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

The Supreme Court added one new case to its merits docket for next term, bringing the total number of cases slated for oral argument in the fall to eight. The grant came in Stokeling v. United States, in which the justices will once again interpret a provision of the Armed Career Criminal Act, which imposes… Read More

The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in a challenge to Maryland’s 6th congressional district, which stretches north and west from the Washington, D.C., suburbs. For two decades, the predominantly Republican district was represented in Congress by Republican Roscoe Bartlett, but in 2011, redistricting altered the political composition of the 6th district; the following year,… Read More

With the cherry blossoms (sort of) getting ready to bloom, and the Supreme Court slated to issue opinions tomorrow, it’s time for another non-botanical pastime in Washington and beyond: Reading the tea leaves to try to predict which justices might be writing the remaining opinions on the court’s merits docket. Unfortunately, it’s too early to… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued orders from the justices’ private conference last week. The court did not add any new cases to its merits docket for next term, nor did it call for the views of the U.S. solicitor general in any cases. Today’s order list may have been most noteworthy for what it… Read More

In October, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a case alleging that Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature had drawn the state’s redistricting plan to put Democrats at a disadvantage – a claim known as “partisan gerrymandering.” The plaintiffs challenging that plan argued that it violated their constitutional right to be treated equally under the law, but… Read More

Over the objection of four justices, the Supreme Court tonight blocked Missouri from executing Russell Bucklew, who was scheduled to die tonight. Bucklew was convicted for the 1996 murder of Michael Sanders, who was living at the time with Bucklew’s former girlfriend, Stephanie Ray. Bucklew kidnapped and raped Ray, and he wounded a state trooper… Read More

The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, a highly anticipated case that combines two often controversial topics: the First Amendment and abortion. The question before the justices today was whether a California law that directs “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide their patients with specific kinds… Read More

When Mark Sveen died in 2011, his life insurance policy still named his ex-wife, Kaye Melin, as the beneficiary – even though the couple had divorced four years before. Nothing in the Minnesota couple’s divorce settlement agreement (which divided up, among other things, the all-terrain-vehicle and the snowmobile) addressed the fate of Mark’s insurance policy,… Read More

One day before the filing deadline for the primary election, the Supreme Court rejected a request by Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania to block a remedial plan adopted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from going into effect. The ruling means that the state’s 2018 congressional elections will likely go forward under the new maps, which could… Read More

Seven months after an Arizona inmate asked the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the death penalty itself, the court today declined to do so. The order denying certiorari in the case of Abel Hidalgo, who shot and killed two men as part of a murder-for-hire scheme in 2000, was accompanied by a 10-page… Read More