The Supreme Court today released its oral argument calendar for April, the final sitting of the court’s October Term 2017. The justices will close out their regularly scheduled arguments on April 25 with Trump v. Hawaii, the challenge to the president’s September 24, 2017, order restricting travel to the United States by nationals of eight… Read More
Opinion analysis: Court upholds narrow construction of foreign immunity law in terrorism case
The Supreme Court ruled today that U.S. victims of a 1997 terrorist attack in Jerusalem cannot rely on a provision of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to seize a collection of Iranian antiquities held by the University of Chicago. The decision put an end to the latest efforts by the victims and their families to… Read More
No new grants, no action on DACA appeal in today’s orders
This morning the Supreme Court released orders from the justices’ private conference last week. The court did not act on the federal government’s petition for review of a dispute over whether the Trump administration can terminate the program known as “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” which allows undocumented immigrants who came to the United States… Read More
Alito denies stay in Pennsylvania redistricting case
The Supreme Court today declined to intervene in a partisan-gerrymandering challenge to Pennsylvania’s federal congressional maps. Justice Samuel Alito, who hears emergency appeals from the geographic district that includes Pennsylvania, rejected requests from Republican legislators and voters to put a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on hold while they appeal the state court’s finding… Read More
Old laws, new technology and national borders: In Plain English
In 1986, when Congress passed the Stored Communications Act, the World Wide Web did not yet exist; that would not happen until three years later, when British scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented it in Switzerland. Electronic mail did exist, but – although Queen Elizabeth II had used it to send a message in 1976 – it… Read More
Justices add frog case to merits docket
This morning the Supreme Court issued additional orders from last week’s conference. On Friday, the justices announced that they would review Hawaii’s challenge to the most recent iteration of the president’s “travel ban.” Today the court granted review in an environmental-law case, Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The star of Weyerhaeuser’s case… Read More
Opinion analysis: Police prevail in the case of “Peaches” and the party
Almost 10 years ago, Theodore Wesby attended a party in the northeast section of Washington, D.C., that his own attorney would later describe as “raucous.” There were strippers offering lap dances, plenty of alcohol, people having sex upstairs, and (at least the smell of) marijuana. The celebration ended abruptly, however, when police received complaints about… Read More
Justices to hear challenge to Minnesota voting dress code: In Plain English
In 2010, Andrew Cilek went to his local polling place in Hennepin County, Minnesota, to vote. Cilek was wearing a T-shirt that had three different images on it: the Tea Party logo, the message “Don’t Tread on Me,” and an image of the Gadsden flag, which dates back to the American Revolution but is often… Read More
Justices to review travel ban challenge
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on the challenge to President Donald Trump’s September 24 order, the latest version of what is often known as his “travel ban,” which limited travel from eight countries: Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea, Venezuela and Chad. The announcement, which came in a brief order today, had… Read More
Argument analysis: Concern for death-row inmate’s rights likely to trump line-drawing worries
The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in the case of Robert McCoy, a Louisiana death-row inmate who says that he should get a new trial because his own lawyer told jurors that he was guilty – over McCoy’s express objection. After just over an hour of spirited debate, the justices seemed sympathetic to McCoy’s… Read More