Yesterday I noted that Justices Gorsuch and Barrett have repeatedly authored dueling opinions in the brief time they have been together on the Supreme Court. Today, it happened again.
The first Supreme Court opinion released this morning was George v. McDonough, a concerning the retroactive effect of decisions invalidating Department of Veterans' Affairs regulations. Writing for the Court, Justice Barrett concluded that the subsequent invalidation of such a regulation after a veteran's benefits decision becomes final cannot support a claim for collateral relief based on clear and unmistakable error. In other words, the fact that a regulation is subsequently invalidated does not enable a veteran to challenge a prior benefit decision based upon that regulation.
Justice Barrett's opinion was joined by the Chief Justice and Justices Thomas, ALito, Kagan and Kavanaugh. Justice Sotomayor dissented alone, and Justice Gorsuch dissented, joined by Justice Breyer in full and Justice Sotomayor in part.
-copy-29e15046.jpeg?w=600)
