Showing 1–50 of 59 items published in July 2008, most recent first.
In this week’s academic round-up, I would like to profile some articles from an online journal, the Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy, that has done a particularly good job of providing timely analysis of recent Supreme Court decisions.
Below, Kevin Russell of Howe & Russell previews next term’s Pacific Bell Telephone Co.,dba AT&T California v. linkLine Communications (07-512). Please note that the SCOTUSwiki for linkLine, here, will continue to be updated throughout the upcoming term. Background 1.
Lawyers for a group of non-union public employees challenging the spending of their security fees on litigation outside their bargaining unit have asked the Court to deny the Solicitor General’s request for divided argument in Locke v. Karass (07-610).
One of the Guantanamo Bay detainees facing war crimes charges claiming direct roles in the Sept. 11/ 2001, terrorist attacks — Ramzi bin al-Shibh — has asked a federal judge to block his trial before a military commission.
A copy of today’s orders list is now available here.
The Supreme Court, issuing its first round of summer orders, took no action on Monday on a request to reconsider its ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana (07-343), barring the death penalty for the crime of child rape.
The Supreme Court on Monday released the schedule of oral arguments for the sitting beginning Monday, Nov. 3. The calendar can be found here. On three of the five days on the calendar, the Court will hear three cases each; morning arguments begin at 10 a.m., afternoon at 1 p.m.
In a new sequel to the Supreme Court’s ruling that for the first time allowed a ban on a method of abortion, the Fourth Circuit Court agreed on Monday to reconsider the constitutionality of Virginia’s five-year-old prohibition on abortion by the so-called “partial-birth” method.
The Justice Department, in a bold legal maneuver, on Monday afternoon asked the Supreme Court to rehear a major case on the death penalty, saying the basis of the decision had been “undermined.” The decision at issue was the 5-4 ruling on June 25 in Kennedy v. Louisiana (07-343), barring the death penalty for the crime of raping a child.
UPDATE Tuesday morning. The case has been assigned docket number 08-1289, before District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina. Dick Anthony Heller, the security guard with a desire to have a gun in his Washington, D.C., home who won the right to do so from the Supreme Court, returned to federal court on Monday with a claim that his new-found right has already been violated.
The Court is in recess for the summer. The opening conference for next term will take place September 29. Oral arguments will resume October 6. On Monday, the Court will release its first group of summer orders.
In the first formal moves to shape the federal courts’ review of the government’s power to keep detainees in captivity at Guantanamo Bay, the two sides in the courthouse battle proposed sharply differing approaches on Friday night.
Analysis One of the Supreme Court’s most significant rulings in years on water pollution was somewhat confusing when decided, but it seems even less clear after two years.
NOTE: The District Court in Washington has now created a web page for the Guantanamo cases.
On Tuesday, we filed this cert. petition in Flores-Figueroa v. United States. The petition asks the Court to resolve a 3-3 circuit split over the mens rea requirement of the federal “aggravated identity theft” statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1).
In the first effort to win release into the U.S. — to the Washington, D.C., area — of a Guantanamo Bay detainee, lawyers for a member of a Chinese Muslim minority have asked a federal judge to order the Pentagon to free him immediately.
Below, Karen Williams previews next term’s Bell v. Kelly (No. 07-1223). Karen is a summer associate at Akin Gump and a third-year at American University, Washington College of Law.
Due to reader interest in Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the military detainee who has admitted to formerly serving as a driver for Osama bin Laden, this post will provide links to coverage from designated major media outlets of his ongoing military commission trial from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Analysis The Supreme Court, in a four-sentence order without explanation, and a few comments in an opinion in another case, has set off a sharp dispute about whether it has put an end to the two-year courthouse battle over Congress’ preferred method for civilian review of military detention decisions.
UPDATE 3:10 p.m. The Attorney General’s proposals drew three prompt responses. Chief Judge Royce C. Lambert of U.S. District Court, where the habeas cases are now, said in a statement that guidance from Congress was “always welcome,” but said that his Court was “on a fast track” so guidance would be better sooner rather than later.
NOTE: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear, with argument this Fall, perhaps in November, an appeal by the Federal Communications Commission seeking to regain the power to ban the use of any single vulgar word on radio and TV broadcasts (FCC v. Fox Television, et al., 07-582).
The state of Louisiana on Monday asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling a month ago striking down the death penalty for the crime of child rape. The rehearing petition, citing an omission in the Court’s opinion of any mention of a federal law on that issue, was filed late Monday afternoon.
The Court is in recess for the summer. The opening conference for next term will take place September 29. Oral arguments will resume October 6. On Monday, the military commission trial of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s former driver, is scheduled to begin at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
It is good to be back writing on the blog. I hope to post some thoughts about some of the cases from the past Term in the next several weeks, including a belated analysis of an under-discussed aspect of the Boumediene opinion.
The constitutional challenge to the 25-year extension of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, requiring some states and local governments to get pre-clearance for election law changes, will be filed in the Supreme Court by early September, lawyers involved said Friday.
UPDATE 2:15 p.m. The judge’s refusal to delay the Hamdan trial starting Monday will not be challenged in a higher court.
Lawyers for a class of fisherman and other Alaskans affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill submitted what is likely their last request earlier today for the Court to award some $488 million in interest on the punitive damage award authorized in the recent decision in Exxon v. Baker (07-219).
