Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Appears in 3 stories
Concurring Justice - Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
For decades, federal courts disagreed on a fundamental question: Is court-ordered restitution a criminal punishment or a civil remedy? The distinction matters because the Constitution's Ex Post Facto Clause bars retroactive increases in criminal punishment—but not civil obligations. On January 20, 2026, the Supreme Court unanimously answered: restitution under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act is plainly criminal punishment, and defendants cannot be held to payment terms that didn't exist when they committed their crimes.
Updated Jan 21
Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court - Wrote majority opinion in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton
On Christmas Eve 2024, a federal judge blocked Texas from forcing Apple and Google to verify every user's age before they could download apps. It was the latest casualty in a nationwide wave of age verification laws—over half of U.S. states passed them in two years—that kept running into the same problem: judges said they violated the First Amendment. Just nine days earlier, courts struck down age verification schemes in Louisiana and Arkansas on the same day, part of a December 2025 blitz that killed three state laws in two weeks. But in late November, the 11th Circuit handed states their first major victory, allowing Florida to enforce HB 3, which bans social media accounts for children under 14.
Updated Dec 27, 2025
A federal judge blocked Texas from forcing Apple and Google to verify every app store user's age, calling the law akin to requiring ID checks at bookstore doors. The December 2024 ruling is the latest defeat in a wave of state attempts to age-gate the internet. Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio, and Utah have all seen their social media age verification laws struck down as unconstitutional. But Florida scored a rare victory in November when the 11th Circuit allowed its under-14 ban to take effect while appeals continue—the first state law to survive preliminary challenges.
Updated Dec 26, 2025
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