Publications

Greetings Court fans! Before turning to the opinions, let me again thank you all for bearing with me as I catch up on the opinions issued over the last two weeks. Due to work demands (i.e., paying clients), I may be delayed in my output, but I will catch up. Once we get through the […]

Greetings Court fans! To follow up on the Justice-residence trivia from yesterday, I’m informed by reliable sources that both Stevens and Kennedy live in Virginia. (Although Stevens might be more accurately described as a Florida resident, when the Court is sitting, he’s in Virginia.) That gives Virginia a 5-1 residence advantage over Maryland. On to […]

Greetings, Court fans, and welcome back from what we hope was a restful Thanksgiving weekend!   The Court issued one unanimous per curiam opinion today in Bradshaw v. Rickey (05-101), where it reversed the Sixth Circuit’s grant of habeas relief to Kenneth Rickey. An Ohio jury convicted Rickey of felony murder and sentenced him to […]

Greetings Court fans! With four new opinions today on top of yesterday’s five opinions, the Court is quickly clearing its docket. It could be, of course, that the Justices are racing to clear their plates in the hopes of getting a good assignment in the affirmative action cases. (If you still have several majority opinions […]

Greetings, Court Fans! After last week’s throttling of the Ninth Circuit, the Court decided to pick on somebody else today, reversing the Second and Eleventh Circuits. First, in Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education (02-1672), a 5-4 majority held that Title IX, the statute prohibiting sex discrimination in federally-funded education (most notably in athletic departments), […]

Greetings, Court Fans! The Court has issued three opinions this week, including the first by the new Chief Justice. On Tuesday, in Wagnon v. Prairie Band Potowatomi Nation (04-631), the Court upheld a Kansas fuel tax against a tribal sovereignty challenge. Kansas imposes a tax on fuel distributors at the time they receive fuel from […]

Greetings Court fans! An order list today, but first, a quick follow-up on a “GVR” from last week’s order list. Often, when the Court grants a cert petition to review a particular question, there are other petitions pending that raise similar or identical questions. In those circumstances, if there is some possibility that the Court’s […]

Greetings, Court Fans! Today the Court officially opened the October 2006 Term, but oral arguments will not start until Tuesday. This week’s arguments will not exactly be scintillating, unless you’re a criminal practitioner or a statutory interpretation junkie. Tuesday brings Lopez v. Gonzalez and Toledo-Florez v. United States, which ask whether, if a state felony […]

Greetings Court fans! Thanks to all for your patience during my absence to take the Connecticut bar. (For those of you contemplating a move to a new state where you might have to take the bar again, FYI, the bar is still painful the second time around.) Once I get through the minor backlog caused […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The Court issued its first decision of the Term today (so much for Monday’s comment that it would be a while!). In our defense, today’s decision came as something of a surprise – it was a unanimous per curiam ruling undoing a temporary injunction and allowing new Arizona voter-fraud regulations to […]

Greetings, Court Fans! It’s getting down to crunch time – between last week and yesterday’s flurry of opinions we have nine outstanding summaries to give you, and the last four opinions will issue on Thursday. This Update will give you a very brief scorecard of what the Court has done so far, then launch into […]

Greetings Court fans! One new decision today (the first substantive decision from the December sitting), and a few other items of interest. Before I get to the decision, though, let me offer two minor “corrections”: First, in an earlier email, I suggested that the Court still needed approximately 3 or 4 cases to fill out […]

Greetings, Court fans!   The Court continued its relatively blistering pace yesterday, unanimously holding that Congress can deny federal funding to universities that restrict military recruiting in opposition to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy governing homosexuals in the armed services. As we head into a brief recess, that makes it 39 opinions so far […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The Court, with new Chief Justice Roberts at the helm, officially opened the October 2005 Term today, hearing oral arguments in two matters: the consolidated cases of IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez and Tum v. Barber Foods, Inc., which ask whether the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay workers for […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The Court formally returns from the holiday recess today with oral argument in Hudson v. Michigan (04-1360), in which it will consider whether evidence seized under a valid warrant, but after a Fourth Amendment knock-and-announce violation, must be excluded at trial. The biggest Court-related news, however, will be happening across the […]

