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Justice Thomas Faults The Court's Inconsistent Approach to Summary Reversals

This aspect of the "shadow" docket is largely ignored.

Josh Blackman | 6.1.2026 1:33 PM

Today the Supreme Court summarily reversed an Eleventh Circuit capital case, Whitton v. Dixon. Justice Thomas dissented, joined for the most part by Justice Alito. The Eleventh Circuit issued a 60-page decision, but the Court found objectionable two sentences. As Justice Thomas points out in his dissent, the Eleventh Circuit can simply strip out those two sentences, and the outcome would remain unchanged. This seems to be the essence of harmless error. Why, then, did the Court waste everyone's time with a summary reversal?

Justice Thomas charges his........

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