Showing 1–50 of 71 items published in July 2019, most recent first.
Seth Waxman is a partner at WilmerHale. He served as Solicitor General of the United States from 1997 to 2001. No one who’s heard Michael Dreeben deliver an oral argument can fail to be impressed by his mastery of the art.
William C. Bryson is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He was Michael Dreeben’s immediate predecessor as deputy solicitor general for criminal cases at the Department of Justice. Thousands of lawyers have cycled through the Department of Justice over the years.
Briefly: At The National Law Review, Brian Pierson notes that “[t]ribes scored major victories” at the Supreme Court this term, and he looks at two Indian law “cases the Court chose not to decide.” In the Kitsap Bar Report, Jeff Tolman reminisces about a five-day visit by the late Justice John Paul Stevens and the justice’s wife Maryan to the small town of Poulsbo, Washington.
Noel Francisco is the Solicitor General of the United States. Over his 31 years of service in the Office of the Solicitor General, Michael Dreeben has made Supreme Court history in several ways. Perhaps the most remarkable came on April 27, 2016, when he argued his 100th case before the court.
Briefly: At The Economist’s Democracy in America blog, Steven Mazie identifies some “unanswered questions” in the Supreme Court’s recent order allowing the Trump administration “to start building a fence along America’s southern border using money Congress appropriated for other projects.” Hansi Lo
On Friday evening, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to block a lower-court order that had prevented the government from spending $2.6 billion in Pentagon funds for construction of part of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Edmund LaCour is the solicitor general of Alabama. The Supreme Court’s decisions in this term’s death penalty cases suggest that the court is more willing than before to defer to the states’ judgments about how the death penalty should be carried out and who should be subjected to it, and that inmates challenging their death sentences should bring their challenges without delay.
The Supreme Court tonight agreed to put on hold a lower-court ruling that had barred the government from spending $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
By what was effectively a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court yesterday agreed to fully stay a California district court’s injunction against President Donald Trump’s repurposing of appropriated funds to build part of his “border wall.” The Supreme Court’s summary order in Trump v. Sierra Club offered one
This week we highlight petitions pending before the Supreme Court that address the scope of the United States Forest Service’s authority to grant rights-of-way in national-forest lands and whether the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau violates the separation of powers.
Briefly: NPR’s Throughline podcast looks at “segregation in Detroit public schools and the impact of a Supreme Court case that went far beyond that city” — Milliken v. Bradley, decided 45 years ago this week, which limited courts’ ability to order cross-district busing as a remedy.
Mark Rienzi is President of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a law professor at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. He is counsel in many of the cases described below, either for a party or as an amicus.
Erwin Chemerinsky is Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Will replacing Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh make a difference as to how the Supreme Court deals with constitutional issues concerning religion?
Briefly: At Supreme Court Brief (subscription required), Tony Mauro and Marcia Coyle report that “[u]nlike some of his contemporaries at the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens had a well-formed plan in place for public access to his papers,” meaning “that a significant segment of his papers
John G. Malcolm is Vice President of the Institute for Constitutional Government, Director of the Meese Center for Legal & Judicial Studies and Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Cecillia D. Wang is a deputy legal director at the national American Civil Liberties Union. This term she argued for Mony Preap, a detained lawful permanent resident, in Nielsen v. Preap.
Speaking at the judicial conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in June, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told her audience that Justice Anthony Kennedy’s 2018 retirement was “the event of greatest consequence for the current Term, and perhaps for many Terms ahead.” Less than three
Briefly: Nina Totenberg reports at NPR, that in a wide-ranging interview, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that “she does not favor proposals put forth by some Democratic presidential candidates who have advocated changing the number of Supreme Court justices if the Democrats win the presidency”
During the 2018 term, the Supreme Court heard 67 oral arguments leading to decisions. The justices’ opinions cited briefs filed in these cases and law articles approximately 601 times. These citations were from a total of approximately 330 briefs and articles.
Helen Alvare is a professor of law at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University. It is fair to say that due to the appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a great many people — certainly including scholars as well as activists — expected this term to see the Supreme Court begin to move against Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Melissa Murray is Professor of Law and Co-Faculty Director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network at New York University School of Law. Last summer, Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement prompted a flurry of agonized predictions about the Supreme Court’s future, and more particularly, the future of reproductive rights.
Editor’s note: This post is part of an occasional series on legal issues presented by current topics in the news.
Yesterday the late Justice John Paul Stevens lay in repose in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court, attended by former clerks and after a brief ceremony that included remarks by Justice Elena Kagan, who succeeded Stevens on the court. Mark Walsh has this blog‘s coverage.
Joseph Thai is a law professor at the University of Oklahoma. He clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens during the October 2000 term.
