICE JACKSON would deny the application in full. JUSTICE THOMAS, JUSTICE ALITO , JUSTICE GORSUCH , and JUSTICE KAVANAUGH would grant the application in full. JUSTICE BARRETT, concurring in the partial grant of the application for stay.

From a writeup on the decision over at ScotusBlog:

"By a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to allow the National Institutes of Health, the largest public funding source for biomedical research in the world, to terminate $783 million in grants linked to DEI initiatives. In a brief unsigned order, the court granted a request from the Trump administration to pause a ruling by a federal judge in Massachusetts that required the federal government to continue making the payments. Also by a vote of 5-4, the court left in place a different portion of the judge’s ruling, which had thrown out internal NIH guidance documents describing the agency’s policy priorities.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett provided the key vote on each issue. She joined Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh in voting to allow NIH to terminate the grants, but she joined Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson in voting to leave the lower court’s ruling on the guidance documents in place."