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

Three decades ago, James McWilliams was convicted of the robbery, rape and murder of convenience store clerk Patricia Reynolds. An Alabama judge sentenced McWilliams to death, rejecting both his pleas to consult with an independent psychiatrist about psychiatric records that his attorney had recently received and his argument that he suffered from serious mental health… Read More

For the second week in a row, the Supreme Court did not add any new cases to its merits docket for next term. The dearth of new grants is likely attributable to the fact that Justice Neil Gorsuch – who did not participate at all in last week’s conference – only participated in a handful… Read More

Three years ago, in Daimler AG v. Bauman, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution’s due process clause barred a lawsuit in California against the German car company for the actions of its Argentinian subsidiary, which allegedly worked with security forces in Argentina during the country’s “Dirty War” to kidnap, torture and kill some of… Read More

Until recently, 53-year-old Divna Maslenjak lived in Akron, Ohio, with her husband, Ratko. Ethnic Serbs who were raised in what is now Bosnia, the couple came to the United States with their children as refugees, fleeing ethnic strife in the former Yugoslavia. Divna became a U.S. citizen seven years later, but in October of last… Read More

When the Supreme Court heard oral argument this morning in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer, a Missouri church’s challenge to its exclusion from a state program that provides grants to nonprofits to allow them to resurface their playgrounds with recycled tires, all eyes were on the court’s newest justice, Neil Gorsuch. After all,… Read More

Thirty-one years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that a defendant who can show that his mental health is likely to play an important role at trial is entitled to help from a psychiatrist if he cannot afford it. Next week the justices will consider exactly what that holding meant – and in particular, whether it… Read More

Last week, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens announced that the state had reversed course on the policy at the heart of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer: Going forward, the state’s Department of Natural Resources can award grants to religious groups to fund programs like the recycled rubber playground surfaces for which Trinity Lutheran applied… Read More

During his March confirmation hearing, then-Judge Neil Gorsuch repeatedly professed his belief that judges should adhere to the plain language of a law, without considering other factors such as the law’s history or what Congress might have intended when it enacted the law. After his first oral argument as a Supreme Court justice, it became… Read More

[Author’s note: An earlier version of this preview ran on August 8, 2016. The post has been updated to reflect events that occurred after the post was originally published.] One year, three months, and four days after the justices originally agreed to review it, the court will finally hear oral argument in a dispute that began… Read More

By a vote of 54-45, the Senate today confirmed Judge Neil Gorsuch to be the 113th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The confirmation ended the battle over the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13, 2016. Shortly after Scalia’s death, Senate Republicans vowed to block any nominee that then-President Barack… Read More