From November 14-17, the Appellate Judges Education Institution Summit will take place in Washington, D.C. Conference events will include “Parting the Burgundy Curtain: Press Coverage of the Supreme Court,” featuring Adam Liptak, George Freeman and Lisa Blatt, and two Supreme Court reviews with Erwin Chemerinsky, the first on civil cases and the second on criminal cases.
Susan Estrich is a law professor at the University of Southern California School of Law and a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner. She clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens in 1978-1979.
A private funeral service and interment were held for Justice John Paul Stevens today at Arlington National Cemetery. Stevens’ longtime colleague on the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a former clerk of his, Judge David Barron, and one of his grandchildren, Hannah Mullen, made remarks.
Gregory G. Garre is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins and Chair of the firm’s Supreme Court & Appellate Practice. He served as the 44th Solicitor General of the United States from 2008 to 2009. A somber, important and now familiar ritual is playing out, again.
As the late Justice John Paul Stevens lies in repose in the Supreme Court’s Great Hall today, court-watchers continue to reflect on Stevens’ life in the law.
Justice John Paul Stevens was brought into the Great Hall of the Supreme Court building on Monday to lie in repose, with his successor, Justice Elena Kagan, saying that his memory “will be a blessing in this court, which he served so well for so long.” “It will be a blessing in the lives of all the
Earlier this month, New York City sent a letter to Scott Harris, the clerk of the Supreme Court, to inform the justices that a challenge to the city’s ban on transporting guns outside the city limits is moot – that is, no longer a live controversy.
Paul Clement is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Clement served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States from June 2005 until June 2008.
Justice Elena Kagan was at Georgetown University Law Center on Thursday afternoon for a conversation with the dean of the law center, William Treanor.
Reactions to the death this week of retired Justice John Paul Stevens continue.
Kenneth A. Manaster is Professor of Law, Emeritus at Santa Clara University and senior counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. He was associate counsel on the 1969 Special Commission of the Illinois Supreme Court with John Paul Stevens, who served as chief counsel.
The battle over the Trump administration’s efforts to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico continued to unfold today. Last week the federal government asked the Supreme Court to put on hold a district court’s order that prohibited the government from using $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds for construction of the wall.
Jeffrey L. Fisher is a professor of law at Stanford Law School and special counsel at O’Melveny & Myers; he served as a law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens in 1998-99. Much has been said in the past couple of days about Justice Stevens’ kindness, humility and generosity of spirit.
Court-watchers offer their assessments of the late Justice John Paul Stevens’ legacy.
Ian Heath Gershengorn is Chair of Jenner & Block’s Appellate and Supreme Court practice, and he served as Principal Deputy Solicitor General and as Acting Solicitor General in the Obama Administration; he was a law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens in 1994-1995.
John Paul Stevens, who was appointed by President Gerald Ford but became a leader of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing by the time he retired in 2010, died today at a Florida hospital of complications following a stroke that he suffered yesterday. He was 99.
Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens died yesterday at the age of 99 after suffering a stroke on Monday. Amy Howe reports on Stevens’ career for this blog, in a post that first appeared at Howe on the Court.
The justices have released statements addressing the death of Justice John Paul Stevens. We reproduce the full texts of those remarks below the jump:
With Justice John Paul Stevens’ passing yesterday on July 16, 2019, went the oldest person ever to serve on the Supreme Court. At 99 years of age, Stevens was four years older than the previous justice to live longest, Stanley Reed, who was born in 1884, confirmed to the court in 1938 and died in 1980.
This week we highlight petitions pending before the Supreme Court that address, among other things, the effect of Section 929P(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act’s jurisdictional amendments on Sections 10(b) and 17(a) of the Securities Exchange Act in Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions
Briefly: Jake Holland reports at Bloomberg Law that “[o]nly 17% of oral arguments before the Supreme Court in the 2018-19 term were presented by women,” a number that “remains nearly unchanged from half a decade ago.” At Take Care, Leah Litman argues that the Trump administration’s actions between
Amy Howe reports for this blog, in a post that first appeared at Howe on the Court, that “[t]he battle over the Trump administration’s efforts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border came to the Supreme Court [on Friday], as the federal government asked the justices to block a lower-court
Amy Howe reports for this blog that yesterday “President Donald Trump announced that his administration will end its battle to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census … two weeks after the Supreme Court blocked the government from including the question.” For The New York Times,
The battle over the Trump administration’s efforts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border came to the Supreme Court today, as the federal government asked the justices to block a lower-court order that barred the government from using $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds for construction of the wall.
Briefly: For The Wall Street Journal, Jess Bravin reports that a “federal judge in Maryland said Wednesday that President Trump’s public remarks about immigrants and personal insistence on placing a citizenship question on the census could help determine whether the government intended to
This afternoon President Donald Trump announced that his administration will end its battle to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census.