Publications
Greetings, Court fans! It has been a pretty uneventful pre-holiday week. The Court granted cert in three new cases. In the most noteworthy, Ontario, CA v. Quon (08-1332), a SWAT team employee of the city felt that his privacy was invaded when the city viewed sexually explicit text messages he sent to his girlfriend on […]
Greetings, Court fans! As promised, I’m back to bring you cert grants and other recent orders. We’ll begin with the new cases the Court has accepted for review: Connick v. Thompson (08-571), in which the Court granted cert only as to Question 1: “Does imposing failure-to-train liability on a district attorney’s office for a single […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued decisions in three cases yesterday: Jones v. Harris Associates (08-586), in which the Court defined the standard for determining when a mutual fund adviser has violated the Investment Company Act of 1940 by charging excessive fees, Graham County Soil and Water Conservation District v. United States ex rel. Wilson […]
Greetings, Court fans! The big news last weekend was Justice Stevens’ admission that he would definitely retire from the Court during President Obama’s first term in office. While he didn’t say when, he did tell the New York Times that “[t]he president and the Senate need plenty of time to fill a vacancy” – indicating […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court ruled Tuesday, in United States Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa (08-1134), that a bankruptcy court’s error in confirming a Chapter 13 plan discharging student loan debts without a finding of undue hardship did not render the confirmation order void. This Update will cover that decision, as well as two other […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court was busy last week, issuing four opinions, and an extensive order list including several cert grants, all while celebrating Justice Stevens’ 90th birthday. Stevens, as you’ve surely heard, has formally announced his retirement at the end of this Term. He will be missed. The most newsworthy decision came in United […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court released an Order List yesterday and two decisions today: Merck & Co. v. Reynolds (08-905), in which the Court construed the limitations period for filing a private securities fraud action; and Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. Animalfeeds International Corp. (08-1198), where the Court held that imposing class arbitration on parties who did […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court released a major First Amendment decision on Wednesday in Salazar v. Buono (08-472). One Latin cross, approximately eight feet tall, on a rock in the middle of the Mojave Desert generated eight years of litigation, four congressional actions, and now, six opinions from the Court. In Salazar, the Court was […]
Greetings, Court fans! President Obama has just announced his pick to replace retiring Justice Stevens – Elena Kagan. As the current Solicitor General, Kagan is the top appellate lawyer for the government. If confirmed, Kagan will be the only sitting Justice who has not served as a judge on a lower court. She would be […]
Greetings, Court fans! A home-buying adventure delayed my report on last week’s decisions, but there were some biggies: Graham v. Florida (08-7412), in which the Court held that the Constitution categorically forbids life sentences without the possibility of parole for minors who have committed non-homicide offenses; United States v. Comstock (08-1224), where the Court concluded […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued six opinions on Monday, and DIG’d one case. I’ll break things up into bite size pieces, with this Update covering three of the decisions: American Needle Inc. v. National Football League (08-661), addressing the implications of antitrust law to the NFL; Lewis v. City of Chicago (08-974), addressing the […]
Greetings, Court fans! As promised, this Update covers the Court’s three other opinions from Monday: Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co. (09-448), which addresses attorney’s fees under a specific ERISA provision, but has relevance for all fee-shifting statutes that aren’t explicitly limited to a “prevailing party”; United States v. Marcus (08-1341), on the “plain […]
Greetings, Court fans! President Obama’s announcement of Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace Justice Souter overshadowed other news at the Court this week. (For those who want the nitty-gritty on what this appointment might mean for the Court, SCOTUSblog has done a pretty extensive analysis of Judge Sotomayor’s decisions, which […]
Greetings, Court fans! On Monday, Justice Ginsburg put the Chrysler-Fiat sale briefly on hold so that the Court could consider a request by certain opponents of the sale for a stay while they challenged the bankruptcy court’s order approving the sale. Just a day later, the Court issued a two page per curiam opinion […]
Greetings, Court fans! I’m back to bring you the remaining decisions from last week. The Court’s decision in Boyle v. United States (07-1309), which adopted an expansive definition of a RICO association-in-fact enterprise, will have significance for many practitioners (i.e., you might actually cite it). On the other hand, unless you are a military […]
