Amy Howe

Dec 9 2021

Justices won’t block Oklahoma execution

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request from an Oklahoma death-row inmate to put his execution on hold while questions about the constitutionality of the state’s lethal-injection protocol are resolved. Bigler Jobe Stouffer has been sentenced to die on Thursday morning for the 1985 murder of schoolteacher Linda Reeves. Lawyers for the 79-year-old inmate… Read More

Dec 7 2021

Separation of church and school? Justices will weigh Maine’s ban on funds for religious education

On Wednesday the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a challenge to a Maine program that pays for some students to attend private schools. Two families that want to send their children to Christian schools in the state argue that the state’s exclusion of schools that provide religious instruction from the program violates the… Read More

Nov 3 2021

Majority of court appears dubious of New York gun-control law, but justices mull narrow ruling

This post was updated on Nov. 3 at 5:15 p.m. When Wednesday’s oral argument in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen drew to a close after roughly two hours of debate, it seemed likely that New York’s 108-year-old handgun-licensing law is in jeopardy. But the justices’ eventual ruling might be a narrow… Read More

Oct 27 2021

In major Second Amendment case, court will review limits on carrying a concealed gun in public

The Second Amendment guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” On Nov. 3, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument on how that guarantee applies to carrying guns in public. The case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, involves a 108-year-old handgun-licensing law in New York – but… Read More

Oct 22 2021

Court won’t block Texas abortion ban, fast-tracks cases for argument on Nov. 1

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Nov. 1 in a pair of cases challenging the Texas law that bans nearly all abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy. In two orders issued on Friday afternoon, the court granted requests by the Biden administration and a group of Texas abortion providers to leap-frog proceedings… Read More

Oct 18 2021

Court adds two cases on Native American law and issues two opinions granting police officers qualified immunity

The Supreme Court on Monday morning added two new cases, both involving Native Americans, to its docket for this term. The justices also issued two unsigned decisions holding, without oral argument, that police officers are entitled to qualified immunity from lawsuits accusing them of using excessive force. The justices, however, did not act on several… Read More

Oct 13 2021

Justices appear to favor reinstating death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Wednesday in the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three people and badly injured hundreds more. A jury sentenced Tsarnaev to death, but a federal appeals court threw out Tsarnaev’s death sentences last year. That prompted… Read More

Sep 30 2021

Justices add five new cases to their docket from “long conference,” including Cruz campaign case

With only a few days remaining before the justices return to the courtroom for the start of the 2021-22 term, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued orders from the justices’ “long conference” on Monday, Sept. 27. The justices normally consider over a thousand cases at the long conference, which is the unofficial end to the… Read More

Aug 30 2021

Abortion providers ask court to block Texas ban on abortion beginning at six weeks of pregnancy

A Texas law that bans abortions anytime a fetal heartbeat is detected will “immediately and catastrophically reduce abortion access in Texas” if it is allowed to take effect on Wednesday, a group of abortion providers told the Supreme Court on Monday. They asked the justices to intervene on an emergency basis and block the enforcement… Read More

Aug 23 2021

Justices issue summer orders, add two new immigration cases to merits docket

The Supreme Court added two new immigration cases to its docket for the 2021-22 term on Monday morning, granting a pair of petitions filed by the federal government. The relatively rare mid-summer additions came as part of the court’s regularly scheduled summer order list, which also included a series of routine orders that (among other… Read More

Amy L Howe
Until September 2016, Amy served as the editor and reporter for SCOTUSblog, a blog devoted to coverage of the Supreme Court of the United States; she continues to serve as an independent contractor and reporter for SCOTUSblog. Before turning to full-time blogging, she served as counsel in over two dozen merits cases at the Supreme Court and argued two cases there. From 2004 until 2011, she co-taught Supreme Court litigation at Stanford Law School; from 2005 until 2013, she co-taught a similar class at Harvard Law School. She has also served as an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law and Vanderbilt Law School. Amy is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a master’s degree in Arab Studies and a law degree from Georgetown University.
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Recent ScotusBlog Posts from Amy
  • “Clean-up” conference prompts three new grants, lots of separate writings
  • Divided court allows Biden to end Trump’s “remain in Mexico” asylum policy
  • Supreme Court curtails EPA’s authority to fight climate change
More from Amy Howe

Recent Posts

  • “Clean-up” conference prompts three new grants, lots of separate writings
  • Divided court allows Biden to end Trump’s “remain in Mexico” asylum policy
  • Supreme Court curtails EPA’s authority to fight climate change
  • Justices will hear case that tests power of state legislatures to set rules for federal elections
  • On the final day before the summer recess, two opinions remain
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