Publications

Greetings, Court fans! The Court issued two significant, if complicated, decisions on Tuesday. First, in Hall Street Associates v. Mattel, Inc. (06-989), the Court held 6-3 that parties to an arbitration agreement who seek to enforce an award under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) cannot, by contract, expand the scope of a court’s review of […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   Today was another six-opinion day at the Court, with the biggest ruling by far coming in Kelo v. City of New London (04-108). In the interest of getting that summary out quickly, this Update covers Kelo and two other decisions handed down today. We’ll do the other three cases in a […]

Greetings Court fans! In case you haven’t heard, the Court handed down the University of Michigan affirmative action cases. They also issued opinions in United States v. American Library Association (constitutionality of mandated software filters on library internet machines), American Insurance Assn v. Garamendi (challenge to California’s Holocaust Victim Insurance Relief Act), and Green Tree […]

  Greetings Court fans!   The Court issued two unanimous opinions yesterday and one opinion today.   I’ll begin with National Archives and Records Administration v. Favish (02-954), a FOIA case with an interesting factual backdrop. Remember Vince Foster? He was deputy counsel to the President when he was found dead in a park outside […]

Greetings, Court fans!   Without further ado, we’ll finish up the three remaining decisions from last week.   In Dixon v. United States (05-7053), the Court held 7-2 that, absent statutory language to the contrary, a criminal defendant may be required to prove the defense of duress by a preponderance of the evidence. Keisha Dixon […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   We have another hodgepodge of news to report from the last few weeks, but make no mistake, there is some big news in the mix. On Friday, the Court granted cert in two new cases, including al-Marri v. Pucciarelli (08-368), which asks: “Does the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The Court has departed for winter recess, but they left us with some parting gifts. First up is the second signed opinion of the Term, which comes in Altria Group, Inc. v. Good (07-562). The Court held 5-4 that neither the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (“the Labeling Act”) nor […]

Greetings Court fans!   Sorry for the delay in getting this out to you, but three deadlines (including one in Illinois, where the courts remain open even on this National Day of Mourning — have they no respect for the dead!?) conspired against me. The Court issued four opinions this week (but none of the […]

Greetings, Court Fans! The Court is back after a two-week break and issued three opinions today. Brace yourselves for a breakneck pace from here on out: we’re now up to 32 opinions for the session – leaving about 50(!) to be released in the next three months. All three opinions today reversed decisions by the […]

Greetings, Court fans!   The Court returned this from an extended recess and left us with five decisions Wednesday and an order list on Tuesday.   Perhaps the most significant decision of the week came in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc. (06-179), where Justice Scalia led an 8-1 majority holding that FDA pre-market approval for a […]

Greetings, Court fans!   With just over a month left in the Term, the Court has finally released its 40th opinion (just past the half-way point of its docket, and behind even its sluggish pace of the last few Terms). We have five decisions to report since our last Update; we’ll bring you three now […]

Greetings, Court fans! After a busy week last week, the Court left us with just one decision and a couple of cert grants this week. Justice Scalia wrote for a nearly unanimous Court in Virginia v. Moore (06-1082), where it held that a search incident to an arrest that was unlawful under state law did […]

Greetings, Court fans!   Now this is more like it – after a bevy of unanimity, we finally get a 5-3 decision, with two concurrences, three separate dissents (including the first written by the new Chief), and Justice Scalia being ever-so-slightly snarky. And, oh, as to substance, if an occupant of a dwelling is present […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   Here’s part two of our summary of the latest opinions.   In Arkansas Dep’t of Health & Human Services v. Ahlborn (04-1508), a unanimous Court held that, where a Medicaid patient obtains a tort settlement, a state can impose a Medicaid lien only on that portion of the settlement that covers […]

Greetings, Court Fans! We owe you quite a few summaries, as the Court has been busy (and it will only get busier as the Justices get ready for their summer vacation at the end of the month). Special thanks this time out to Wiggin and Dana associate Tahlia Townsend, who’s helping us catch up with […]

