Monday round-up
Michael Kirkland of UPI breaks down the challenges to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate, which requires employers to provide their employees with access to health insurance that includes coverage for birth control.
September 2013 Archive
Showing 1–50 of 61 items published in September 2013, most recent first.
Town of Greece v. Galloway: What is the Supreme Court up to?
Jessie Hill is a Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University. The Court’s decision to revisit legislative prayer on the thirtieth anniversary of Marsh v. Chambers, upholding the state of Nebraska’s legislative chaplaincy based on its perceived ratification by longstanding history and tradition, raises numerous questions about the direction its Establishment Clause jurisprudence might take.
New limit on war crimes trials?
The Obama administration’s strong effort to protect military prosecutors’ options to level the easiest-to-prove war crimes charges against terrorism suspects appeared on Monday to be facing a significant hurdle in the D.C. Circuit Court.
Court to remain open — for now
The Supreme Court will continue to operate at least through next Friday, October 4, even if much of the rest of the government shuts down because of an impasse in Congress over the federal budget.
This week at the Court
On Tuesday the Court issued orders from the September 30 Conference. (Lyle’s post on the orders is here.) The Court granted eight new cases. Next Monday is the first official day of the 2013 Term. We expect the denials from the September 30 Conference, in addition to other orders, at 9:30 a.m.
Friday round-up
Looking ahead to next month’s oral argument in McCutcheon v. FEC, in which the Court will consider the constitutionality of aggregate limits on campaign contributions, Ciara Torres-Spelliscy explains at Moyers & Company why, in her view, the Justices when voting should “remember the price of a
Symposium: Legislative prayer and judicial review
Richard W. Garnett is a Professor of Law at University of Notre Dame. After taking a year off from church-state cases, the Justices are set to jump back into the fray.
Thursday round-up
At Southern California Public Radio, Kitty Felde looks at some of the cases on the Court’s docket that hail from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, including Fernandez v. California, in which the Court will consider whether the police can search a dwelling over an absent defendant’s
SCOTUS for law students (sponsored by Bloomberg Law): Prayer at government meetings
When may public officials open their meetings with a prayer? The Supreme Court will attempt to answer this important question in the new Term that begins on October 7. The answer may be of considerable importance at many levels.
Symposium: Prayer and the machinery of the state
Daniel Mach is Director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. In Town of Greece v. Galloway, the Supreme Court will address the contentious practice of legislative prayer for the first time in three decades.
Petitions to watch | Conference of September 30 (Part 3)
At its September 30, 2013 Conference, the Court will consider petitions seeking review of issues such as the termination of parental rights under the Indian Child Welfare Act, the constitutionality of Virginia’s “crimes against nature” statute, protections on free speech interests of government employees, and a free exercise challenge to workers’ compensation requirements.
Almost no chance Court will shut down
With talk of shutting down the federal government filling the air in Washington, amid the latest partisan tiff over the national budget, the Supreme Court is remaining mum for now about how it might react.
Symposium: Desperate measures in Town of Greece
Eric Rassbach is Deputy General Counsel at the Becket Fund, which filed an amicus brief in support of the Town of Greece. Sometimes there comes a “Hail Mary moment” in a lawsuit, where one side, facing imminent disaster, stakes everything on one desperate, final gambit.
Wednesday round-up
In an essay for POLITICO, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pays tribute to retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, whom she describes – among other things – as having “done more to promote collegiality among the court’s members, and with our counterparts abroad, than any other justice.” In the ABA Journal,
Tuesday round-up
The long battle over custody of Baby Veronica, the child at the center of last Term’s Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, finally appears to be over. Yesterday the Oklahoma Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay that allowed the child to remain with her biological father in that state; a few hours later, she was transferred to her adoptive parents.
Symposium: The puzzle of Town of Greece v. Galloway
Nelson Tebbe is a Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. Micah J. Schwartzman is the Edward F. Howrey Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law.
U.S. allowed into Texas voting case
Dividing two to one, a U.S. District Court in San Antonio on Tuesday allowed the Obama administration to join fully in the ongoing constitutional dispute over Texas maps laying out new state and congressional legislative election districts — a decision that will enable government lawyers to make their own case to put Texas back under court supervision of its voting laws.
