When Acting Solicitor General Ian Gershengorn took the lectern today in Ziglar v. Abbasi, he attempted to paint a portrait of déjà vu all over again. The three consolidated cases before the Supreme Court today were brought by a group of Muslim and Arab men who were in the United States illegally and were arrested… Read More

Last week the justices added a whopping 16 new cases to their merits docket when they issued orders from the January 13 conference. When the justices returned from the holiday weekend this morning, they issued more orders from that conference, including a call for the views of the U.S. solicitor general in a pair of… Read More

It has been more than 15 years since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, but litigation related to the attacks and the U.S. government’s response continues to wind its way through the courts. Next week the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in one such case, filed by a group of… Read More

At today’s oral argument in the case of a Colorado student with autism, one thing seemed relatively clear: The justices were dissatisfied with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit’s ruling that school districts can satisfy federal education law as long as they offer a student with a disability an educational program that… Read More

Returning to the bench this morning for the first time in the new year, the Supreme Court issued additional orders from last week’s conference, but it did not add any new cases to its merits docket. The justices did, however, issue a summary ruling that sent a lawsuit against three New Mexico police officers back… Read More

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act gives federal funds to states that agree to offer a “free appropriate public education” (FAPE) to children with disabilities. An important part of providing a FAPE is the IEP, or individualized education program, which – among other things – must set forth a plan that is tailored to the… Read More

The Supreme Court released the argument calendar for the February sitting yesterday. Over a two-week period, the justices will hear oral arguments in seven cases on five different days, beginning on Tuesday, February 21. (Monday, February 20 is a federal holiday.) Only two of the five days – Tuesday, February 20 and Monday, February 27)… Read More

Simon Tam describes himself as an “Asian-American musician, lecturer, and political activist.” In 2006, he formed a rock band that he named The Slants, to bring attention to discrimination against Asian-Americans. Tam contends that, by using the name The Slants, he was “following in the long tradition of reappropriation, in which members of minority groups… Read More

Lawrence Shaw does not dispute that he stole over $300,000 from Stanley Hsu, a U.S. citizen living in Taiwan, by using Hsu’s personal information to move money out of Hsu’s Bank of America account into an account at another bank, from which Shaw then withdrew the money. But what he did not do, Shaw argued… Read More

The Supreme Court issued additional orders from last week’s conference this morning. Last week, the justices added one new case from that conference to their merits docket for the term: Honeycutt v. United States, in which they will consider whether a co-conspirator can be held independently liable for forfeiture of the proceeds of a drug… Read More