Greetings Court fans! The Court issued two opinions today, but neither one will make big news. The first opinion, South Florida Water Management Dist. v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians (02-626), was basically a punt. While this could have been an interesting Clean Water Act opinion, the Court vacated and remanded for resolution of a factual […]

Greetings, Court fans!   The Court released only one opinion today, and a short one at that. In Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Broudo, No. 03-932, Justice Breyer, for a unanimous court, reversed the Ninth Circuit’s holding that, in the context of a securities fraud class action, an allegation that purchasers paid an “inflated purchase price” […]

Greetings, Court Fans! Every Term ends with a blitzkrieg. But we are almost there . . . only one more Update after this one. In Kansas v. March (04-1170), the Court upheld Kansas’s death penalty statute, which requires the death penalty if a jury unanimously finds that the State has proven, by clear and convincing […]

Greetings, Court fans! Proving that the Court can be merciful, it released five very reasonably sized decisions last Thursday, leaving only ten more to bring you this week. We’re still, however, very grateful to Tahlia Townsend for helping us cover all the opinions. Perhaps the most newsworthy decision came in Indiana v. Edwards (07-208), where […]

Greetings Court fans!   Two more opinions today, although neither one is a blockbuster. So, let’s just get to work. First, in Frew v. Hawkins (02-628), the Court held that the Eleventh Amendment does not bar enforcement of a federal consent decree entered into by state officials. (Every Term, there are a few cases that […]

Greetings Court fans!   The Court issued an order list on Friday, and as you might have noticed, this is a slight change from the normal procedure of releasing order lists on Mondays. In January, as they struggle to fill the remaining slots in this Term, they issue order lists with any cert granteds on […]

Greetings, Court fans!   The Court opened its term today in a big way with oral arguments in four cases, including two hours of consolidated argument in United States v. Booker, 04-104, and United States v. Fanfan, 04-105. These cases concern whether the federal criminal sentencing guidelines implicate the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, such that […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   It was a rather slow Monday, with perhaps the most interesting (i.e., controversial) ruling coming in the denial of a motion for stay in Crawford v. Roe (05-A333), involving the right of a pregnant prisoner in Missouri to obtain an abortion. The prisoner, Roe, was initially housed in California and requested […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The Court returned from its recess today for the term’s last argument session, which will end next Wednesday with one of the most eagerly anticipated cases of the term, the Arthur Andersen criminal appeal. Look for that to be the last opinion issued in the term before July 1.   The […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The Court came back Thursday with three more opinions in its effort to clear out the docket by the end of the month. We’re still waiting on the biggest remaining decisions – the race and school assignment cases in Seattle and Louisville – but hopefully these will tide you over until […]

Good morning everyone, In response to feedback on my first Supreme Court update, a few introductory comments: First, this will be the last Supreme Court update sent to all lawyers in the firm. Going forward, only litigators and those who request them, will receive the updates. If you would like to receive them, please let […]

Hi everyone! No grants today, but two bits of news. First, the Court denied cert in Borgner v. Florida Bd. of Dentistry (02-165), but Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Ginsburg, dissented from the denial of cert, bemoaning the Court’s failure to take the opportunity to clarify the application of the First Amendment to commercial speech. […]

Greetings, Court fans! Following up on yesterday’s Update, there are three decisions to report. The cases all involve criminal law issues, so if you don’t practice criminal law (or occasionally wish you did), you might want to skip this one, though the Court’s opinion on prudential standing in Kowalski is certainly all litigators. All in […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The Court has returned from its winter recess with a brief flurry of activity in the last few days: one opinion in an argued case, two unsigned rulings in other cases, and a slew of cert grants in an effort to fill out the Term.   Today, the Court issued a […]

Greetings Court fans!   Adding some excitement to this Term, the Court granted cert in two cases brought by prisoners currently being held at the Navy Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Rasul v. Bush (03-334); Al Odah v. United States (03-343). The prisoners want to challenge the legality of their continued confinement, but the first […]