Academic highlight: Free speech and the Roberts Court
The Albany Law Review has recently posted its Fall Symposium on the Supreme Court’s free speech decisions.
May 2013 Archive
Showing 1–50 of 83 items published in May 2013, most recent first.
Update on October Term 2012 and updated Stat Pack
This is another post in an ongoing series analyzing statistical trends at the Court. For a more complete look at the statistics that we collect on the Court, you can find all of our up-to-date charts and graphs here. We are happy to present the fourth interim Stat Pack for October Term 2012.
Friday round-up
Yesterday’s coverage and commentary focused primarily on opinions that the Court recently issued and those that it is expected to issue in the coming weeks.
Petitions to watch | Conference of June 6, 2013
At its June 6, 2013 Conference, the Court will consider petitions seeking review of issues such as the constitutionality of a state law protecting union picketing on private property, restitution for child pornography victims, the constitutional relevance of a defendant’s knowledge of an ordinance prohibiting “wholly passive conduct,” and patent infringement liability for joint performance of a process patent .
Forthcoming books: Larry Tribe and others comment on the Court and the Constitution
Forty-five years after the publication of his first book (Technology: Process of Assessment and Choice), Laurence Tribe is preparing to release another book, tentatively titled Uncertain Justice (2014). Henry Holt is the publisher, and the famed John Sterling will serve as editor of the project.
Thursday round-up
Tuesday’s opinions and order list continue to generate coverage and commentary. At this blog, Jordan Steiker discusses the opinion in McQuiggin v. Perkins, in which the Court held that an actual innocence plea can overcome the one-year statute of limitations for habeas petitions; other coverage of McQuiggin comes from Dominic Perella at MSNBC.
The Term’s final conferences are set
With the great help of Mary Pat Dwyer, on the Blog’s Petitions page, we have identified by conference each of the paid petitions I think has a significant chance of being granted between now and the end of the Term.
Wednesday round-up
Yesterday the Court issued two opinions in argued cases.
Opinion analysis: Innocence exception survives, innocence claim does not (Updated)
Jordan Steiker is the Judge Robert M. Parker Chair in Law and Co-Director, Capital Punishment Center at the University of Texas School of Law. Yesterday a closely divided Court concluded that a proper showing of “actual innocence” is sufficient to circumvent the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act’s (AEDPA) statute of limitations.
Opinion analysis: A Texas- (and capital-)specific result to usher in a new wave of case law?
As we noted in our argument preview, the Supreme Court held last Term in Martinez v. Ryan that, where a state requires a criminal defendant to raise an ineffective assistance claim in collateral post-conviction proceedings, rather than on direct appeal, the ineffectiveness of the defendant’s
IRS, officials sued over tax reviews
The still-smoldering political scandal over federal tax officials’ targeting of conservative groups for closer review of their pleas for tax exemption has now gone into federal court.
Relist watch
John Elwood reviews Tuesday’s relisted cases. With anticipation of the Term’s final hand-downs reaching a fevered pitch, the steady pace and familiar rhythms of Relist Watch offer a balm for frayed nerves.
The story of Michael Behenna and Mad Dog 5: “Self-defense” in war
This post explores the story of the case of Michael Behenna, whose petition for certiorari the Justices will consider at their May 30 Conference. Twenty-four-year-old Michael Behenna, a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, had been leading his seventeen-man platoon – known as “Mad Dog 5” – for six months.
Tuesday round-up
Briefly: CNN’s Bill Mears summarizes the major cases the Court is poised to decide in the next four weeks and observes that those cases “could fundamentally change lives and legacies on a range of politically explosive issues.” In his Sidebar column for The New York Times, Adam Liptak notes that the Court’s opinions in this Term have so far been more unanimous than in prior terms.
Details on today’s opinions
In Trevino v. Thaler, in an opinion by Justice Breyer (but announced by Justice Kennedy, because Justice Breyer was absent), the Court held by a vote of five to four that when a state’s procedural framework, by reason of its design and operation, makes it highly unlikely in a typical case that a
States’ role in mass cases at issue
The Supreme Court, stepping into the middle of a multi-state controversy over the prices of liquid crystal displays on electronics products, agreed on Tuesday to clarify the authority of state governments to sue in their own state courts to protect their citizens from alleged price fixing.