Greetings, Court fans! The end of the Term is approaching, and the decisions are coming fast and furious. To break things up, this Update will cover: Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder (No. 08-322), one of the most watched cases of the Term, involving a constitutional challenge to the Voting Rights […]
As a service to clients and friends of the firm, Ken Heath and Kim Rinehart of the Appellate Practice Group offer the Supreme Court Update, an e-mail service providing short summaries of the Supreme Court’s latest rulings and orders of note. At the suggestion of several readers, Ken and Kim have compiled all the case […]
As a service to clients and friends of the firm, Ken Heath and Kim Rinehart of the Appellate Practice Group offer the Supreme Court Update, an e-mail service providing short summaries of the Supreme Court’s latest rulings and orders of note. At the suggestion of several readers, Ken and Kim have compiled all the case […]
As a service to clients and friends of the firm, Ken Heath and Kim Rinehart of the Appellate Practice Group offer the Supreme Court Update, an e-mail service providing short summaries of the Supreme Court’s latest rulings and orders of note. At the suggestion of several readers, Ken and Kim have compiled all the case […]
Greetings, Court fans! As I indicated in Part I of the Update, the Court has recently added a number of cases to its docket for the 2009 Term (bringing its total to 40; 38 if you don’t include consolidated cases). Here they are: The consolidated cases of Shell Oil Products v. Mac’s Shell […]
Greetings, Court fans! Welcome back for Part III, which will cover three significant decisions: Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. (08-441), resolving the burden of proof in a “mixed motives” case under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”); Forest Grove School District v. T.A. (08-305), discussing the circumstances under which reimbursement of private school […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued two decisions today and an order list, before going on recess for the summer. Justice Kennedy authored the Court’s 5-4 decision in Ricci v. DeStefano (07-1428), where the Court found in favor of the white and Hispanic firefighters that were denied promotions when New Haven threw out the results […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued its final order list yesterday before going on recess for the summer. (Don’t you wish you still had a summer recess? Makes me pine for those good old school days.) The Court added seven more cases to its October 2009 docket. Here they are: Abbott v. Abbott (08-645), presents […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Term is, for practical purposes, over, but I’m still working my way through the backlog. This Update will bring you a complete discussion of Ricci v. DeStefano (07-1428) and Cuomo v. Clearing House Association, L.L.C. (08-453), both mentioned in Monday’s Update, as well as Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts (07-591), where the […]
Greetings, Court fans! This will be my final Update of the Term and will bring you summaries of the following cases: Polar Tankers, Inc. v. City of Valdez (08-310), involving a constitutional challenge to a tax on vessels; Atlantic Sounding Co., Inc. v. Townsend (08-214), addressing the availability of punitive damages in a maritime […]
Greetings, Court fans! Today marks the first official day of the October 2009 Term. It is also the formal beginning of Justice Sotomayor’s first Term on the Court (though she participated in a hearing on a hold-over campaign finance case last month). She proved herself an aggressive questioner, asking more questions today than some […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re catching up on the Court’s four decisions issued last week – two civil and two habeas. I’ll start with the civil cases, including a highly divided per curiam decision blocking broadcasting of a California trial regarding the constitutionality of Proposition 8 (the ballot initiative that amended California’s constitution to bar same […]
Greetings, Court fans! Unless you’ve been in seclusion since yesterday, you likely have been inundated with news regarding the Court’s highly controversial campaign finance decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (08-205), which opened the doors to unrestricted spending by corporations and unions on advertisements supporting or attacking political candidates. I will give you […]
Greetings, Court fans! I’m back to bring you recent Court orders, including eight cert grants in: Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms (09-475), in which Monsanto seeks to challenge the imposition of a nationwide injunction against further planting of its genetically engineered crop, presents multiple questions for review relating to the standard for obtaining injunctive […]
Greetings, Court fans! When a decision gets mentioned in the State of the Union Address and prompts calls for a constitutional amendment, you know it’s a biggie. So, this Update will bring you additional details on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (08-205) and will also cover the two decisions released this week: Hemi Group, […]