Over a dissent from the court’s three liberal justices, the Supreme Court turned down a request from a Louisiana man on death-row to weigh in on when someone else’s confession is the kind of evidence that the Constitution requires prosecutors to turn over. The court’s denial of review in Brown v. Louisiana came at the… Read More
Court takes up civil rights “tester” case
The Supreme Court will decide whether a civil rights “tester” can bring a lawsuit challenging a hotel’s failure to provide information about its accessibility for people with disabilities when the “tester” has no intention to actually visit that hotel. That case, Acheson Hotels v. Laufer, was the only new case that the justices added to… Read More
Court rules for deaf student in education-law case
The Supreme Court on Tuesday revived a deaf student’s lawsuit against a Michigan school district that failed to provide him with a qualified sign-language interpreter. In a unanimous opinion by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the justices ruled that federal education law did not require the student, Miguel Luna Perez, to fully pursue his claims against the… Read More
Parties disagree over court’s power to reach decision in election law case
Lawyers involved in a major election law case disagreed on Monday about whether the Supreme Court has the power to reach a decision in the case. In December, the justices heard argument in Moore v. Harper, in which a group of Republican legislators from North Carolina argued that the “independent state legislature theory” – the… Read More
Justices throw out lower-court ruling allowing state court clerk to be sued in parental notification abortion case
In a short procedural order, the Supreme Court on Monday morning threw out a lower-court ruling allowing a state court clerk to be sued for telling a pregnant teenager that her parents must be notified of their child’s desire to seek an abortion without their consent. The justices sent the case back to the lower… Read More
Justices decline to halt execution of Texas man with intellectual disability claim
The Supreme Court declined to block the execution of Texas man Arthur Brown, who is scheduled to die on Thursday for his role in the 1992 shooting deaths of four people. Brown had asked the justices to put his execution on hold and direct a state court to consider his claim that he should not… Read More
Justices take up case on federal admiralty law, seek government’s views on two pending petitions
The Supreme Court on Monday morning added a maritime law case to its docket for the 2023-24 term and invited the federal government to submit briefs expressing its views in two more cases. Both announcements came on an otherwise quiet order list released from the justices’ conference on Friday, March 3. The justices granted review… Read More
Court will review constitutionality of consumer-watchdog agency’s funding
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up a major case involving funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was formed in response to the 2008 financial crisis. A federal appeals court ruled in October that the funding mechanism for the CFPB violates the Constitution, but the Biden administration, which had asked the… Read More
In lawsuit against tech companies, justices debate what it means to “aid and abet” terrorism
The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared wary of a lawsuit seeking to hold Twitter, Facebook, and Google liable for aiding and abetting international terrorism based on ISIS’s use of the companies’ platforms. But during nearly three hours of oral argument, the justices struggled to draw a line between holding organizations responsible for supporting terrorism and… Read More
Court declines to hear case on whether defense attorneys are obligated to seek favorable plea deals
Over a dissent from two of the court’s liberal justices, the Supreme Court turned down an appeal asking them to decide whether a criminal-defense attorney is required to initiate negotiations with prosecutors when his client is likely to get a better result from a plea deal. The denial of review on Tuesday in the case… Read More