Publications

Greetings Court fans! Two unanimous opinions today, both from the February sitting. In both cases, the Court rejected rules that would have required complicated balancing tests or detailed factual inquiries, opting instead for simple rules. In the first opinion, Franchise Tax Board v. Hyatt (02-42), the Court (per O’Connor) held that the Full Faith and […]

Greetings Court fans! Three new opinions today, all relatively straightforward. After today, Scalia is in the lead with 6 published opinions for the Term. The Chief and Thomas are bringing up the rear with 3 published opinions each. In honor of Scalia, I’ll begin with his latest opinion. In Jinks v. Richland County (02-258), Scalia […]

In San Remo Hotel, L.P. v. City & County of San Francisco (04-340), the Court unanimously affirmed a Ninth Circuit decision (shocking, but true) dismissing San Remo’s Fifth Amendment takings case because of issue preclusion due to prior California court rulings on state-law takings claims. In a nutshell, the Court found that, while the California […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   We’ve gotten the big cases out of the way – Hamdan and Perry – but we still owe you summaries of several other decisions from the end of the Term. Since the last few updates were unbelievably long, we’ve split the remainder into more digestible chunks. Here’s part one of the […]

Greetings Court fans!   Yesterday, the Court granted cert in two cases and issued a brief per curiam opinion summarily reversing the 9th Circuit. For those of you keeping score in the contest to issue the first opinion of the Term — and there is a contest — this does not count because it’s not […]

Greetings, Court fans! We have lots of news to report, including five decisions released last week, more cert grants, and the details on Oregon v. Ice (07-901), and Herring v. United States (07-513), which were discussed briefly in our last Update. We’ll break things up to make it more manageable, so consider this Part I. […]

Greetings, Court Fans! We have only one decision to report this holiday week: Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (05-1074). The case, which divided the Court 5-4, addresses when the clock starts running on a Title VII employment discrimination claim based on disparate pay. Title VII requires an employee to file a charge with […]

Greetings Court fans! No opinions today, but an unusually meaty order list. The Court granted cert in 5 cases and asked the Solicitor General to weigh in on 3 others. The Court granted cert in the following cases: 1. Arizona v. Gant (02-1019): This is a Fourth Amendment case about the scope of automobile searches […]

Greetings Court fans! Three new opinions today, and an order list. Since the opinions today were relatively big ones, I’ll start there. First, in State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell (01-1289), the Court (Kennedy for himself, Rehnquist, Stevens, O’Connor, Souter, and Breyer) held that a $145 million punitive damages award was grossly excessive […]

Greetings, Court Fans! The Court issued its final batch of decisions yesterday, including two cases that split 5-4 along ideological lines: Davis v. Federal Election Commission, in which the Court invalidated yet another campaign-finance provision of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, and District of Columbia v. Heller, in which it struck down DC’s […]

  Greetings, Court fans! For those of you interested in statutory construction, this is your lucky day. Yesterday, in Koons Buick Pontiac GMC, Inc. v. Nigh, 03-377, the Court ruled that Congress’ 1995 amendments to the Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”) did not alter the statute’s damage limits for violations relating to certain loans secured […]

Greetings Court fans!   Welcome to the last update of October Term 2003! In this last edition, you’ll find summaries of 5 opinions and news from the final order list, so let’s get going!   I’ll begin with the two Miranda cases, both of which were decided without majority opinions. In Missouri v. Seibert (02-1371), […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The October 2004 Session is in full swing and the Court granted cert in eight additional cases yesterday.   Two of those cases involve challenges to the display of the Ten Commandments on government property. In Van Orden v. Perry, 03-1500, the Court will review a Fifth Circuit decision finding that […]

Greetings Court fans!   Only one new opinion today, and not a very interesting one at that. It’s a straightforward Chevron case, so all the government lawyers out there keep reading. The rest of you might want to spend your time reading press coverage (or listening to the audiotapes!) from yesterday’s argument in the Guantanamo […]

