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

I’ll have my Plain English recap of today’s oral arguments in Montgomery v. Louisiana soon, as soon as I figure out what to say. A few random thoughts until then: Justice Kagan once again proved that she is the hippest Justice, twice referring to “life without parole” sentences as “L-WOP.” It wasn’t a good day… Read More

Since 1963, Henry Montgomery (now sixty-nine years old) has been in a Louisiana prison, serving a mandatory sentence of life without parole for the murder of Charles Hurt, a deputy sheriff in East Baton Rouge. A newspaper article published shortly after Hurt’s death suggested that Montgomery, who had turned seventeen just a few weeks before… Read More

Fun fact: A female lawyer showed up to sit in the bar section wearing a stylish black sleeveless dress. It was lovely, but the bar section requires jackets, so she had to borrow one from a male friend in the public gallery. Not-so-fun fact: Assistant to the Solicitor General Rachel Kovner wasn’t simply the only… Read More

Much has been written about Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court and a pivotal Justice on hot-button issues – including by O’Connor herself in not one but two memoirs. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who in 1993 became the second woman on the Court, isn’t far behind her: although she has said that… Read More