Covering the Supreme Court and the Judiciary in (mostly) Plain English

During the almost 16 years since the September 11 attacks, litigation challenging the treatment of Middle Eastern men who were in the United States illegally at the time of the attacks and were detained for immigration violations has continued to wind its way through the courts. Several of those detainees, who are the plaintiffs in… Read More

When an inmate being held in a state prison believes that his conviction or sentence violated the U.S. Constitution, he can go to federal court to seek relief – a process known as “habeas corpus.” But once he is in federal court, it is not enough for the inmate to show simply that the state… Read More

In 2002, Lester Packingham became a convicted sex offender at the age of 21, after he pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a child – having sex with a 13-year-old girl. Packingham got into hot water with the law again in 2010, when he posted on Facebook to thank God for having a traffic… Read More

The Supreme Court will once again wade into the world of partisan gerrymandering – that is, the practice of purposely drawing district lines to favor one party and put another at a disadvantage. The justices announced today that they will review Wisconsin’s appeal of the decision by a three-judge district court striking down, as the… Read More

It is rare for the Office of the Solicitor General to change its position in a case before the Supreme Court after a change in administrations, even when the party in control of the White House changes. But that is exactly what happened last week, when the Trump administration weighed in on an important arbitration… Read More

Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall was at the Supreme Court yesterday for the formal investiture of Justice Neil Gorsuch, but that was only part of Wall’s busy day. Shortly after the investiture ceremony, the Trump administration filed the next installment in the series of briefs supporting its request to allow President Donald Trump’s March 6… Read More

Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rejected the Trump administration’s request to reinstate the president’s March 6 executive order, often known as the “travel ban,” which put a temporary hold on visas for travelers from six Muslim-majority countries and suspended the admission of refugees into the United States. Today the federal… Read More

This morning the justices added an important new case to their docket for next fall, on the constitutionality of the administrative process available to challenge patents that have already been issued. The court also summarily reversed a lower court’s decision in favor of a Virginia inmate who was sentenced to life in prison for a… Read More

It was a hollow victory for Luis Ramon Morales-Santana at the Supreme Court today. Six of the eight justices who heard his case agreed with the 55-year-old that U.S. laws violate the Constitution by making it easier for children who are born overseas to an unmarried mother who is a U.S. citizen to acquire citizenship… Read More

Yesterday the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts released financial disclosure reports for eight of the nine justices of the Supreme Court. (The court’s newest justice, Neil Gorsuch, received an extension to submit his report.) As in years past, the forms issued yesterday reveal that, regardless of their ideological leanings, the justices – even those… Read More