WJI's Daily Reads for July 14, 2022

SCOWstats: Initial impressions from the Wisconsin Supreme Court's 2021-2022 term statistics.

CNN: Montgomery County, Maryland, police to start enforcing disturbing-the-peace laws against protestors outside justices' homes.

Slate: Justice Amy Coney Barrett's actions show she's in over her head.

This tactical retreat from the public eye hints at the headwinds that Barrett faced in her second year on the court. The justice was ill-prepared for many aspects of her job, and after a series of unforced errors, she has faded into the background whenever possible. As a result, the woman who entrenched the Republican Party’s control over the federal judiciary comes across more as a loyal backbencher than an independent thinker.

Reuters: Indiana's Republican senators approve Seventh Circuit nominee.

Republican Senators Todd Young and Mike Braun of Indiana on Wednesday both returned "blue slips" indicating their support for U.S. Magistrate Judge Doris Pryor, nominated to become the first Black person from their state to serve on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

​E&E News: The impact of legal uncertainty for the Environmental Protection Agency and the environment.

“I’m not sure that the court’s intent was to create uncertainty, but I also don’t get the sense that the conservative justices will mind if the uncertainty that this decision foments causes agencies like EPA to disfavor creative solutions to new problems,” said Lisa Heinzerling in an interview. She wrote the winning briefs in a 2007 Supreme Court case that established EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. . . .

But additional cases take additional time. And EPA doesn’t have years to lose.

The Guardian: Are prison jobs modern-day slavery?

Among the more than 1.2 million Americans imprisoned in federal and state prisons, two out of three are forced to work while imprisoned. The 13th amendment of the US constitution abolished slavery or involuntary servitude, but included an exception for prisoners; critics have called prison work modern-day slavery. . . .

According to a June 2022 report published by the American Civil Liberties Union, prison labor generates more than $11bn annually, with more than $2bn generated from the production of goods, and more than $9bn generated through prison maintenance services. Wages range on average from 13 cents to 52 cents per hour, but many prisoners are paid nothing at all, and their low wages are subject to various deductions.

Yahoo! Finance (Evening Standard): Video doorbells and mass surveillance.

After a series of controversies over Ring cameras, including reports of staff listening in to customers’ video feeds and concern over the gadget’s ties with law enforcement in the US and the UK, Amazon has tightened the rules. But does this go far enough?