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There are only three liberal justices on the Supreme Court — and they are not on the same page. They are responding very differently to their lack of influence as conservative justices yield to President Trump and burnish his executive power. And, according to a story published today, their relationship is straining.
In one camp, Justice Elena Kagan believes in building consensus and picking off conservative votes to avoid the most extreme rulings. In another, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s newest member, is more confrontational. Her opinions speak more to the public — and to history — than to her conservative peers, whom she sees as beyond persuasion.
Jodi Kantor has spent months reporting on their relationship. I a…
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There are only three liberal justices on the Supreme Court — and they are not on the same page. They are responding very differently to their lack of influence as conservative justices yield to President Trump and burnish his executive power. And, according to a story published today, their relationship is straining.
In one camp, Justice Elena Kagan believes in building consensus and picking off conservative votes to avoid the most extreme rulings. In another, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s newest member, is more confrontational. Her opinions speak more to the public — and to history — than to her conservative peers, whom she sees as beyond persuasion.
Jodi Kantor has spent months reporting on their relationship. I asked her about her scoop, which published today.
Adam: The tension you describe mimics a dynamic on the left generally. It is disorganized, demoralized, factional. One side favors pragmatism — say, running pro-life Democrats to help the party retake the House. The other says anything short of confrontation will normalize unlawful or corrupt policies. It’s fascinating to know this tension exists even on the Supreme Court.
Jodi: Yes, and the setting intensifies it. This is a world of formality and decorum. Even writing “I dissent” instead of “I respectfully dissent” is considered a bold move. And Jackson has gone far beyond that.
Kagan and Jackson are both Harvard-trained Democratic appointees. Yet they’re very different jurists.
Supreme Court justices have a rule that they’re not supposed to insult their colleagues or the institution. It’s fine to express strong legal disagreement but nothing accusatory about other justices. Judges are supposed to be examples of stability, not figures who thwack each other over their disagreements. But that puts the liberal justices in a predicament: They’re outnumbered, three to six, and they are very worried about the court’s recent decisions. How can they vent their alarm?
Justice Kagan, appointed in 2010 to be a diplomat and strategist, is capable of punching hard, but she shows her frustration only in flashes. When the court rejected President Biden’s student loan cancellations in 2023, she deleted the most heated material from her dissent, I learned in my reporting. Justice Jackson aims directly at the right side of the court, accusing them of being clueless about racism, favoring “moneyed interests” and enabling “our collective demise.”
This has led to tension — between Jackson and the two senior liberals, and between Jackson and the rest of the court.
In which camp does Justice Sonia Sotomayor fall?
She is now the senior liberal, assigning dissents and keeping many of the most important ones for herself. In those, Sotomayor disagrees forcefully, but she also values her long relationships at the court, people close to her say, and mostly keeps her focus on the legal judgments.
The customary move would be for Jackson, the junior justice, to sign on and say no more. But sometimes she adds her own thoughts, going beyond the senior justice. “Eventually, executive power will become completely uncontainable, and our beloved constitutional Republic will be no more,” she wrote earlier this spring when the court limited the power of federal judges to curtail Trump’s power.
Sotomayor and Kagan worry that their newer colleague’s candor and propensity to add her own dissents have diluted the group’s impact.
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Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.Credit...Pool photo by Chip Somodevilla
It’s frustrating to be in the minority. But as the baby justice, Jackson endures extra humiliations and limits.
By tradition, the junior justice serves on the cafeteria committee and answers the door to the justices’ private conference room in case of a knock. The chief justice has referred to these as hazing rituals. More important: In those meetings, in which justices speak in order of seniority, she talks last. So unless there’s a tie, it’s tough for her to have any influence. People close to her say this is part of why she aims to speak more directly to the public.
**We’re not used to reading stories like this from inside the court. **
The Supreme Court is secretive. But in journalism, scrutinizing the powerful is Job No. 1. In the past three years, The Times has worked to understand more about these singular jobs, the people who fill them, how power flows inside the marble walls, and — as in this article — what kinds of dilemmas the justices face. Anyone who has tips can reach me at nytimes.com/tips.
Learn more about how Kagan uses her diplomacy — and why Jackson took a different approach.
HURRICANE MELISSA
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In Black River, Jamaica.Credit...Abbie Townsend for The New York Times
As the clouds of Hurricane Melissa cleared and power slowly returned, Jamaica got a clearer look at the damage the storm had caused. Floodwaters gouged asphalt roads. Roaring winds sheared the roof off an elementary school and sent beams splintering onto the desks below.
St. Elizabeth, where the hurricane made landfall, appears to be ground zero of the disaster. A courthouse, library, churches and other historic buildings were reduced to rubble. “The area is totally flat,” the local police superintendent said.
Officials have not announced a death toll from the storm because they have not yet confirmed the numbers, said Desmond McKenzie, who is leading the emergency response. But in Haiti, officials said at least 30 people died.
Now Jamaica faces a long, daunting road to recovery. Britain, France and several of Jamaica’s Caribbean neighbors have pledged assistance.
