A Texas death-row inmate will get a shot at a new sentence after the Supreme Court ruled today that a state court applied the wrong standards to conclude that he was not intellectually disabled and therefore could be executed. Bobby James Moore was convicted and sentenced to death for shooting a supermarket employee during a… Read More

In 1984, there were 175 murders in the District of Columbia. But the October 1984 murder of Catherine Fuller, a 48-year-old mother of six, was particularly infamous. When she was found in a pool of her own blood in a garage off an alley, Fuller had been robbed, badly beaten, and sodomized with an unknown… Read More

This morning the justices issued orders from last week’s private conference. They added two new cases to their merits docket for next term and asked the Acting Solicitor General to file a brief expressing the views of the United States in a third case. But, once again, they did not act on Masterpiece Cake Shop… Read More

Over 95% of criminal cases in the federal system end in a plea bargain, rather than going to trial. One such case is that of Jae Lee, who in 2009 pleaded guilty to possession of ecstasy with the intent to distribute it. Lee was sentenced to one year and one day in prison – considerably… Read More

We often refer to the Supreme Court as a “hot bench”: Questions fly fast and furious from all the justices, often allowing the lawyers to get out only a few sentences (if that many) before fielding the next question. However the bench that heard today’s oral argument in Howell v. Howell, a dispute over military… Read More

Next week the justices will hear oral argument in Howell v. Howell, a dispute between a divorced couple over the wife’s share of the husband’s military retirement pay. The former spouses, John and Sandra Howell, divorced in 1991. As part of the divorce, John – who served in the U.S. Air Force for 20 years… Read More

President Donald Trump has announced that he plans to nominate Noel Francisco, who is currently serving as the acting solicitor general after originally being named the principal deputy solicitor general, to serve as the solicitor general. The announcement comes nearly a month after Charles Cooper, a prominent Washington lawyer who was regarded as the front… Read More

Last night Texas executed Rolando Ruiz, who was convicted of the 1992 murder for hire of Theresa Rodriguez, whose husband wanted to collect on her $400,000 life insurance policy. The Supreme Court declined to step in to block Ruiz’s execution. But Justice Stephen Breyer – who has recently expressed doubt about whether the death penalty… Read More

In other news at the court, the justices today issued a summary opinion in the case of a Nevada death-row inmate who alleged that the judge in his state trial was biased. The justices had relisted the case of Michael Rippo, who was convicted and sentenced to death for two 1992 murders, five times before… Read More

A Colorado man who was required to register as a sex offender after being convicted of unlawful sexual contact with two teenage girls will get a shot at a new trial, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled today. Miguel Peña-Rodriguez had asked a state trial court for a new trial after two jurors told his… Read More