I have developed a sixth sense for when a decision has already been made, usually when a judge rules against my client. I will not disguise the fact that I do not agree with the Supreme Court majority's decision against a vaccine mandate in America's workplaces during a pandemic that has killed some 800,000 people so far. But I do not write because I disagree with the substance of that decision.
I write instead because nobody signed it. I noticed that nobody signed the opinion when I saw that it was issued "Per Curiam." That's a sure sign to any lawyer that the judges on that Court did not put their individual names on it.
This was also a ruling on an application for a stay. The ruling was that the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), does not have the power to mandate "that covered workers receive a COVID-19 vaccine[.]"
This may be another example of the notorious shadow docket, or at least of the notorious use of the shadow docket to reduce publicity and avoid personal accountability. It is also reasonable to say that judges who do not put their names to the opinions they write are ashamed of them. The judges that do not sign their names to a decision use the shadow docket because they are afraid of their own shadow. This decision shows that they are very afraid.
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