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

Last night Texas executed Rolando Ruiz, who was convicted of the 1992 murder for hire of Theresa Rodriguez, whose husband wanted to collect on her $400,000 life insurance policy. The Supreme Court declined to step in to block Ruiz’s execution. But Justice Stephen Breyer – who has recently expressed doubt about whether the death penalty… Read More

In other news at the court, the justices today issued a summary opinion in the case of a Nevada death-row inmate who alleged that the judge in his state trial was biased. The justices had relisted the case of Michael Rippo, who was convicted and sentenced to death for two 1992 murders, five times before… Read More

A Colorado man who was required to register as a sex offender after being convicted of unlawful sexual contact with two teenage girls will get a shot at a new trial, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled today. Miguel Peña-Rodriguez had asked a state trial court for a new trial after two jurors told his… Read More

The Supreme Court may eventually hear the case of a transgender teen who wants to be able to use the boys’ bathrooms at his Virginia high school, but it will not do so this term. In the wake of a February 22, 2017, document from the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice that revoked the… Read More

This week 31 members of the Supreme Court bar — lawyers who argue regularly before the court — sent the Senate Judiciary Committee a letter expressing their “strong support” for Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill the vacancy left on the court by last year’s death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Characterizing themselves… Read More

The Gloucester County School Board and the Virginia teen known as G.G., who identifies as a boy and wants to be able to use the boys’ bathroom at Gloucester High School, don’t agree about much. But today they both told the Supreme Court that their dispute should go forward even after the federal government revoked… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court handed a partial victory to a group of Virginia voters who argued that the 12 state legislative districts in which they live were the result of racial gerrymandering. The justices agreed with the challengers that a lower court had applied the wrong legal standard when it upheld all 12 districts,… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued orders from last week’s private conference. The justices added three new cases to their merits docket for the next term, but – like last week – the most interesting development may have come in a death penalty case in which the court denied review. A week ago, it was… Read More

At today’s oral argument in Packingham v. North Carolina, a challenge to a state law that imposes criminal penalties on registered sex offenders who visit social networking sites, Justice Elena Kagan suggested that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter were “incredibly important parts” of the country’s political and religious culture. People do not merely… Read More

In April 2010, Lester Packingham’s traffic ticket was dismissed, prompting him to take to Facebook to celebrate. He posted that “God is Good! How about I got so much favor they dismissed the ticket before court even started? No fine, no court costs, no nothing spent . . . Praise be to GOD, WOW! Thanks… Read More