Showing 1–50 of 86 items published in July 2018, most recent first.
For this blog, in a post first published at Howe on the Court, Amy Howe reports that “[t]he Supreme Court declined to intervene [yester]day in a lawsuit filed by a group of 21 children and teenagers who allege that they have a constitutional right to a ‘climate system capable of sustaining human
On Friday, August 3, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT in Chicago, the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section will host a review of criminal law cases from the most recent Supreme Court term. Panelists include Ann C. Williams, MiAngel C. Cody and Debra Bonamici; Rory Little will moderate.
For The Daily Caller, Kevin Daley reports that “Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh celebrated early successes in the nomination process with White House officials Friday,” and that “administration officials feel the judge is strongly positioned for confirmation.” For The Washington Post, Seung
We recorded this week’s episode live at the Washington, D.C., offices of Akin Gump. We’re joined by two members of the firm’s Supreme Court and appellate practice — Pratik Shah, a former assistant to the solicitor general, and Martine Cicconi, who worked in the White House Counsel’s office and clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Frank S. Ravitch is Professor of Law and Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law & Religion at Michigan State University College of Law. The number of cases involving religion in which Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote an opinion for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is limited.
The Supreme Court declined to intervene today in a lawsuit filed by a group of 21 children and teenagers who allege that they have a constitutional right to a “climate system capable of sustaining human life.” The federal government had asked the justices to put discovery and a trial, currently
In the most recent round of coverage of the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the Associated Press reports that “[n]early all the nation’s Republican governors have signed a letter backing Senate confirmation for … Kavanaugh.” Additional coverage comes from Justin Wise at
Since Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his plans to retire, analysis of the potential effects of his retirement has mostly focused on areas of the law in which he provided the swing vote for a more liberal result – for example, abortion or gay rights.
This week we highlight three cert petitions pending before the Supreme Court that address offender-registration laws and the ex post facto clause; state sovereign immunity in the context of Rule 23 class settlements; and what the Constitution requires of a court on habeas review in capital cases.
At The Hill, Max Greenwood reports that “[v]oters are near-evenly split on whether the Senate should confirm President Trump‘s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, according to a Quinnipiac University poll out Wednesday.” At Forbes, Karlyn Bowman assesses the results of several polls measuring
[Editor’s Note: The afternoon after this post was published, Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican of Kansas, met Judge Brett Kavanaugh and tweeted that he “will support his nomination.”] After Justice Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court in January 2017, attention turned to whether Senate Democrats would use the filibuster, a maneuver to block final action on an issue until a 60-vote majority can force a vote.
Many people seems to be wondering how Judge Brett Kavanaugh will vote in abortion cases if confirmed to the Supreme Court, and more specifically if he will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. Kavanaugh has only written a decision in one case regarding abortion — Garza v. Hargan.
At 9:00 p.m. on July 9, President Donald Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy late last month.
Christopher J. Walker is a law professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Administrative law sets the ground rules for how federal agencies regulate and how courts review and constrain such agency action.
At Politico, Elana Schor reports that “[p]artisan tensions over records on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh boiled over on Tuesday, as Democrats insisted on access to all communications from his five years in the George W. Bush White House while Republicans tried to narrow the scope of the
Late last week Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to succeed the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, returned the questionnaire given to him by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
One of the opinions from current Supreme Court nominee and D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh that has garnered significant attention is his 2017 dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc in the net-neutrality case, U.S. Telecom Association v. Federal Communications Commission.
Coverage of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s extensive record in government and on the bench continues as reporters and commentators sift through Kavanaugh’s Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire and other documents.
For The Washington Post, Robert Barnes reports that “Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s views on race, executive privilege and whether the Supreme Court ruled correctly in requiring President Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes are all contained in a trove of material given to the Senate on
We were in Chicago speaking at the National Foundation of Judicial Excellence’s Annual Judicial Symposium this past weekend, and we took some time to eat Japanese BBQ, drink sake and record a new episode.
Even though the Supreme Court is not in session, it is far from out of the news. With the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, much of the conversation now concerns expectations for a fierce confirmation battle — possibly one of the most fierce we have ever seen.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh remains atop the slow-moving Supreme Court news cycle. Adam Liptak of The New York Times surveys 12 sets of evaluations spanning 700 pages from about 350 law students at Harvard, Yale and Georgetown and finds “almost only glowing praise for Judge Kavanaugh’s teaching.” Former Harvard students praise Kavanaugh in a letter at Boston Globe.
Orin S. Kerr is the Frances R. and John J. Duggan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s views of the Fourth Amendment have drawn significant interest following his recent nomination to the Supreme Court.
