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

Any review of a calendar year at the Supreme Court necessarily includes two different terms: the term that ends in June and the new one that begins in October and will run into the following year. But a look back at 2019, in particular, reveals two very different terms. In the wake of the June… Read More

Last Friday the justices added five new cases, for a total of four hours of argument, to their docket for this term. The December 13 conference was the last regularly scheduled conference for 2019, but this morning the justices added five more new cases, again for a total of four hours of argument, to their… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued more orders from last week’s private conference. After adding five new cases to their docket on Friday, including three cases involving disputes over access to President Donald Trump’s financial records, the justices did not grant any new cases today, nor did they seek the views of the federal government…. Read More

This afternoon the Supreme Court announced that it would wade into the fray over access to President Donald Trump’s financial records. The justices agreed to review three separate lower-court decisions that ruled against the president: Two of those decisions upheld subpoenas that would force the president’s accounting firm and lenders to turn over financial records… Read More

Yesterday the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of James McKinney, who was sentenced to death for two murders in 1991. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit threw out McKinney’s death sentence four years ago, the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated it. The state court first rejected McKinney’s argument that… Read More

In 2015, Michelle Monasky left the domestic-violence safe house in Italy where she had been staying with her newborn daughter and traveled to her parents’ home in Ohio. Domenico Taglieri, Monasky’s estranged husband, later filed a lawsuit in Ohio, asking a federal court to order his daughter’s return to Italy. He relied on the Hague… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a relatively obscure case in which billions of dollars are at stake. At issue is whether health-insurance companies that lost money offering policies on the “health benefit exchanges” established by the Affordable Care Act are entitled to compensation for their losses, or whether Congress repealed any… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued orders from the justices’ December 6 conference. The justices did not add any new cases to their merits docket for the term. The justices declined to take up the case of Louie Schexnayder, a Louisiana inmate who was sentenced to life in prison for the stabbing death of Eugene… Read More

It has been nearly 30 years since James McKinney and his half-brother killed two people while robbing the victims at their homes. A judge in Arizona sentenced McKinney to death, but in 2015 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit threw out McKinney’s death sentence. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument… Read More

Tonight the Supreme Court turned down a request from the federal government to allow the executions of four federal inmates to go forward. The first execution, of inmate Daniel Lee, had originally been scheduled for next Monday morning, but the government urged the justices to allow the executions to proceed, even if it would mean… Read More