Showing 1–50 of 195 items published in June 2010, most recent first.
Partnering with PBS NewsHour, SCOTUSblog is again offering live coverage of Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings before the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Both the NewsHour live video of the event, and our live-blogging narrative and commentary, will appear below.
Ideologues on both the left and right, as well as the public generally, frequently repeat their own received wisdoms that the Supreme Court is an easily categorized institution and that the Justices are committedly “liberal” or “conservative,” with Justice Kennedy as the lone swing vote.
Despite the draw of the Kagan hearings, commentators continued to digest the Court’s most recent decisions. Ilya Somin of the Volokh Conspiracy suggests that McDonald v. Chicago will lead to “little if any change in the actual extent of gun regulation” by the states.
The Court issued its final opinions in argued cases on Monday and its final orders yesterday, concluding the October Term 2009. The Court is now in recess until October.
The news media is awash in coverage of General Kagan’s confirmation hearings. Kagan spoke with Senators for almost nine hours yesterday on a wide range of contentious topics.
The eleventh briefing in our series on nominee Elena Kagan, here, is about the release of executive-branch documents related to Kagan. We have previously released ten other briefs in our nomination series, on abortion, “don’t ask, don’t tell,” working with the right, gender diversity on the Court, Citizens United, diversity hiring, executive power, judicial qualifications, gun rights, and ideology.
The Court yesterday issued its final orders of October Term 2009. The Washington Post’s Robert Barnes characterizes the Term as an “assertive” one for the Court, with Chief Justice Roberts playing a dominant role.
Robert Cottrol is a professor at the George Washington University Law School who has written on the Second Amendment, including a 1991 Georgetown Law Journal article, The Second Amendment: Toward an Afro-Americanist Reconsideration, which was cited by Justice Thomas in his concurring opinion in
Partnering with PBS NewsHour, SCOTUSblog is offering live coverage of Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings before the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Both the NewsHour live video of the event, and our live-blogging narrative and commentary, will appear below.
Tom snapped a few photos at today’s hearing. They are available after the jump.
This morning the Court held unconstitutional a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that protects members of a newly created Public Company Accounting Oversight Board from removal except for good cause.
Today’s opinion in McDonald v. City of Chicago means that for the first time, state and local governments’ gun regulations must comport with the Second Amendment’s protection of the right “to keep and bear Arms.” Although many state constitutions have a gun rights provision, McDonald has the potential to radically reshape non-federal firearms legislation.
Adam Winkler is a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Today’s decision marks a major change in constitutional doctrine but one that will likely have only a minimal effect on gun control.
Analysis The Supreme Court’s latest foray into the rights of student religious organizations on state-operated college campuses might have added to the recent pattern of expanding those rights.
All eyes were on the Supreme Court today, as it released its four remaining decisions for the Term in Bilski v. Kappos (patents), Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (separation of powers), McDonald v. Chicago (guns), and Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (right of
Here, we have linked to the prepared statements provided by several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee following today’s session of Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings. Additionally, Kagan’s prepared statement is available here.
Today the Court will release the final orders of the Term at 10 a.m. We will not provide live coverage of them, because we will be blogging Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings, but we will promptly post on them. The Court is finished issuing opinions for the Term.
An initial round of statistics for October Term 2009 is here. We will post a final Stat Pack, with new charts, later this week, taking into account any grants of cert. from the orders announcement today at 10 a.m.
The Supreme Court’s final public session of the Term on Monday brought two expressions that reflect the Court’s close personal relationships, with a tribute by all of the other Justices to retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, and a memorial dedication of the day’s session in honor of Martin D. Ginsburg, husband of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
(NOTE: In the wake of Justice John Paul Stevens’ retirement, the Court on Tuesday issued new assignments for the Justices in their roles as Circuit Justices to handle emergency matters from the federal court regions.
David H. Gans is the Director of the Human Rights, Civil Rights, and Citizenship Program at the Constitutional Accountability Center, which filed an amicus brief supporting the petitioner in McDonald v. Chicago Today’s opinion in McDonald v. City of Chicago is a momentous development in American law.
With both the close of October Term 2009 at the Court and the opening of Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings at the Senate yesterday, SCOTUSblog offered extensive analysis and other coverage. The following is a guide to our posts throughout the day.
Saul Cornell is a professor of history at Fordham University, and signed an amicus brief in favor of the respondent city in McDonald v. Chicago. For those fortunate enough to be at the Supreme Court today the announcement of the Court’s decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago was a riveting experience.
Jon Lowy represents the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which filed an amicus brief in favor of neither party in McDonald v. Chicago. The Supreme Court’s decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago to incorporate the Second Amendment may be a headline-grabber, but it is hardly surprising.
Alan Gura, a lawyer at Gura & Possessky, represented the prevailing party, Otis McDonald, in McDonald v. Chicago. The Second Amendment is a normal part of the Bill of Rights – that much is the essential rule of McDonald v. City of Chicago.
