Less than two weeks ago, in an appearance on CBS Mornings to promote her new book, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson demurred when anchor Vladimir Duthiers made his own argument three minutes in on the then-pending tariff case against Trump - demanding to know what was taking them so long.
Oral arguments were November 5, 2025. The decision was released on Friday. (Pretty speedy by DC standards!)
That extra-judicial pressure notwithstanding, it seems entirely likely that her decision in the Trump Tariff case had already been made and was at the printers. Nonetheless, it comes to something when apparently no one in the control room thought this was a problem. Heck, they probably fed him the language.
But, beyond that, the question itself brought to mind Mark's testimony before the Sub-Committee on Space, Science and Competitiveness of the the United States Senate in which he called out the sclerotic courts:
...Dr Mann did not want the world to be reminded that the same man who turned a blind eye to Sandusky also turned a blind eye to him. He filed suit against me and three other parties in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, where neither Mann nor I work or reside. Indeed, I never set foot in this benighted jurisdiction except to come here for matters arising from the court case, such as this hearing. The case was assigned to Natalia Combs Greene, a since reprimanded landlord-and-tenant judge appointed by President Clinton and confirmed by this honorable Senate. After a botched ruling in which she confused the parties, she said the case was "complicated" and shuffled it off on a colleague, but not before procedurally mangling it so that, for a while, two different trial judges were ruling on the case simultaneously – something that's a big no-no in functioning jurisdictions, but which was partly caused here by Michael Mann falsely claiming in his complaint to be a Nobel Laureate and then, after the Nobel Institute told him he wasn't, having to file an amended complaint.
At this point, my fellow defendants chose to test the DC Anti-SLAPP statute, which was assented to by this US Senate in 2010, but was so poorly written as to leave unanswered such basic questions as the standard for dismissal and whether or not that decision is immediately appealable to the DC Court of Appeals. The ACLU, The Washington Post, NBC News, The Los Angeles Times, and various other media bigfeet all filed amici briefs opposed to Mann – not because they disagree with him on global warming (most of them are as hot for climate change as he is) but because they understand that putting climate science beyond criticism and into the courtroom would inflict the greatest damage on the First Amendment in over 50 years. Not a single amicus brief was filed on Dr Mann's behalf.
Oral arguments were heard over one year ago, yet judges Vanessa Ruiz, Corinne Beckwith and Catharine Easterly, all confirmed to the DC court by this Senate, have failed to rule. I note that, in writing to President Obama recommending a second 15-year term for Judge Ruiz, the Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure nevertheless observed:
The Commission would be remiss if it did not address the serious issue of Judge Ruiz's backlog of opinions... Of crucial importance to the proper functioning of the Court of Appeals is the timely resolution of disputes. The public's confidence in the Court is eroded when litigants must wait multiple years for decisions to be rendered. The Commission believes that this problem is not only about the pace of opinion production, but also about a less than fully adequate appreciation on the part of Judge Ruiz as to how her backlog adversely affects the litigants, the Court, and her colleagues.
As a result, an interlocutory appeal has dragged on for almost two years. Judge Ruiz is an activist judge who is, inter alia, a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aspires to be the first global think-tank and is very active on the transnational climate scene. All very fascinating. But she's supposed to be a DC judge first and a condition of the Commission in exchange for recommending her for a second term was that her obligation to clear her appalling backlog of cases took precedence over her "outside activities, no matter how worthy they may be". A dissenting member of the Commission, Noel J Francisco, was shrewder about Judge Ruiz's failings: It should go without saying that an appellate judge's primary duty – if not her sole duty – is to decide cases.
On this score, as my colleagues have described, Judge Ruiz's backlog is 'the highest by far of any of the appellate judges on the DC Court of Appeals" and, as a result, litigants often 'must wait multiple years for decisions to be rendered' by her... As the old adage goes, 'justice delayed is justice denied'.
The purpose of anti-SLAPP laws is to prevent the use of litigation to chill free speech – on climate change and many other issues. When it takes up to three years to get a ruling (as it apparently does with Judge Ruiz), there is no point to anti-SLAPP legislation. Indeed, when it takes three years to get a ruling, the case is not the issue, the judge is. When it takes three years from oral arguments to ruling, it may be that the judge is just an incompetent sloth who's spending far too much time on extra-curricular activities working on world peace. Or it may be that a sclerotic and incompetent DC court system has three-year backlogs because it accepts cases from venue tourists like Michael Mann who have no connection whatsoever with this jurisdiction – and, as a result, the court system is incapable of serving the people it's meant to serve.
Nevertheless, this Senate confirmed Judge Ruiz. Under the Home Rule Act, the District of Columbia operates in a constitutional no-man's-land whereby it enacts legislation for which this honorable body is ultimately responsible. In practice, that means they pass slapdash, poorly drafted laws, and you guys rubber-stamp them. The constitutional limbo allows serial plaintiffs like Michael Mann to use the DC courts to torture non-DC residents: this is a disgrace, and ultimately it is the responsibility of you and your colleagues.
I responded to Mann's discovery requests almost two years ago. He has yet to respond to mine. No court around the world within the Common Law tradition to which this country is heir has ever presumed to adjudicate science. Judge Natalia Combs Greene is not competent to rule on landlord-and-tenant cases, never mind the extent of the Medieval Warm Period. Judge Vanessa Ruiz is so lethargic that, by the time she does rule on the science, global warming will have kicked in and the rising sea levels will have washed away the Maldives, Tuvalu and, with luck, the District of Columbia. My three years in the stagnant swamp of DC "justice" demonstrate why science in particular and public policy disputes in general are beyond the competence of the judges you confirm and the courts you fund. They belong properly in what the eminent jurist Lord Moulton called "the domain of manners".
Do read the whole thing here.
Incidentally, Mark's testimony was in December 2015. The Ruiz-led troika at the DC Court of Appeals took another year to rule and, another two years after that - December 2018 - to slightly amend their decision. (And, yes, before you ask all three are still there...)
At which point, our co-defendants appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States who at least had the courtesy to take less than a year to decline hearing it on the basis "it wasn't ripe yet". But, not without a withering take by Justice Alito who dissented:
...I recognize that the decision now before us is interlocutory and that the case may be reviewed later if the ultimate outcome below is adverse to petitioners. But requiring a free speech claimant to undergo a trial after a ruling that may be constitutionally flawed is no small burden...
Whatever one thinks about Friday's ruling, the problem isn't the three and a half months SCOTUS took to make a decision. It's way deeper than that.
Thank you for your support of Mark in his continued defense of free speech.
The definitive resource:
"A Disgrace To The Profession"
The World's Scientists, In Their Own Words, On Michael E Mann, His Hockey Stick And Their Damage To Science
Volume I
Compiled and edited by Mark Steyn, with illustrations by Josh
also, available in audio form for Mark Steyn Club members here.
