Publications
Greetings, Court Fans! Four new decisions to start the week, including the first ever authored by Justice Gorsuch: Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc. (No. 16-349), holding that a company seeking to collect its own debt is not a “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. We’ll have a summary of that decision […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The end-of-term rush is officially on. On Monday, the Court handed down six new decisions (including a per curiam summary reversal) and accepted a potential OT17 blockbuster for review. To summarize briefly: In Matal v. Tam (No. 15-1293), the Court unanimously (but with some disagreement on rationale) struck down the disparagement clause […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Three more decisions this morning, leaving us with six to go (and a hint that perhaps a couple of these may be left undecided, fizzling out as 4-4 affirmances or being set for reargument next term). We’ll be back later with summaries of today’s cases, but here’s the blackletter: In Lee v. […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The Nine were back in action this morning, handing down three decisions in cases raising important issues of criminal law and procedure. Briefly: In Maslenjak v. United States (No. 16-309) (one of several “crimmigration” cases this term) the Court held that, where a naturalized citizen is alleged to have procured citizenship illegally, […]
Greetings, Court Fans! It is finished. October Term 2016, that is. This morning, the Court handed down decisions in four of its six remaining cases for OT16 (with two cases that were argued before Gorsuch joined the Court being scheduled for reargument in the Fall, meaning it will be up to him to break an […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Though OT16 was gaveled to a close yesterday, the work of the clerk’s office continued this morning with the issuance of additional orders from yesterday’s “clean up conference,” including five new cases accepted for argument next Term. Our work continues, too, as we make our way through the long list of decisions […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Told you we’d back soon. This time, we’ve got summaries of two decisions relating to the availability of the implied damages remedy for constitutional violations by federal officials announced in the Court’s 1971 decision, Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents. Ziglar v. Abassi (15-1359) and its two companion cases arose in […]
Greetings, Court Fans! This is the way October Term 2016 ends—not with a whimper, but a bang. After eight relatively sleepy months, the last day of the term brought enough excitement to warrant a T.S. Elliot misquote. To be sure, much of the bang came through end-of-term orders and cert grants for OT17, but the […]
Greetings, Court Fans! While a potential ninth justice made plans to give a high school commencement address, The Eight continued to demonstrate that, without a full complement of justices, this may be the Term Without Blockbusters. (Although, with abortion and affirmative action still on the docket, that remains unlikely.) Two more high-profile cases were disposed […]
Greetings, Court Fans! It’s that time of year! Fresh on the heels of the six decisions handed down Monday, the Court issued another three yesterday, with more to come on the other side of the weekend. This Update will cover the remaining three cases from earlier in the week, as well as one that fell […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Three more decisions this morning—Green v. Brennan (14-613), holding that the 45-day limitations period for a constructive-discharge action under Title VII begins to run after the employee gives notice of his resignation; Wittman v. Personhuballah (14-1504), holding that a number of congressmen from Virginia lacked standing to defend the State’s congressional redistricting […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Just one new decision today (along with the first cert grant in ages). In United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. (No. 15-290), the Court held that a jurisdictional determination by the Army Corps of Engineers that a body of water consists of “waters of the United States” (such that […]
Greetings, Court Fans! As we settle into June, the Eight seem to be clearing out the less difficult decisions in preparation for what could be a messy end to the term, given some controversial issues (abortion, affirmative action, immigration) and the lack of a tie-breaking vote to decide them. This morning, the Court issued two […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Though the Puerto Rican Day Parade marched down Fifth Avenue Sunday, the Commonwealth was getting much less love on One First Street. Yesterday morning, in Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust (15-233), the Court held that Puerto Rico is a “State” under the Bankruptcy Code, with the result that a statute […]
Greetings, Court Fans! With just two weeks to go before the end of June, the pace of decisions is increasing, and keeping us increasingly busy. We’re going to get you almost caught up to speed tonight, with summaries of five of the six decisions handed down last week: Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics (14-1513), holding […]