[Editor’s Note: This post has been updated to include a link to Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s written questionnaire for the Senate Judiciary Committee and supporting documents.] We’ve collected extra-judicial writing, speeches and panel appearances of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
As Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination reaches its 10th day, it continues to generate interest. Jeffrey Jones presents the results of a Gallup poll: A “four-percentage point margin [in favor of Kavanaugh’s confirmation] is slimmer than any Gallup has measured in its initial read on 10 prior nominees since 1987,” with the average margin being 23 points.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote an interesting dissent in Seven-Sky v. Holder, a 2011 appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit about the constitutionality of the individual mandate provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination continues to dominate court-watchers’ attention.
On July 19 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Washington, the Humanist Legal Society will host a panel entitled, “The Supreme Court after Kennedy: What’s Next for LGBT and Women’s Rights?” Speakers include Shannon Minter, Maya Rupert and David Codell.
Michael Livermore is professor of law at University of Virginia School of Law. As in many other areas, Justice Anthony Kennedy was the swing vote in environmental cases, lining up in the middle of his more reliably conservative and liberal peers.
During his campaign for the presidency, then-candidate Donald Trump announced that he would appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case establishing a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy.
On July 19 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Washington, D.C., the American Society on International Law will host a panel entitled, “U.S. Supreme Court ‘International Law’ Year in Review.” Panelists include John B. Bellinger III, Harold Hongju Koh, Donald Earl Childress III and Jessica Ellsworth; the panel will be moderated by Charles Kotuby and Jennifer Permesly.
At The Hill, Lydia Wheeler reports that “[a] group working to make the Supreme Court more transparent has asked a federal judge to force the government to release tens of thousands of documents related to [Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s] past work.” Additional coverage comes from
On July 24 at 1 p.m. EST, the National Association of Counties will host a webinar reviewing the past Supreme Court term. Speakers include Eric Citron, Shay Dvoretzky and Lydia Wheeler. To register for the webinar go here.
A week after the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, coverage of the confirmation process abounds. For The Hill, Alexander Bolton reports that “Kavanaugh seems on track for confirmation, as moderate Sens.
October Term 2017 has been officially gaveled out, and the justices are all doing exciting things like “teaching” in Europe. But we’re not taking the summer off.
Good writing makes a world of difference in appellate practice. In an era when some scholars question whether oral arguments have very much utility, briefs, and especially amicus briefs, are thought to play a unique role in Supreme Court decision-making.
This week, the Supreme Court has been presented with petitions involving issues such as whether the establishment clause requires the removal or destruction of a 93-year-old memorial to American servicemen who died in World War I solely because the memorial bears the shape of a cross; and whether
Judge Brett Kavanaugh has many writings to peruse, both for majorities on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and individually in concurrences and dissents, but he has addressed the issue of campaign finance infrequently.
Senators considering President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court will undoubtedly be giving a close read to a law-review article the judge published in 2009, entitled “Separation of Powers During the Forty-Fourth Presidency and Beyond.” The article has already
As of this week, the “Petitions of the week” post will replace the “Petition of the day” post. The now-weekly post functions the same way as its daily predecessor: It is a vehicle for identifying recently filed petitions that raise issues that have a reasonable chance of being granted in an appropriate case.
For The Wall Street Journal, Jess Bravin and Brent Kendall report that “[t]he confirmation battle over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh likely will look backward as much as forward,” examining “not only what his 12-year record on a federal appeals court suggests about his future votes but also
When President Donald Trump nominated him to succeed the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, Judge Brett Kavanaugh spoke movingly about the women in his life, beginning with his mother, a history teacher who became a prosecutor and later a state-court judge.
The nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court remains front and center in the news.
On July 19 at 1 p.m. EST, the International Municipal Lawyers Association will host a webinar on Supreme Court police cases from this past term. Speakers include Stuart Raphael, Timothy Coates and Michael Connolly. More information, including registration instructions, is available here.
The discussion over who would fill the Supreme Court vacancy has dominated much of the political conversation since Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the Supreme Court on June 27.
Well, one question has been answered: Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. But plenty more questions remain: How much did Kennedy have to do with the nomination? Where does Kavanaugh fall on the ideological scale?
On the eve of another Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Professors Paul Collins and Lori Ringhand have published an interesting study comparing nominees’ responsiveness to questions by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
On July 18 at 1 p.m. EST, the National Conference of State Legislatures will host a webinar entitled, “Partisanship and Redistricting: What the Supreme Court Has to Say.” Speakers include Misha Tseytlin, Michael Kimberly and Paul Diller. To join the webinar, go here.
President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court continues to garner coverage.
This evening President Donald Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to the Supreme Court.