Elena Kagan’s nomination hearing began yesterday, although the committee heard relatively little from General Kagan. Twenty-one Senators spoke for approximately three hours total; the nominee made her opening statement in little more than ten minutes.
Alison LaCroix is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and signed an amicus brief in favor of the respondent city in McDonald v. Chicago.
Richard Aynes is a law professor at the University of Akron, and signed an amicus brief for the petitioners in McDonald v. Chicago. Writing in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s decision in McDonald v. Chicago, U.S. Law Week referred to it as potentially being the “blockbuster” of the 2009 Term.
SCOTUSblog has added a couple of offerings to our Kagan Resources sidebar: a timeline of Kagan’s life and career, and a list of the cases she argued before the Supreme Court, with links to the transcripts and, if any, audio.
Eugene Volokh is a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. A similar version of this post appears at his blog the Volokh Conspiracy.
Displaying some sense of urgency about the legal controversy over deepwater oil well drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the Fifth Circuit Court on New Orleans moved ahead on Tuesday with the Obama Administration’s defense of its six-month moratorium, ordering briefing and setting an early hearing date on whether to put the drilling suspension back into effect.
The tenth issue briefing in our series on Elena Kagan, about her ideology, is here. We have previously released nine other briefs in our nomination series, on abortion, “don’t ask, don’t tell,” working with the right, gender diversity on the Court, Citizens United, diversity hiring, executive power, judicial qualifications, and gun rights.
Partnering with PBS NewsHour, SCOTUSblog is offering live coverage of Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings before the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Both the NewsHour live video of the event, and our live-blogging narrative and commentary, will appear below.
This morning, beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern, the Court will issue orders from last Thursday’s conference and then the final opinions of the Term. We will relay both in the Live Blog below, with the assistance of our reporter at the Court, Lyle Denniston. THE LIVE BLOG APPEARS BELOW THE JUMP.
In anticipation of tomorrow’s decision in the gun rights case McDonald v. Chicago, SCOTUSblog is setting up an expert debate on the issue. We have asked scholars and lawyers with expertise on either the Second Amendment or gun control laws to briefly analyze the opinion, with a focus on its implications for gun control and legal questions left open.
Timothy Tatarka is a recent graduate of Stanford Law School. On June 24, 2010, the Court – by a vote of seven to two – held that the issue of when an arbitration contract was formed, as well as whether the contract was formed, is properly determined by a court rather than by an arbitrator if the determination affects whether the parties intended to submit the dispute at issue to arbitration.
While most of the world has eyes only for the World Cup, Court watchers have spent several mornings in June anxiously awaiting the Court’s final decisions for this Term.
Today the Court will release orders and the final opinions of the Term at 10 a.m. Eastern, and we will provide live coverage. Those final opinions are Bilski v. Kappos (patents), Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (separation of powers), McDonald v. Chicago (guns), and Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (right of association).
So far, the Court has decided seventy-three of its argued cases this Term, including all cases argued during the October, January, and March Sittings. Now, only four argued cases are still pending and are expected to be decided on Monday.
Below the jump is the list of witnesses for Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings, which begin today. These witnesses will not be heard until later this week, after Kagan herself testifies.
Our newest issue brief on Elena Kagan, here, is about her views on gun rights and policy. We have just two more left in the series, which we will release shortly.
For all round-up coverage of Elena Kagan since her nomination, see our collection of past links on SCOTUSwiki. Staff picks are marked by asterisks. Because of the convergence of several major Court-related events, the media’s attention is fixed on the Court to an uncommon degree.
This morning the Court, as expected, released the opinions in the remaining four cases this Term: Bilski v. Kappos (patents), Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (separation of powers), McDonald v. Chicago (guns), and Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (right of association).
Douglas Berman is a professor of law at Moritz College of Law and a frequent blogger at Sentencing Law & Policy.
Ilya Shapiro is a scholar at the Cato Institute, and signed a brief supporting the petitioner in McDonald v. Chicago. Today is a big victory for gun rights and a bigger one for liberty.
Analysis Five members of the Supreme Court on Monday assured state, county and city officials not to worry: the new decision protecting a “right to keep and bear arms” against government action at any level — local, state or national — “does not imperil every law regulating firearms.” But the Court
Steve Calabresi is a law professor at Northwestern University and the founder of the Federalist Society; he signed an amicus brief supporting the petitioner in McDonald v. Chicago. McDonald v. City of Chicago is a huge five-to-four win for proponents of Second Amendment rights.
Jack Rakove is a professor of history at Stanford University. Having taken the leading role in drafting a historians’ amicus brief in support of the District of Columbia in Heller, I sat the current litigation in McDonald v. (my native) Chicago out.
Nelson Lund is a professor at George Mason University School of Law. McDonald holds that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, recognized in Heller two years ago, is protected against infringement by state and local governments.
Randy Barnett is a professor at Georgetown Law Center, and filed an amicus brief in favor of the petitioner in McDonald v. Chicago. Today, the Privileges or Immunities Clause has risen from the grave.