Publications
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, […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court returned from its extended recess and issued five new decisions this week, including a major diversity jurisdiction ruling and two decisions interpreting a criminal suspect’s Miranda-related rights. As a refresher, federal courts have jurisdiction over cases involving “federal questions” and also cases where there is “diversity” of citizenship between the […]
Greetings, Court fans! With apologies for the delay, I’m back to summarize last week’s decisions, including Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick (08-103), finding the requirement that copyright holders register their works before suing for copyright infringement to be a non-jurisdictional claims processing rule (notwithstanding hundreds of lower court rulings to the contrary), Mac’s Shell […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The Court issued its final batch of opinions for the Term yesterday – and what a batch it was. The biggest case of the day – as measured by news coverage and the 185 pages of opinions it generated – was the Court’s decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools [PICS] […]
Greetings, Court fans! After a long, long, wait, the Court finally acted on the petition in Padilla v. Hanft (05-533), denying certiorari. As you probably remember, Padilla is a U.S. citizen who was arrested at Chicago O’Hare airport on a material witness warrant. When his court-appointed counsel moved to vacate the warrant, President Bush […]
Greetings Court fans! Doesn’t it just seem like forever since we last met? The Court has finally emerged from its winter recess with a few cert grants and a per curiam opinion. Of course, the big news is that last Friday, the Court granted cert in another “terrorism” case, Rumsfeld v. Padilla (03-1027). […]
As expected, today the Court denied without comment the request by Terri Schiavo’s parents (04A825) for an order to reinsert her feeding tube. The order simply reads: “The application for stay of enforcement of judgment pending the filing and disposition of a petition for writ of certiorari presented to Justice Kennedy and by him referred […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Yesterday was a big day at the Court, so we’ll get right to it. In Roper v. Simmons (03-633), the Court held that the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments forbids the imposition of the death penalty on offenders who were under 18 at the time of their crimes. By […]
Greetings, Court fans, and welcome to another season of Supreme Court Updates! The Court is back from summer recess and is already getting down to business. For criminal lawyers, the Court’s first argument session next Monday probably couldn’t come fast enough –hopefully the Court will provide some answers to the post-Blakely disarray. With the Court’s […]
Greetings, Court fans! Much to our surprise, the Court issued only one opinion today, in Whitfield v. United States, No. 03-1293. Justice O’Connor, writing for a unanimous Court, found that conviction for conspiracy to commit money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) does not require proof of an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. […]
Greetings, Court fans! In a rare display of what passes for judicial humor, the Court released two tax opinions on the dreaded April 15th. The Court released three additional decisions yesterday, which we’ll bring you in a separate Update to break things up. In United States v. Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Co. (07-308), the Court held […]
Greetings, Court Fans! There were no arguments at the Court this week, but we’ve got a hodgepodge of news for you. First up, the Court issued an order list Monday in which it granted cert in one new case, Flores-Figueroa v. United States (07-108). The Court will consider the intent requirement for aggravated identity […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The Court issued three opinions today, none bigger (in significance or page length) than its long-awaited decision on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines in United States v. Booker, No. 04-104, and United States v. Fanfan, No. 04-105. Booker/Fanfan generated two separate 5-4 opinions and numerous dissents, which we can only briefly summarize here. […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The Court’s out for a brief recess again, but it left us with one decision yesterday, holding 5-4 in Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons (06-9130) that the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) does not allow for lawsuits based on the wrongful detention of property by federal law enforcement officials, broadly […]
Greetings, Court Fans! As promised, here is the summary of the new cases from yesterday’s order list. They range from several interesting election-law cases to a, well, quirky case on the probate exception to federal jurisdiction. The list is lengthy (eleven cases, some consolidated), so we’ll dispense with the commentary and get right to […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued three decisions and an Order List this week. The ruling garnering all the press came in Wyeth v. Levine (06-1249), which is being hailed as a victory for patients, consumers, and . . . trial lawyers. The plaintiff, Levine, was a musician who went to the hospital seeking relief […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued four more decisions last week before going on recess. The decision with the most practical significance for most of us civil litigators came in Vaden v. Discover Bank (07-773), where the Court tackled a circuit split over how federal courts should determine whether they have federal question jurisdiction over […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court returned from recess without much fanfare, issuing two criminal decisions and an Order list this week. (For those of you who keep track, the Court is well ahead of its pace from last Term, having released 35 decisions, as compared to 27 as of this date last year. Perhaps […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court has been busy, issuing six decisions last week, two more this week and a number of orders. To break up the reading, this Update will cover last week’s decisions and the remaining decisions and orders will be summarized separately. After this barrage, the Court will be on recess until the […]
Greetings, Court fans! This is going to be a lengthy update, with numerous (non-earth shattering, but nonetheless interesting) decisions to report as well as several cert grants. Perhaps because many of these cases where not in traditionally controversial areas, they sparked some interesting splits among the Justices. The only unified decision came in United States […]