THE LATEST NEWS
National Security
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A tower built in Nevada for Icecap, a nuclear test canceled in 1992.Credit...Los Alamos National Laboratory
For some, Trump’s unexpected order to resume nuclear testing recalls the worst days of the Cold War, David Sanger and William Broad write. (Read more about how America tests nuclear bombs.)
Some analysts say China won a major victory in its talks with Trump: Getting the U.S. to suspend a national security measure that limited its access to advanced technology.
Food Stamps
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A line for a food pantry in New York City.Credit...Marco Postigo Storel for The New York Times
Food stamps lose federal funding on Saturday. Some older Americans who can’t line up at food pantries or get second jobs are “just praying.”
In court, the Trump administration defended its decision not to fund the SNAP program during the government shutdown. The judge appeared frustrated.
Louisiana’s governor, a Republican, said the state would use emergency funds to keep some food assistance flowing.
More on Politics
The Trump administration will admit no more than 7,500 refugees this fiscal year, down from 125,000 during Biden’s last year in office. It will prioritize white South Africans.
How much more might you have to pay for Obamacare? See charts to find out.
Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio and a handful of other officials moved out of civilian homes and now live in military housing.
Sudan
Videos circulating online show horrific scenes of violence, including executions, in El Fasher, a besieged city in the Sudanese region of Darfur, since paramilitary forces captured it last weekend.
The images have stoked fears that Darfur is plunging, once again, into a cycle of genocidal violence of the kind that made it a focus of global politics two decades ago.
Other Big Stories
Big tech platforms are again accelerating their A.I. spending, despite concerns about a bubble.
After Jeffrey Epstein died, JPMorgan Chase filed a report alerting the U.S. government to tens of millions of dollars of potentially suspicious transactions involving him and prominent Wall Street and business figures.
Two men died in basements because of flash flooding in New York City, the police said. See more video of the flooding, which followed sudden, record-setting rains, from CNN.
New details reveal that the Louvre thieves were good, but not flawless: They had a surprisingly frazzled exit and left a trove of evidence.
BOO!
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Credit...OK McCausland for The New York Times
Are Halloween decorations getting scarier? For some, simple witches and ghouls don’t cut it anymore. Now you can find front-lawn displays featuring dismembered bodies, decapitated heads and the most creeptastic clowns. Skeletons are taller — and shriek when you pass by. Zombies gesticulate and drool flesh.
It’s driving a Halloween spending spree. Americans are expected to drop $4.2 billion on decorations this year, up from $1.6 billion in 2019.
But some say the jump-scares are getting out of hand — peeking out from stoops, looming in doorways, hanging from rafters, covering the lawn with blood. Just look at some of these unnerving specimens. Neighbors have lodged complaints. Little ones are crying. It makes you wonder what kinds of twisted impulses lurk in the American psyche. Happy Halloween! 👻
Related: Trump passed out candy for Halloween. (He didn’t wear a costume.)
OPINIONS
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Credit...Damon Winter/The New York Times
MORNING READS
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The Obituary was born in the French Quarter of New Orleans.Credit...Cedric Angeles for The New York Times
Back from the dead: The Obituary, a New Orleans cocktail, is beloved for its absinthe — and its name. Now, like martinis, it’s having a resurgence.
**Your pick: **The most-clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about a disastrous book tour.
**Trending: **“If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire?” Billie Eilish asked a room of rich people, The Wall Street Journal reports. “Give your money away, shorties.”
**A life bewitched: **Patricia Crowther, who has died at 97, was a high priestess of Wicca and among the most prominent of England’s 20th-century witches, defending them against accusations that they turned men into toads and flew around on broomsticks.
SPORTS
Colleges: L.S.U. parted ways with its athletic director, Scott Woodward.
M.L.B.: With the World Series moving north to Toronto, so have ticket prices. The average ticket resale price for Game 6 is close to $1,900.
**W.N.B.A.: **The league and its players’ union agreed to a 30-day extension to negotiations over athlete pay and other issues.
TRICKY TREATS
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In Detroit. Credit...Todd Heisler/The New York Times
After the Halloween festivities are finished, make sure to inspect your kids’ candy. Not for razor blades — that’s a myth — but to see if their haul includes any actual chocolate.
Climate change is eating away at our sweets. Prolonged droughts, extreme heat and irregular rainfall patterns have suppressed cocoa yields in West Africa, driving up prices. Many candy-makers have developed cheaper recipes that no longer officially qualify as milk chocolate. Rolos, for example, are now wrapped in “rich chocolate candy.”
More on culture
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Wole Soyinka at home in 2021.Credit...Yagazie Emezi for The New York Times
Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian author, said the U.S. revoked his visa. He has been a vocal critic of Trump.
The Studio Museum in Harlem has a new home. The building took seven years to complete, but our architecture critic says the result was worth the wait: It redefines 125th Street.
Even Helen DeWitt can’t decide if her bewildering co-written novel, “Your Name Here,” is a work of genius or a total mess.
On late night, Jimmy Kimmel said he agreed with Marjorie Taylor Greene about health care.
THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …
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Credit...Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.
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Adam B. Kushner edits The Morning newsletter. You can subscribe here.
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