Greetings, Court Fans! You’re probably sick of us already, but we’ll be cluttering your inbox a lot this week as we near the end. We’ve seen seven opinions so far this week – three on Monday, and four more this morning (including Kennedy v. Louisiana, in which the Court held that states cannot impose the […]

Despite my earlier representation (“that’s all for today”), in fact, the Court issued two opinions today. Before I get to the opinions, please note that in the race to issue the first majority opinion (and there is a race), O’Connor won. (I’m not biased or anything.) The summary reversals from yesterday don’t count. And even […]

Greetings, Court Fans! The Court hit us with three opinions and a “decree” yesterday, just before leaving for a recess until late February. By then, there may be a new Associate Justice on the Court, so this batch of opinions might well be the last to involve Justice O’Connor. As you’ll see below, there was […]

Greetings Court fans!   Not much to report from yesterday’s order list except that the Court asked the Solicitor General to weigh in on three cases. (As you know, this means that at least someone on the Court is interested in hearing these cases. By asking the SG to brief the issue, they get the […]

Greetings, Court fans! The deluge has finally begun, with the Court issuing five decisions this week, including its decision in Gonzalez v. Carhart (05-380), which has been described as a “stunning victory” for pro life forces and an “astounding loss” for pro choice advocates. Since most of us prefer our information in bite-sized portions, we’ll […]

Greetings Court fans! Another installment summarizing the end of Term flurry of opinions. In Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain (03-339), the Court considered claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). To make a long story short, DEA agents hired Mexican nationals (including Sosa) to seize Alvarez in Mexico and bring […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   As the Term draws to a close, we can expect lots of decisions in “hard” cases, spawning multiple opinions and, occasionally, the need for a chart to discern the holdings! Yesterday’s opinions were no exception, so brace yourself. We’ll do our best to be brief.   In Gonzales v. Raich (03-1454), […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   With only about six weeks left in the Term, the Court picked up the pace yesterday, issuing decisions in five cases. We’ve split up the summaries to make each Update a little easier to digest — this Update covers three cases, with the other two to follow.   First, in Lingle […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   So much for the Court going on recess – it’s been a more eventful week than one would expect, thanks to a flurry of activity on capital cases.   First, on Wednesday the Court granted cert in Hill v. Crosby (05-8794), in which it will consider whether a death-row inmate’s challenge […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   First Monday has arrived, and the Court opened the October 2007 Term with arguments in two cases: Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party, concerning whether Washington’s “top two” open primary system violates the First Amendment rights of political parties, and Board of Education of the City of New York […]

Greetings, Court fans!   The Court heard arguments this week in one of the biggest cases of the Term, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in which a Guantanamo detainee (specifically, Osama bin Laden’s driver and bodyguard) is challenging the constitutionality of the military commissions set up to try enemy combatants accused of war crimes. Perhaps because of […]

Greetings, Court fans!   This Update bring us up to date with the final decisions from last week – which, though they didn’t grab the headlines like the Boumediene decision, will wind up being more significant for the day-to-day practice of most lawyers (particularly employment/civil rights attorneys and white-collar practitioners). Let’s get to it!   […]

Greetings Court fans!   As expected, the Court celebrated the end of its winter recess by handing down opinions — 8 in the last two days. On the theory that you won’t want to read about 8 opinions at once (and that I won’t be able to stay awake for that long!), I’ll break up […]

Greetings, Court fans! Spring has finally arrived, but the deluge of opinions it typically brings is nowhere in sight. This week, we have a solitary bankruptcy decision to report. In Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. of America v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (05-1429), the Court (Alito, J.) unanimously overruled the Ninth Circuit’s decision (based […]

Greetings, Court Fans!   The Court is finally hitting its stride – after giving us four opinions Monday, they hit us with five more yesterday. We’re still working on Monday’s summaries, but one of yesterday’s announcements, as you’ll see, was a little too momentous to put off . . . .   In Boumediene v. […]

Greetings Court fans!   As promised, here is the second half of the update on Monday’s news. We have 2 opinions to cover and one item from the order list, so let’s get started.   I’ll begin with Dretke v. Haley (02-1824), a habeas case in which the Court punted on the question presented. As […]