Writing biography in the age of Wikipedia – removing a shadow from the life of Justice Tom Clark
On the anniversary of Justice Tom Clark’s birthday (born Sept. 23, 1899), the author of a new dual biography on the Justice and his son, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, unravels the mystery behind a controversial quotation that left an unwarranted blot on the life and legacy of Justice Clark.
Town of Greece symposium: Can government actively favor a religious practice?
Carl H. Esbeck is the R.B. Price Distinguished Professor and the Isabelle Wade & Paul C. Lyda Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law. Can government knowingly take sides in a matter of religious belief or practice?
Monday round-up
In the Los Angeles Times, David Savage previews McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, in which the Court will consider the constitutionality of aggregate limits on campaign contributions, and suggests that, “[i]n what may be Act 2 in the decline and fall of campaign funding laws, the Supreme
Cline symposium: Oklahoma law could force doctors to provide substandard medical care to women using medications to end a pregnancy
Jennifer Blasdell, J.D., is the Senior Director for Government Affairs at Physicians for Reproductive Health. Nancy Stanwood, M.D., M.P.H., is the Board Chair, Physicians for Reproductive Health; Chief of Family Planning Section, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, Yale School of Medicine.
Friday round-up
Yesterday both the federal government and a Pennsylvania woodworking company asked the Court to weigh in on whether the government can require for-profit corporations to provide their employees with insurance that includes access to contraceptives even when the owners of those corporations object to birth control on religious grounds.
Thursday round-up
On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision denying a preliminary injunction in a Michigan company’s challenge to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s birth-control mandate, which requires large employers to provide their employees with health insurance that includes access to contraceptives.
The untold risks of the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decisions
Less than three months ago, the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage rulings triggered ecstatic celebrations among gay couples and advocates of equality. Although the Justices did not strike down laws limiting marriage to straight couples, that decision seemed an inevitable next step.
Cline symposium: Do the right thing
Louise Melling is the Deputy Legal Director at the ACLU. To date, there has been surprisingly little buzz about the Court’s grant of certiorari in Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice. That is likely because it is not a case where the fate of abortion is understood to be on the line.
U.S., business appeal on birth-control mandate (UPDATED)
UPDATE 4:28 p.m. The Obama administration has taken its own case to the Supreme Court on the birth-control mandate in the new federal health care law. The petition and appendix, a large file, are here; they were filed Thursday afternoon.
Academic highlight: Morawetz on the Solicitor General’s presentation of facts
On April 24, 2012, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) wrote to the Supreme Court to “clarify and correct” a factual statement in its brief in Nken v. Holder — a statement that the Supreme Court had explicitly relied on in its decision.
Wednesday round-up
I covered Justice Scalia’s speech commemorating Constitution Day in yesterday’s round-up.
Cline symposium: Abortion, states’ medical authority, and the “undue burden” test
Helen Alvare is a Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law.
Symposium announcement: Town of Greece v. Galloway
On November 6, the Court will hear oral arguments in Town of Greece v. Galloway, in which it will consider whether a town council violates the Establishment Clause when it begins its session with a prayer led by members of the clergy or local citizens, even if it does not discriminate in choosing who will offer the prayers.
GTMO and war’s end in Afghanistan
A Kuwaiti national held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay for more than eleven-and-a-half years, who figured in an important Supreme Court ruling nine years ago, is making a new plea for his release — just as soon as the U.S. completes its withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan.
Tuesday round-up
In anticipation of Constitution Day today, Justice Antonin Scalia spoke yesterday at George Washington University, where he criticized “judicial activism” – both at home and in courts overseas – and advocated an originalist approach to constitutional interpretation.
Cline symposium: What justifies bad medicine?
Priscilla (Cilla) Smith is a Senior Fellow at the Information Society Project at the Yale Law School. Prior to joining the ISP, Smith was an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights for thirteen years, serving as the U.S. Legal Program Director from 2003-2007, and litigated cases nationwide, including Gonzales v. Carhart.