UPDATED 3:55 p.m. Bowing to the President, Congress and a higher court, U.S. District Judge James Robertson in Washington refused on Thursday to delay the trial of a Yemeni national on war crimes charges — a trial, the first of its kind, scheduled to begin next Monday before a military commission at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Acting on a claim by Mexico’s government that the U.S. government has not done enough to assure the treaty rights of Mexican nationals facing execution for murders in the U.S., the World Court on Wednesday ordered the U.S. — by a 7-5 vote — to stop five imminent executions in Texas.
Lawyers for a Guantanamo Bay detainee due to go on trial before a military commission next Monday renewed his plea for a delay, accusing the Justice Department of trying to deny a right to “his day in court” — civilian court.
The Washington, D.C., city government on Wednesday made available the final versions of actions the City Council and the chief of police have taken on new handgun laws and regulations, responding to the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290) establishing a constitutional right to have a gun for self-defense in one’s own home.
UPDATED 9:30 a.m. Arguing that it is “far from clear” that Guantanamo Bay detainees have any constitutional rights when tried on war crimes charges, the Justice Department late Monday urged a federal judge not to delay the first trial — due to start in seven days.
UPDATE 5:45 p.m. The decision by the Fourth Circuit Court apparently is now headed for the Supreme Court.
Responding to a submission filed last week, lawyers for Exxon today asked the Court to declare that the recent decision in Exxon v. Baker (07-219) forbids the plaintiffs – a class of fisherman and other individuals affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill – from collecting some $488 million in interest on top of the $507.5 million punitive damage award resulting from the Court’s opinion last month.
According to the New York Times’ web site, outgoing Supreme Court correspondent Linda Greenhouse will be answering readers’ questions throughout the week. The announcement asks that questions be sent to [email protected]. For more information, click here.
In the recently concluded Supreme Court term, the Justices heard oral argument in 70 cases, the fewest in more than half a century. On this blog and elsewhere, journalists and commentators have floated numerous explanations for the Court’s steadily declining docket, from clerks’ reluctance to recommend grants, to fewer cases meeting the Justice’s criteria, to even the rise of a more specialized Supreme Court bar.
UPDATE Tuesday 8 p.m. The City Council of Washington, D.C., on Tuesday completed passage of the proposed new handgun control legislation. The Council, by unanimous voice vote, approved the bill largely as outlined in the post below.
The Court is in recess for the summer. The opening conference for next term will take place September 29. Oral arguments will resume October 6. In Guantanamo habeas litigation, the Justice Department is scheduled to file on Monday a brief in the case of Hamdan v. Gates (District Court docket 04-1519) in response to the motion for a preliminary injunction to block the military commission trial of Salim Ahmed Hamdan.
The Justice Department has urged the D.C. Circuit Court to set up a fast schedule leading to a ruling that, the Department argued, should reject the power of federal courts to examine detainees’ complaints that they have been mistreated while being held at Guantanamo Bay.
Below, Brittani Head previews Arizona v. Gant, one of the cases to be heard by the Supreme Court next October. Brittani is a rising third year at the University of Virginia Law School and a summer associate at Akin Gump.
Attorneys for two U.S. citizens held by the American-led forces in Iraq have asked the Court to reconsider part of a ruling issued last month finding that federal courts could not block their transfer to Iraqi authorities for criminal proceedings.
NOTE: This post is part of continuing coverage of the lower courts’ role in implementing the Supreme Court’s June 12 decision in Boumediene v. Bush (06-1195), clarifying the legal rights of detainees held by the U.S. military. —————————- The federal judge who has opted to go it alone in ruling on
Lawyers for the class of fishermen and other individuals affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill have asked the Court to make clear that they remain entitled to interest on the punitive damage award that now stands at roughly $500 million following the Court’s decision in Exxon v. Baker (07-219).
NOTE: The Supreme Court is scheduled to open its next Term on Monday, Oct. 6, with oral argument in a major case testing the right of smokers to go to court to challenge claims by tobacco companies that the health risk is less in using so-called “light” cigarettes (Altria Group, et al., v. Good, et al., 07-562).
NOTE: This post is part of continuing coverage of the lower courts’ role in implementing the Supreme Court’s June 12 decision in Boumediene v. Bush (06-1195), clarifying the legal rights of detainees held by the U.S. military.
During the summer months, we’ll be periodically posting wiki previews for OT 2008 cases. Akin summer associate and rising Georgetown Law 3L Ashley Kircher offers us this first post, below. Be sure to check the Herring wiki page throughout the summer for additional updates.
Taking firm control of the epic and still-building drama over the legal rights of Guatanamo Bay detainees, and displaying a strong sense of urgency, a federal judge in Washington on Tuesday warned governnent lawyers that any further delay will “reflect badly” on their position and will cause judges
The Court is in recess for the summer. The opening conference for next term is scheduled for September 29, and oral arguments will resume October 6. On Tuesday, the first federal court hearing on habeas cases in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 12 decision in Boumediene v. Bush (06-1195) will be held by U.S. District Senior Judge Thomas F. Hogan.
The Justice Department has notified the Supreme Court that a legal development on the death penalty in federal law was left out of the Court’s consideration of Kennedy v. Louisiana (07-343).
UPDATE 4:23 p.m. District Judge James Robertson, moving this new case along swiftly, has told the Justice Department to file its opposition on Monday, July 14, and detainee’s counsel to file their reply on Wednesday, July 16.