re: Roberts/SCOTUS needs to address this Trump shite right now

quote:

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Procedurally, do they have the power to proactively pursue an issue without someone first bringing it to them?

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Yes, no, and maybe. Theoretically, SCOTUS could issue a sua sponte order. This has been done on by state courts and lower federal courts in the past, however SCOTUS has never issues one. I think is has significant constitutional issues and is very unlikely to happen with the current makeup of the court. Thomas, Alito and possibly Gorsuch would likely have aneurysms at the thought of it.

The most recent judicial treatment of sua sponte rulings was a case in the Washington Supreme Court earlier this year. I forget the cite. It basically said that they can occur but only in extraordinary circumstances and that it borders too much on legislative action which is within the purview of the court. Note that most sua sponte orders are pursuant to unpleaded claims in an ongoing case but there is technically nothing to stop particularly SCOTUS from making the order out of thin air but highly unlikely.

You can add this to the list of things that ain't gonna happen and would produce a novel constitutional crisis if it did because such an order would be the purest form of legislation from the bench. That being said I don't know how it could be unraveled if they did do it.