Publications
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. […]
Greetings, Court fans! The October 2010 Term officially ended yesterday, but we have plenty of decisions left to bring you. Our next two cases concern the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), which imposes a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence for unlawful possession of a firearm by a person who “has three previous convictions . . . […]
Greetings, Court fans! While we won’t be getting any new decisions, we’re still working our way through the old ones. This Update will cover: Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (08-1448), finding a California law limiting the sale of violent video games to minors unconstitutional (leading parents everywhere to groan); Chamber of Commerce of the United […]
Greetings, Court fans! I’m back to bring you recent Court orders, including six cert grants in: AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion (09-893), which asks: “Whether the Federal Arbitration Act preempts States from conditioning the enforcement of an arbitration agreement on the availability of particular procedures – here, class-wide arbitration – when those procedures are not […]
Greetings, Court fans! The summer deluge continues. This Update will cover four decisions: Berghius v. Thompkins (08-1470), holding that a suspect must speak-up in order to invoke his right to remain silent; Carr v. United States (08-1301), finding that the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act’s registration requirements for convicted sex offenders who travel between […]
Greetings, Court fans! I have 4 more decisions to bring you (which will bring us current through the end of last week): Krupski v. Costa Croceire S.p.A. (09-337), clarifying the test for determining when a plaintiff’s amended complaint adding a new party “relates back” to the original complaint for statute of limitations purposes; Hamilton v. […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued 5 decisions today, with the biggest news coming in New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB (08-1457), where an unusual 5 member majority of the Court (Justice Stevens, plus the conservatives) held that the NLRB acted without statutory authority during a two year period when it issued decisions without the […]
Greetings, Court fans! The June deluge continues, with the Court releasing four more decisions today. But this Update will bring you more on New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB (08-1457), as well as the other four decisions issued last Thursday: Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Dep’t of Environmental Protection (08-1151), where the Court […]
Greetings, Court fans! This Update with cover the four decisions from Monday, including a major arbitration ruling in Rent-a-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson (09-497), a decision upholding a statute criminalizing the provision of material support to foreign terrorist groups even as applied to plaintiffs’ support for the groups’ lawful and humanitarian activities in Holder v. […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court just released its final batch of decisions, bringing an end to the October 2009 Term! With today’s batch and those remaining from last Thursday, I have eleven decisions left to bring you. I intend to break them up, sending several Updates. This Update – Part I – will cover the […]
Greetings, Court fans! As we continue to work our way through the Court’s final decisions of the Term, this Update will cover Christian Legal Society v. Hastings College of The Law (08-1371), finding that a law school’s failure to recognize a Christian student group that excluded gay students did not violate the First Amendment in […]
Greetings, Court fans! Hope you enjoyed a lovely holiday weekend. I’m back to bring you summaries of two more decisions: McDonald v. City of Chicago (08-1521), holding that the Second Amendment’s protection of an individual citizen’s right to bear arms is enforceable against the states and not just the federal government; and Free Enterprise Fund […]
Greetings, Court fans! This is will be the last Update of the Term, covering: Bilski v. Kappos (08-964), in which the Court declined to adopt a bright line test for determining the patentability of processes, Doe v. Read (09-559), finding that the public disclosure of referendum petitions generally does not violate the First Amendment (though […]
Greetings, Court fans! The October 2010 Term has arrived and the Justices appear to be chomping at the bit to get started. Instead of waiting for the traditional first Monday in October to release the first order list, the Court instead released a “miscellaneous order” last Thursday, with numerous cert grants. But before we get […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court released its first official order list of the Term on Monday. No new cert petitions were granted, but the Court did ask for the SG’s views in a number of pending petitions: Saleh v. Titan Corp. (09-1313), regarding the ability of former Abu Ghraib detainees to sue military contractors for […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court granted cert in seven more cases last week and another yesterday, covering topics ranging from criminal law, to patent law, to tribal sovereignty. Yesterday’s grant will provide another bit of insight into the Court’s views on executive power and on whether (and when) policy makers can be subjected to suit […]
Greetings, Court fans! In a week filled with election news and partisan grumbling, it is refreshing to conjure the image of Justices Scalia and Kagan skeet shooting together, a rumor reported in several news outlets in late October. We have no idea if the rumor is true, but find it fascinating nevertheless. We have a […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with the first two decisions (one per curium, one unanimous) of the October 2010 Term. Wilson v. Corcoran (10-91) addresses the requirements for issuing a federal writ of habeas corpus, and Abbot v. United States (09-479) considers the application of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), which imposes a mandatory minimum sentence […]
Greetings, Court fans! Hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend. The Court returned today with three additions to its docket and two opinions regarding the denial of cert. The Court granted cert and consolidated AZ Free Enterprise v. Bennett (10-238) and McComish v. Bennett (10-239), both of which address the constitutionality of Arizona’s public financing laws, […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with one opinion from last week, Los Angeles County v. Humphries (09-350), holding that plaintiffs suing municipal entities must show that their injuries were caused by a municipal “policy or custom” in order to obtain prospective relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. We also have two new cert grants, and […]