Publications
Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued its first decision this week, a per curiam opinion in the habeas case Cavazos v. Smith (10-1115). A sad case from any perspective, it features the collision of the Court’s strict standards for habeas review, the Court’s standards for granting certiorari, and the changing science around shaken baby syndrome […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court is in the thick of arguments and has been clearing out what it apparently believes are some of the “easy” cases. The Court issued two per curiam decisions Monday and released the first signed opinion of the Term on Tuesday! The first signed opinion came in a habeas case, Greene […]
Greetings, Court fans! Unless you were assiduously avoiding all forms of media yesterday, you likely heard that the Court has agreed to hear a series of cases challenging the health care law, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act. The Court structured the cert grants in its own fashion, picking and choosing how it wanted to hear […]
Greetings, Court fans! We hope you enjoyed a restful and bountiful Thanksgiving holiday. Since our last Update, the Court has granted cert in the following cases: Southern Union Company v. United States (11-94), which asks whether the Fifth and Sixth Amendment principles that the Court established in Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) and its progeny […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back to bring you the Court’s decisions in Judulang v. Holder (10–694), on the standard for determining whether an alien is eligible for discretionary relief from deportation, and Harding v. Cross (11-74), a per curiam decision discussing how much effort prosecutorial authorities must make to locate a witness before that witness […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court has been busy since returning from its extended holiday recess, issuing four decisions yesterday, three decisions today, and two order lists. We start with yesterday’s decisions: CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood (10-948), where the Court enforced another arbitration agreement (shocking, we know); Minneci v. Pollard (10-1104), finding no Bivens action available […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with the three decisions released on Wednesday: Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC (10-553), holding that the “ministerial exception” bars a suit by a minister against her church claiming termination in violation of employment discrimination laws; Perry v. New Hampshire (10-8974), holding that, absent improper police conduct, the […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued two newsworthy decisions last week. First, in Perry v. Perez (11-713), the Texas redistricting case, the Court issued a per curiam opinion throwing out the District Court’s proposed interim redistricting plan. Second, in Maples v. Thomas (10-63), the Court (in a surprising 7-2 decision) gave death row inmate Cory […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court delivered four fresh opinions on Monday, including the headline-grabbing decision in U.S. v. Jones (10-1259) holding that the government cannot install a GPS device to track a suspect 24/7. The Court also decided Reynolds v. U.S. (10-6549), holding that sex offenders convicted before July 27, 2006 do not need to […]
Greetings, Court fans! After a long hiatus, the Court has returned and inundated us with seven decisions released yesterday and today, as well as an order list. Today’s Update will cover Kawashima v. Holder (10-577), addressing whether certain federal tax crimes are deportable offenses under the Immigration and Nationality Act; Marmet Health Care Center, Inc. […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back to bring you a few decisions you probably have not been waiting for: Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California, Inc. (09-958), where the Court ducked the question of whether the Supremacy Clause provides a mechanism for health care providers to challenge Medicaid rates set by the States; Howes […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with three more decisions, which gets us caught up with the Court’s recent published activity. The decisions came in Kurns v. Railroad Friction Products Corp. (10-879), where the Court held that the Locomotive Inspection Act preempts state law design-defect and failure-to-warn claims; Martel v. Clair (10-1265), regarding the standard for […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with the remaining decisions: NASA v. Nelson (09-530), finding that routine government back-ground checks on contract employees do not violate any constitutionally-protected privacy interest; Chase Bank USA, N.A. v. McCoy (09-329), interpreting Regulation Z regarding credit card disclosures; and Swarthout v. Cooke consolidated with Cate v. Clay (10-333), concerning federal […]
Greetings, Court fans! Since returning from break, the Court has issued thirteen new decisions (3 this morning), as well as several order lists. We’re a bit backlogged due to Kim’s recent move, but we’re going to catch up quickly! This Update will cover all of the orders and three of the decisions – Bruesewitz v. […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with three more decisions. The most newsworthy came in Snyder v. Phelps (09-751), where a nearly unanimous Court found that a grieving father’s tort claims against protesters at his military son’s funeral were barred by the First Amendment. A far less publicized, but practically important ruling came in Henderson v. […]