December arguments, day by day
The Supreme Court on Tuesday released the schedule of oral arguments for the two-week sitting that begins on Monday, December 2. All of the arguments will be in the mornings, starting at 10 a.m.
New plea for Bagram detainees
Trying to take advantage of the Supreme Court’s last major ruling on the rights of foreign nationals held by the U.S. military outside of the country, lawyers for five detainees at a U.S.-run military prison in Afghanistan on Tuesday asked the D.C. Circuit Court to give them a chance to challenge those captives’ prolonged imprisonment.
Monday round-up
In an op-ed for POLITICO, Fred Wertheimer warns that if the Court were to strike down the aggregate limits on campaign contributions at issue in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, scheduled for oral argument on October 8, “it would recreate the system of legalized corruption that existed prior to Watergate and might well open the door to striking down all of the remaining contribution limits.
Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice: Once more unto the breach
O. Carter Snead is the William P. and Hazel B. Director, Center for Ethics and Culture and a Professor of Law at University of Notre Dame. In one sense, Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice promises to mark a new chapter in the U.S. Supreme Court’s now-forty-year-old project of regulating the practice of abortion in America.
Schuette symposium: Keep it simple
Melissa Hart is an Associate Professor of Law and the Director of the Byron R. White Center at Colorado Law, University of Colorado Boulder. I do not like the Schuette case. Of course the Supreme Court had to take it.
Program announcement
Tonight at 6 p.m. C-SPAN Radio will continue its series on historic Supreme Court oral arguments. In anticipation of this Term’s oral arguments in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, the challenge to the constitutionality of the president’s recess appointments to the NLRB, they will air the 2010 oral argument in New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB.
Upcoming events
Next Wednesday, September 18, the Law & Economics Center at George Mason University School of Law will host a preview of environmental issues coming before the Court this Term. The event will be held at the National Press Club from 8:30-10:30 a.m.
Friday round-up
This week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will begin posting audio recordings of oral arguments on its website shortly after the oral arguments conclude.
Symposium announcement: Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice
This past June, the Court granted cert. in Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition of Reproductive Justice, in which it will consider the constitutionality of an Oklahoma law which prohibits the off-label use of abortion inducing drugs. (Lyle reported on the case shortly after it was granted.)
Schuette symposium: The parade of horribles lives
If you are tired of Court watchers who like to hedge their bets, you might appreciate this: I predict a reversal here. It seems unlikely that the Court granted certiorari in order to congratulate the Sixth Circuit on its keen legal insight.
Event recap: The Roberts Court and OT2013
On Monday, following two panels on media technology and the digital age, the University of Georgia Law School, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Peabody Awards co-hosted a panel on the Court itself, focusing on the Justices and the upcoming Term.
Traditional marriage plea heads to Court
An Albuquerque couple who operate their commercial photography business on Christian religious principles will ask the Supreme Court to give them constitutional protection for their views favoring traditional marriage, their lawyers said on Wednesday.
Thursday round-up [UPDATED]
At Forbes, Rich Samp discusses the pending cert. petition in Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital Ltd., in which Argentina has asked the Court to review whether the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act prohibits federal courts from entering injunctions against foreign nations with respect to payments on their sovereign indebtedness.
Schuette and the executive branch’s function in constitutional litigation
John Neiman is Solicitor General for the State of Alabama, which joined Arizona’s amicus brief supporting the petitioners in Schuette. The views expressed in this post are his own.
Next round in Fisher case
(NOTE TO READERS: This post deals with a follow-up development in an affirmative action case from the Supreme Court’s last Term, not the new case scheduled for next Term that is the subject of the symposium currently being published on the blog.) ————- The Fifth Circuit Court, beginning a process
Health law challenge is back
A constitutional challenge to a key part of the new federal health care law that the Supreme Court did not examine in 2012 is back in an expanded form, and the part of that law that the Court did uphold is being tested with new arguments.
Schuette symposium: Racial supremacy
In Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, the Supreme Court will review an eight-to-seven en banc decision of the Sixth Circuit holding that voter initiative Proposal 2 – which amended the Michigan Constitution to prohibit affirmative action – was invalid under the political structure theory of equal protection.
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