Monday round-up
Briefly: As Lyle reported for this blog on Thursday, Noel Canning – the bottling company that successfully challenged the President’s 2012 appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in the D.C. Circuit – has joined the administration in urging the Court to take up this case; at Crime and
New plea for detainees
Trying to build upon a Supreme Court ruling five years ago creating one constitutional right for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, lawyers for a Yemeni national have asked the D.C. Circuit Court to establish another right — protection against war crimes prosecutions for conduct that occurred years ago, before Congress tried to make those acts a crime.
This week at the Court
The Court was closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day. On Tuesday the Court issued orders; two new cases were granted. The Court also announced opinions in two argued cases. On Thursday the Justices will meet for their May 30 Conference.
U.S. plan for a Plan B review
The Obama administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to clear the way for what could be a lengthy new review over younger girls’ access to “Plan B” emergency birth control pills, even while keeping in place government limits on access for women of all ages to the version of those pills that has become the most widely sought.
On the passing of Evelyn Buggs, an ideal public servant
Evelyn Buggs, a longtime member of the staff of the Office of the Solicitor General, passed away today. Here are the thoughts of several attorneys with whom she worked. Chief Justice John Roberts, who served as Principal Deputy Solicitor General: I was saddened to learn of Evelyn’s passing.
Friday round-up
Coverage continues of Monday’s decision in City of Arlington v. FCC, in which the Court held by a vote of six to three that courts must apply Chevron deference to an agency’s interpretation of a statutory ambiguity concerning the scope of the agency’s statutory authority.
Solicitor General files invitation briefs for June 13 Conference
Last week I reported on the three cases in which the Solicitor General had filed invitation briefs that will be considered at the Justices’ June 6 Conference. The Solicitor General has now filed four briefs in cases that will be considered the following week, at the Court’s June 13 Conference.
Petitions to watch | Conference of May 30, 2013
At its May 30, 2013 Conference, the Court will consider petitions seeking review of issues such as the constitutionality of restrictions on “gruesome” imagery in a public forum, a ban on an individual’s access to a public roadway through a military installation, a self-defense claim by a member of the armed forces in a combat zone, and the predominance requirement for class certification.
Burnside headed back to the Sixth Circuit?
Last week in Burnside v. Walters, the Court took the fairly unusual step of granting cert. without having first received a brief from any of the respondents in the case: the case’s online docket indicates that the Court called for a response in mid-February, but apparently none ever arrived.
Thursday round-up
At this blog, Lyle Denniston discusses nine pending cert. petitions regarding new EPA rules on greenhouse gases and observes that the petitions “could either turn into one of the biggest regulatory cases the Court has had in years, or could go nowhere because of the argument that the Supreme Court
Opinion analysis – “Pandora’s box” stays closed
Monday’s opinion in City of Arlington v. FCC is surely destined for administrative law textbooks.
Broad limit on appointments urged
A Washington State business joined the Obama administration on Thursday in urging the Supreme Court to clarify when presidents can constitutionally fill government vacancies when the Senate is taking a recess, but asked the Court to rule in a way that would definitely scuttle the specific appointments that are at issue in the case.
Greenhouse gas case explained
UPDATE: The D.C. Circuit Court decision at issue in this case can be read here.
Wednesday round-up
Monday’s orders and opinions continue to generate coverage and commentary. At this blog, Allison Christians analyzes the decision in PPL Corp. & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, in which the Court unanimously held that the United Kingdom’s “windfall tax” is creditable against a company’s U.S. income tax liability.
Relist watch
John Elwood reviews Monday’s relisted cases. If you’re reading this post, presumably your early retirement plans didn’t pan out either, meaning you’re probably not in Jamaica preparing for a fulfilling life of lobster shooters and mountains of ganja piña coladas.
Tuesday round-up
Yesterday the Court released orders from its May 16 Conference, granting cert. in five new cases; it also issued four opinions in argued cases.
Opinion analysis: U.S. underwrites U.K. tax on privatized energy industry
Allison Christians is the H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law, McGill University Employing what Justice Thomas calls a “commonsense approach,” yesterday the Court unanimously decided in favor of the taxpayer with respect to the creditability of a foreign tax in PPL Corp & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner.
Opinion analysis: Justices affirm broad availability of attorney’s fees in vaccine cases
I previously have written that the argument in Sebelius v. Cloer presaged a likely defeat for the Solicitor General. Justice Sotomayor’s opinion yesterday firmly rejecting the government’s position was exactly what you would have expected based on the argument. Opinion author in red.