Greetings, Court fans! As promised, we continue to work our way through the backlog of decisions. This Update will cover two cases relating to the Freedom of Information Act, FCC v. AT&T Inc. (09-1279) and Milner v. Department of the Navy (09-1163), as well as Pepper v. United States (09-6822), an important criminal decision holding […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with the last installment of cases from the past two weeks: Staub v. Proctor Hospital (09-400), upholding the so-called “cat’s paw” theory of employment discrimination; Wall v. Kholi (09-868), holding that sentence reduction motions under state law toll the time for filing a federal habeas petition; Skinner v. Switzer (09-9000), […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with a number of recent decisions: Matrixx Initiatives, Inc. v. Siracusano (09-1156), finding that the failure to disclose adverse event data relating to a drug can form the basis for securities law liability even if the data does not meet the threshold for statistical significance; Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued two significant decisions this week: Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn (09-987), limiting taxpayer standing to bring Establishment Clause challenges, and Cullen v. Pinholster (09-1088), holding that, on habeas review, a district court is limited to the record created in the state court when determining whether a state […]
Greetings, Court fans! Last week, the Court issued a pair of decisions on state sovereign immunity, Sossamon v. Texas (08-1438) and Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy v. Stewart (09-529). In Sossamon v. Texas (08-1438), the Court held 6-2 that States did not consent to waive their sovereign immunity to suits for money damages under […]
Greetings, Court fans! This Update will bring you two decisions and all recent orders. We’ll start with the Court’s controversial 5-4 decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion (09-893), which held that Section 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) requires courts to enforce agreements to arbitrate on an individual basis even if a state […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with three cases with a little something for everyone: Kentucky v. King (09-1272), on the exigent circumstances exception to warrantless search; Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk (10-188), on the public disclosure bar of the False Claims Act; and CIGNA Corp. v. Amara (09-804), on remedies for […]
Greetings, Court fans! The decisions are washing ashore in waves now as we make our way into June. This Update wades through: Ashcroft v. al-Kidd (10-98), holding that former Attorney General Ashcroft could not be sued for allegedly instituting a policy to use material witness warrants to preventatively detain terrorism suspects; United States v. Tinklenberg […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back to bring you Brown v. Plata (09-1233), the Court’s lengthy and highly controversial decision ordering a reduction in California’s prison population; and Fowler v. United States (10-5443), interpreting the federal witness tampering statute. Justice Kennedy authored the majority opinion in Brown v. Plata (09-1233), where he joined with the liberal […]
Greetings, Court fans! Congratulations are in order for new Solicitor General Donald Verrilli. The former Deputy White House Counsel was confirmed by the Senate, 72-16, this past week. News outlets reported that Verrilli was quietly sworn in Thursday afternoon so that he could get to work, with a more formal ceremony to follow. Now, back […]
Greetings, Court fans! With a couple dozen decisions left to go, you can expect to continue to hear from us often in the coming weeks. This Update will cover Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Jr. University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. (09-1159), regarding the allocation of rights to inventions developed with the help […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court released four decisions today, including two big ones: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes (10-277), overturning the Ninth Circuit’s decision certifying a class of millions of plaintiffs in a gender discrimination suit against the big box store everyone loves to hate (but nevertheless buys from weekly); and American Electric Power Co., […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with in-depth coverage of yesterday’s two most noteworthy decisions as well as the Court’s recent orders. Monday’s featured fight was Big Box vs. Big Class, a/k/a Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes (10-277). Wal-Mart won, in a decision that will send ripples (if not waves) through class action law. In Dukes, […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re slowly digging our way out of the blizzard of recent decisions. This Update will cover: Smith v. Bayer Corp. (09-1205), regarding the preclusive effect of class certification decisions; Turner v. Rogers (10-10), on the right of indigent defendants to court-appointed counsel in civil contempt proceedings that could result in jail time; […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc. (No. 10-799), a win for brand name drug makers on their First Amendment right to access pharmacies’ prescription records for marketing purposes; Pliva, Inc. v. Mensing (09-993), a win for generic drug makers on preemption of state failure-to-warn suits, and Talk America, Inc. v. […]