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

In 1996, the Supreme Court ruled in Whren v. United States that police can stop and seize a motorist as long as they have probable cause to suspect a moving violation, even if the seizure is actually a pretext to search for evidence of other crimes. When the justices meet for their September 24 conference,… Read More

In 2012, in Miller v. Alabama, the Supreme Court ruled that a mandatory sentence of life without parole for juveniles convicted of murder violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Four years later, in Montgomery v. Louisiana, the justices explained that their decision in Miller did bar life without parole “for all… Read More

The Supreme Court released the argument calendar for its November sitting, which begins on Monday, October 29. During the six days of the November sitting, the justices will hear oral arguments in 12 cases, involving topics that range from the proper method of service for a foreign country to pre-emption by the Atomic Energy Act…. Read More

Although the battle over records related to Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s tenure in the George W. Bush White House continues, the Senate Judiciary Committee has recently released over 100,000 pages of documents. The first batch of documents, released last week, contained over 5,000 pages of emails from Kavanaugh’s stint as an associate White House counsel, a… Read More

When the justices meet for their September 24 conference, one of the cases that they will consider involves Planned Parenthood – but not, at least directly, abortion. Instead, the justices have been asked to weigh in on whether individuals can bring a lawsuit to enforce a provision of the Medicaid Act that allows Medicaid recipients… Read More

In Garvin v. New York, the justices have been asked to review two separate constitutional questions – one arising under the Fourth Amendment, the other under the Sixth – stemming from an arrest and conviction for a series of bank robberies.

In Sportswear, Inc. v. Savannah College of Art and Design, the justices have been asked to wade into a dispute over the scope of a federally registered service mark. The case arose after Sportwear, Inc., began to sell apparel bearing the words “Savannah College of Art and Design” and “SCAD.” In 2014, the college filed… Read More

In 2015, Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested that extended periods of solitary confinement might violate the Eighth Amendment’s bar on cruel and unusual punishment. Two years later, Justice Stephen Breyer dissented from the Supreme Court’s announcement that it would not block the execution of a Texas death-row inmate who had been held in solitary confinement for… Read More

When the justices meet for their “long” conference on September 24, one of the cases before them will be Multnomah County, Oregon v. Updike, in which they have been asked to weigh in on the level of discriminatory intent required to award compensatory damages under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

When the justices return to the bench in October, one of the cases slated for oral argument during the first week of the term will involve property rights – specifically, whether a property owner must first run through his options in state court before he can bring a lawsuit in federal court alleging that the… Read More