Monday round-up
Briefly: As part of her outreach to poor and immigrant parents, Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke recently at the New York City Department of Education’s English Language Learning Parent Conference, where she urged the audience to work hard to place their children on the path to college and career success.
Court to rule on government prayer
Returning for the first time in three decades to the constitutionality of saying prayers at the opening of a government meeting, the Supreme Court on Monday took on a case involving Town Board sessions in the upstate New York community named Greece, a city of about 100,000 people.
Opinion recap: Saying little on retroactivity
Analysis Amid signs that the ruling was a very easy one to reach, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed the state of Michigan to deny a man accused of murder a legal defense that he previously had but then lost the right to use at a second trial.
This week at the Court
On Monday the Court granted five new cases and issued four opinions in argued cases. The archived Live Blog is here. On Thursday the Justices will meet for their May 23 Conference. Our list of “Petitions to watch” for that Conference is here.
Solicitor General files invitation briefs for June 6 Conference
Every Term, thousands of litigants file petitions for certiorari, asking the Justices to review their cases on the merits. In roughly a dozen, the Justices initially neither grant nor deny review.
Petitions to watch | Conference of May 23, 2013
At its May 23, 2013 Conference, the Court will consider petitions seeking review of issues such as the denial of federal funding to health care providers for offering elective abortions, the constitutionality of copyright judge appointment procedures, the reassignment of disabled employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the elements of aiding and abetting in the use of a firearm.
Friday round-up
Briefly: Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the nomination of Principal Deputy Solicitor General Sri Srinivasan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Survey results
We asked, over two thousand of you responded, and – as we will discuss further down in this post – we are already at work to try to implement some of your suggestions. Many thanks to all of you who took the time to fill out our online survey.
Ask the author: Floyd Abrams & his fighting faith
The following is a series of questions posed to Floyd Abrams by Ronald Collins on the occasion of the publication of Abrams’s new book, Friend of the Court: On the Front Lines with the First Amendment (Yale University Press, 2013). Welcome, Floyd.
Thursday round-up
Briefly: Andrew Cohen at The Atlantic reports on how Angelina Jolie’s decision to be tested for a gene mutation that indicates an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers and undergo a preventative double mastectomy has drawn renewed attention to Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, in which the Court will decide whether human genes are patentable.
Opinion analysis: Unanimous Justices recognize “massive” limit on transportation preemption
To those who haven’t explored the wonders of federal transportation preemption, the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday in Dan’s City Used Cars v. Pelkey may appear limited to a narrow issue that doesn’t come up often: Does federal law trump state-law claims stemming from a towing company’s storage and disposal of a car?
Wednesday round-up
Coverage of Monday’s orders and decisions continued to trickle in yesterday. At this blog, Ronald Mann reports on Monday’s decision in Bowman v. Monsanto Co., in which the Court held that the doctrine of patent exhaustion does not allow a farmer to reproduce patented seeds through planting and harvesting without the patent holder’s permission.
A bit of skepticism on Bahlul
The D.C. Circuit Court, before moving ahead with a significant test case on the war crimes powers of Guantanamo Bay military commissions, has asked for a firm indication of whether the detainee involved actually wants the case to go on.
Petitions to watch | Conference of May 16, 2013
At its May 16, 2013 Conference, the Court will consider petitions seeking review of issues such as the legality of Florida’s capital sentencing regime, the burden of proof for declaratory judgments in patent infringement cases, standing requirements under the Securities Exchange Act, and a grant of habeas relief for a capital defendant.
Tuesday round-up
The Court released three opinions in argued cases yesterday, all unanimous. In the first opinion of the day, Bowman v. Monsanto Co., by Justice Kagan, the Court held that the doctrine of patent exhaustion does not allow a farmer to reproduce patented seeds through planting and harvesting without the patent holder’s permission.
SCOTUS for law students (sponsored by Bloomberg Law): When Justices express regrets
Nearly fifty years ago, comedian Bill Cosby did a very funny skit called “Oops,” about how a patient, awake under local anesthesia, might react on hearing the surgeon use that word in the operating room. “Did you say ‘oops,'” Cosby asked? “What do you mean ‘oops’?” But when Supreme Court Justices decide, after the fact, that they may have made a mistake, it is rarely a laughing matter.
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