Covering the Supreme Court and the Judiciary in (mostly) Plain English

Next week the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of an Alabama man who was convicted of both federal and state gun charges arising from the same traffic stop. He is challenging what is known as the “separate sovereigns” doctrine – the idea, based on longstanding Supreme Court rulings, that the federal… Read More

The Supreme Court will ring in 2019 with a nearly full argument calendar. Today the justices released the calendar for the January 2019 sitting, which begins on January 7. The justices will hear oral argument in five cases (two per day on Monday and Tuesday, followed by one on Wednesday) during the first week of… Read More

Today the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of Tyson Timbs, an Indiana man who lost his 2012 Land Rover after he pleaded guilty to drug charges. The state argued that it could seize the car because it had been used to transport drugs, but Timbs countered that requiring him to forfeit the… Read More

On November 16, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear oral argument in February in a dispute over evidence in the challenge to the Trump administration’s decision to bring back a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. Yesterday the federal government took the unusual step of sending a letter to the Supreme Court… Read More

The Supreme Court heard oral argument this morning in a dispute between technology giant Apple and a group of iPhone users over the sale of apps from Apple’s App Store. The iPhone users are seeking massive damages from Apple, complaining that the company is violating federal antitrust laws by requiring the users to buy apps… Read More

It is rare to ask the Supreme Court to hear a case before a federal appeals court has had an opportunity to weigh in. But yesterday the Trump administration made its second such request in less than 20 days, this time urging the justices to take up three cases (here, here and here) challenging the… Read More

Next week the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Tyson Timbs, an Indiana man who lost his Land Rover after his conviction on state drug charges. A state trial court agreed with Timbs that requiring him to forfeit his car went too far, violating the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “excessive fines,”… Read More

When the justices return from their Thanksgiving vacation next week, they will hear oral argument in a would-be class action filed against the technology giant Apple by iPhone users. The iPhone users argue that Apple is violating federal antitrust laws by requiring them to buy apps only from Apple’s App Store, at inflated prices. But… Read More

The Supreme Court issued more orders this morning from the justices’ private conference last Friday. The justices had added two new cases to their merits docket for the term last week and were not expected to grant any more today – and they did not. Instead, the overwhelming majority of today’s orders denied review of… Read More

The Supreme Court announced this afternoon that it would hear oral argument in February in a dispute over evidence in the challenge to the government’s decision to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. The order is the latest chapter at the court for the case; the justices had previously rejected the government’s… Read More