Greetings, Court Fans! While “Brexit” is dominating the international headlines, it was a Texas twin bill yesterday on First Street, as The Eight handed down a 4-4 affirmance in United States v. Texas (15-674), upholding a nationwide injunction against implementation of the Obama Administration’s deferred-action immigration policy, while The Seven (with Justice Kagan recused) issued […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Having cleared some near-blockbusters off the table on Friday (everything’s relative this term), we’ve still got an eight-case backlog to get through before the final decision day of OT15 on Monday. Since we’ve got an even split of civil and criminal cases in the queue, we’re going to break them up accordingly. […]
The Court finished up OT15 this morning with decisions in Voisine v. United States (14-10154), holding that a reckless domestic assault qualifies as a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” under the federal felon-in-possession statute; McDonnell v. United States (15-574), holding that an “official act” for purposes of federal corruption statutes requires more than the kind […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Though most of the attention coming out of the final decision day of OT15 has focused on Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (15-274), where a 5-3 majority held that a Texas law regulating abortion providers imposed an undue burden on a woman’s right to choose, the Court also announced two important criminal-law […]
Greetings, Court Fans! We’re back with our penultimate Update of OT15, covering one of the biggest decisions (and certainly the longest) of the term, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (15-274). Hellerstedt, the first significant abortion case to reach the Court in nearly a decade, posed a test to the enduring vitality of the “undue burden” […]
Greetings, Court Fans! This time last year, as we summarized King v. Burwell (2015), among other decisions, all the talk was about the Supreme Court’s “left turn.” But some observers predicted that OT15 could be the term that “the Empire Strikes Back,” with conservative victories on public-sector unions, affirmative action, and possibly even abortion. That […]
Greetings, Court fans! It’s (still) the first Monday in October, which means the Supreme Court (and the Update) are back in action. Actually, The Eight dug in a bit last week, issuing cert grants from their September 26th “long conference.” We’ll have more in a minute on the eight new cases the Court set for […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Fresh from a three-day weekend, the Court made short work yesterday of its first decision of the term, a per curiam summary reversal in Bosse v. Oklahoma (15-9173). Though the case touched upon an interesting and potentially controversial question—whether the Eighth Amendment prohibits victims’ family members from weighing in on the appropriate […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court has been relatively quiet since our last missive—we’re still waiting for the first signed opinion of the term—but we suspect your minds have been focused on other branches of government over the last few weeks anyway. But, while much of the country has been looking the other way, The Eight […]
Greetings Court Fans! The Court issued its first signed opinion of the term this week, a unanimous decision in Bravo-Fernandez v. United States (15-537) holding that the Double Jeopardy Clause does not bar the Government from retrying a defendant after a jury has returned irreconcilably inconsistent verdicts of conviction and acquittal, and the convictions are […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The Eight continue to churn out unanimous decisions to start the Term. This Update will cover four of them—Salman v. United States (No. 15-628), clarifying the “personal benefit” element of insider-trading law; Shaw v. United States (No. 15-5991), clarifying that the bank fraud statute applies even when a defendant seeks only to […]
Greetings, Court Fans! And Happy New Year! Yes, most of us kicked off 2017 over a week ago, but The Eight reassembled for the new (calendar) year yesterday, and rang it in with a summary reversal. We’ll cover that decision and a late-breaking stay order in a case involving racial gerrymandering in North Carolina below. […]
Greetings, Court Fans! For those of you who spent the last six months (since cert was granted in Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage Corp. (No. 14-1055)) just dying to know whether the sue-and-be-sued clause in Fannie Mae’s charter grants federal courts jurisdiction over all suits involving the mortgage giant, have we got a treat for you: […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Raisins, radioactive wrists, Red Roof registries, and reformatory roughhousing were all on the Court’s radar Monday (it’s a very broad radar horizon), as it issued decisions in Horne v. Dep’t of Agriculture (14-275), holding that the seizure of personal property requires just compensation under the Fifth Amendment; Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment (13-720), […]
Greetings, Court Fans! In a week that saw the Court hold that facial challenges are available under the Fourth Amendment, that disparate-impact claims are available under the Fair Housing Act, and that tax credits are available on Obamacare’s Federal Exchanges, Friday took the progressive cake, when the Court in Obergefell v. Hodges (14-556), made marriage […]