January 2024 Archive

The morning read for Wednesday, January 31

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Why Our Border Is Broken

The morning read for Tuesday, January 30

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Government counters call to halt consideration of race in U.S. Military Academy admissions

The U.S. Military Academy on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to stay out of a dispute over the use of race in the school’s admissions policy.

Biden administration, families ask justices to roll back state restrictions on transgender care for minors

The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here. Last spring, Tennessee and Kentucky enacted laws that prevent children under the age of 18 from receiving gender-affirming care.

Court schedules abortion pill case for March argument session

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Mar. 26 in the battle over access to a drug used in medication abortions, which account for over half of all abortions performed in the United States.

Student group from Harvard and UNC cases seeks to block West Point from considering race in admissions

The same group that spearheaded lawsuits to effectively end the use of affirmative action in college admissions returned to the Supreme Court on Friday, asking the justices to temporarily bar the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which trains officers for the U.S. Army, from considering race in its admissions process.

The morning read for Friday, January 26

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read: The conservative legal world lines up behind Donald Trump at the Supreme Court (Joan Biskupic, CNN) Disqualify Trump?

Court appoints lawyer in Oklahoma death penalty case

The Supreme Court on Friday morning appointed a former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts to defend a ruling by an Oklahoma court leaving in place the conviction and death sentence of Richard Glossip – even after the state’s attorney general agreed that they should be set aside.

What Is Religion?

The morning read for Thursday, January 25

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Thursday morning read: The Supreme Court’s Silent Rulings Are Increasingly Troubling (Matt Ford, The New Republic) Texas’ border standoff with feds continues, despite U.S. Supreme Court order (Uriel Garcia & Davis Winkie, Texas Public Radio) Alabama wants to suffocate a man to death.

Big Law Has a Liberal Bias (Live from Vanderbilt University)

The morning read for Tuesday, January 23

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Tuesday morning read: Florida urges US Supreme Court to uphold tech law (CBS News Miami Team, CBS News) Supreme Court will review Richard Glossip’s conviction a second time.

States challenge constitutionality of federal horseracing authority

The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

The morning read for Monday, January 22

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Justices take up bid to overturn Oklahoma death sentence

Eight years after the Supreme Court blocked his execution so that it could consider a challenge to Oklahoma’s lethal-injection protocol, the justices agreed on Monday to take up the case of Richard Glossip, who is seeking to set aside his conviction and death sentence.

Court allows Border Patrol to cut Texas’ razor wire along Rio Grande

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted a request from the Biden administration to allow federal Border Patrol agents to cut or move razor wire installed by Texas along a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Justices decline to intervene in Michigan redistricting dispute

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to intervene in a battle over race and redistricting in Michigan. In a brief unsigned order, the justices denied a request by the state’s independent redistricting commission to put on hold a lower court’s ruling that requires it to redraw state legislative maps for the Detroit area because the original maps relied too heavily on race.

Supreme Court deputy clerk

The Supreme Court is hiring a deputy clerk for administration. Applicants must have a law degree and be admitted to the bar of a state’s highest court. More information about the position and the hiring process is available here.

Bad Facts for Chevron

The morning read for Friday, January 19

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read: Trump urges Supreme Court to keep his name on ballot, warns of ‘bedlam’ (Ann E. Marimow, The Washington Post) Explainer: How is the ‘war on the administrative state’ faring at the Supreme Court?

The morning read for Thursday, January 18

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Thursday morning read: Supreme Court signals openness to curtailing federal regulatory power in potentially major shift (Melissa Quinn, CBS News) Conservatives Once Hailed This Case.

Status quo watch

The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here. The Supreme Court made substantial progress at last week’s conference to reduce the accumulation of relisted cases.

The morning read for Wednesday, January 17

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court likely to discard Chevron

It has been nearly 40 years since the Supreme Court indicated in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council that courts should defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute.

Dumb But Constitutional

The morning read for Tuesday, January 16

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Justices reject Alaska state employee union dues dispute

Updated on Jan. 17 at 6:52 p.m. In 2018, in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees, the Supreme Court held that government employees who are represented by a union but do not belong to that union cannot be required to pay a fee to cover the union’s costs to negotiate a contract that applies to all employees.

Supreme Court to hear major case on power of federal agencies

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Wednesday in a case involving the deference that courts should give to federal agencies’ interpretations of the laws that they administer.

The takings clause with Robert McNamara

In this video, Nate Mowry interviews Robert McNamara of the Institute for Justice, one of the lawyers representing a group of landowners from Houston who sued Texas for flooding their land with a highway project.

Maker of CBD products asks court to decide whether lawsuit under criminal racketeering law can go forward

The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here. Organized crime, from the mafia to small-time money laundering schemes, often evades criminal prosecution.

The morning read for Friday, January 12

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Justices take up camping ban case

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether an Oregon city can enforce its ban on public camping against homeless people. The announcement came as part of a short list of orders released from the justices’ private conference earlier in the day adding five new cases to the court’s merits docket.

The Presidential Assassination Argument

OT2023’s last grants?

The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.

The morning read for Thursday, January 11

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Court split over California man’s takings clause dispute

Despite a suggestion by Justice Neil Gorsuch that there was “radical agreement” in a California man’s challenge to the constitutionality of the “traffic impact mitigation” fee that he was required to pay when building his home, the justices appeared divided at oral argument on Tuesday.

The morning read for Wednesday, January 10

The justices will hear oral argument this morning in Smith v. Arizona. Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Court appears to favor Arizona man’s confrontation clause claim

The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared sympathetic to an Arizona man who contends that his constitutional rights were violated when an expert witness testified for the prosecution about drug analysis performed by another forensic scientist.

En Bonkers Opinion

Court likely to take middle ground in No Fly List dispute

The Supreme Court on Monday heard oral argument in a dispute over whether a lawsuit filed by an Oregon man who was placed on the No Fly List can go forward when the government has removed him from the list and pledged not to return him to it “based on the currently available information.” After

Government power, from federal agencies to counties, highlights January session

The justices returned to the bench on Jan. 8 for a packed session of oral arguments – starting with immigration policy and the post-9/11 “No Fly List” and ending on Jan. 17 with two cases that could upend the functional power of the federal administrative state.

The morning read for Tuesday, January 9

The court will hear oral argument this morning in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, California and Office of the U.S. Trustee v. John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC. Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Justices to hear cross-examination dispute over drug analyst’s testimony

Jason Smith claims that when an expert witness testified in Arizona’s drug possession case against him using drug analysis performed by a former state employee, it violated his constitutional rights. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Wednesday in his case, Smith v. Arizona.

The morning read for Monday, January 8

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court agrees to hear Trump plea to remain on Colorado ballot

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to review a ruling by a Colorado court that barred former President Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s Republican primary ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol.

Justices take up abortion case pitting state against federal law

The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon granted a request from Idaho and the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to temporarily put on hold a ruling by a federal district court that would require emergency rooms in the state to provide abortions to pregnant women in an emergency.

Latest property rights fight comes before justices

When George Sheetz applied in 2016 to build a single-family home on property that he owned, the California county where he lived required him to pay a “traffic impact mitigation” fee, totaling more than $23,000, before it would issue the permit.

The morning read for Friday, January 5

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court.

Court schedules February argument session

A pair of challenges to controversial social media laws in Texas and Florida and a dispute over whether to freeze the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to reduce ozone levels across the United States headline the Supreme Court’s February 2024 argument calendar, which was released on Friday morning.