Greetings Court fans! Just when you think the Court must spend all its time on big, sexy issues like affirmative action, they come down with an ERISA preemption case. Speaking of the affirmative action cases, I hope you had a chance to catch at least part of the arguments yesterday. (I tried, but had a […]

Greetings Court fans! Getting back to Monday, below I summarize below two more opinions. . . . I’ll begin with Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle (02-634), a case decided without a majority opinion. A simplified version of the facts: Respondents filed suit against Green Tree, a commercial lender, in South Carolina state court alleging […]

Greetings, Court Fans! The biggest legal news of the day was the verdict in the Lewis Scooter Libby trial, where, after 10 days of deliberations, the jury found Libby guilty on 4 out of 5 counts of the indictment. While Libby is exposed to a sentence in the range of 30 years, most believe he […]

Greetings Court fans! In an unusual move, the Court issued two opinions today along with its usual Monday order list. In general, the Court releases opinions on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, but perhaps to avoid distractions before tomorrow’s affirmative action arguments, released opinions today. Before I get to the opinions, there’s not much to report from […]

Greetings Court fans! Before I get to today’s opinions, a few miscellaneous items: 1. The Court granted cert today in two cases. First, in Illinois v. Lidster (02-1060), the Court agreed to consider the lawfulness of a roadblock established by Illinois law enforcement officers to investigate a prior offense. The Illinois Supreme Court held the […]

Greetings Court fans! One decision today, and wouldn’t you know, it undermines my picks from yesterday! Although I predicted that the IOLTA case would be decided 5-4, I didn’t predict the opinion by Stevens. Sorry. Ok, on to the opinion. If the government “takes” property from an individual, but the taking results in no net […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   Today marked the final day of the Term, and with it came the Court’s much-awaited opinion in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which invalidated the military tribunals set up for the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. We’ll get that summary out as soon as we possibly can. To tide you over until then, here’s […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The Court returned today from a two-week layoff for the final argument session of the Term, which runs through the 26th. There were no opinions in argued cases today.   The Court, however, did issue a per curiam opinion in Gonzales v. Thomas (05-552), in which it unanimously held that federal […]

Greetings Court fans!   One opinion and two cert grants this week. I’ll start with the grants, the first two grants for October Term 2004. 1. Koons Buick Pontiac GMC v. Nigh (03-377): In what promises to be a blockbuster for the Term (!), the Court will consider the applicability of a statutory damages cap […]

Greetings Court fans! Two new opinions today, thus reshuffling the rankings I reported yesterday: After today, O’Connor joins Ginsburg and Souter with 4 majority opinions (go SO’C!), and Thomas leaves Kennedy and Scalia in a tie for last place with only two majorities out so far. Why, might you ask, do I report such things? […]

Greetings, Court Fans! Expect things to speed up as the Court attempts to get all its opinions out by July 1. Yesterday brought us four opinions, so we’ll get right to it (only 31 left to go for the Term!). eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, LLC (05-130) is a biggie for intellectual property buffs. In a […]

Greetings Court fans!   Three opinions today, and some follow-up from yesterday’s order list. I’ll begin with the opinions First, in SEC v. Edwards (02-1196), a unanimous Court held that a moneymaking scheme that offers a fixed (rather than a variable) rate of return can be an investment contract and thus a “security” subject to […]

Greetings Court fans! The Court reconvened today for its March argument session — the big one of this Term. They hear the Texas sodomy case on Wednesday and the University of Michigan affirmative action cases next Tuesday. Nevertheless, since today’s news isn’t the most exciting in the world (see below), I thought I would start […]

Greetings Court fans! The Court issued 2 opinions and an order list today. Before I discuss the day’s events, though, one point of follow-up on yesterday’s update. Apparently, my reference to the soon-to-be-famous footnote 4 in the Moseley (Victoria’s Secret) case suggested to some of you that the footnote in question would appeal to your […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The Court issued only one decision this week, but it was an important one. In Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (07-21), the Court voted 6-3 to uphold Indiana’s voter ID law. The law, purportedly one of the most restrictive in the country, requires a voter to show a photo ID […]