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

When the Supreme Court hears oral argument early next year in the challenge to the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s leadership structure, the CFPB itself will not be defending statutory restrictions on the president’s ability to remove the CFPB director from office. Before the justices granted review last week, the CFPB had agreed… Read More

Three days after adding another blockbuster case, involving the president’s ability to fire the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to their docket for this term, the justices this morning issued additional orders from their private conference last week. Today’s orders were significantly less eventful. They were perhaps most noteworthy for the fact that… Read More

The website of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created in 2010 under the Dodd-Frank Act as a response to the 2008 financial crisis, describes the CFPB as a “U.S. government agency that makes sure banks, lenders, and other financial companies treat you fairly.” Today the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the constitutionality… Read More

It has been 17 years since John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, known as the “D.C. snipers,” shot and killed 12 people and injured six more. The Washington, D.C., area was paralyzed with fear until the then-42-year-old Muhammad and Malvo, who was then 17, were arrested at a Maryland rest stop. Muhammad was sentenced… Read More

The Supreme Court heard oral argument this morning in a dispute over the validity of appointments to a board created by Congress to bring financial stability back to Puerto Rico. With billions of dollars potentially at stake, the courtroom was packed with spectators, many of whom had flown in from Puerto Rico. And although the… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued orders from last week’s private conference. The justices did not add any new cases to their docket for this term. The justices did not act on one of the most closely watched petitions for review that they considered last week, involving a challenge to the constitutionality of an Indiana… Read More

In the fall of 2002, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo terrorized the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Dubbed the “D.C. snipers,” Muhammad and Malvo randomly shot and killed 12 people and badly injured six more. Muhammad was sentenced to death and executed in 2009, while Malvo – who was only 17 at the time… Read More

The Constitution’s appointments clause provides that the president nominates, but the Senate must confirm, principal “Officers of the United States,” although Congress can also give the president the power to appoint “inferior Officers.” Next week the Supreme Court will hear oral argument on the scope of both this clause and the ancient remedy known as… Read More

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars employment discrimination “because of … sex.” This morning, in a packed courtroom, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on whether Title VII protects gay, lesbian and transgender employees. Because fewer than half of the 50 states specifically bar discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender… Read More

Last year Louisiana repealed a state law that allowed a criminal defendant (except in capital cases) to be convicted without a unanimous verdict from the jury. But the change only applied to crimes committed on or after January 1, 2019. So this afternoon the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a challenge to the constitutionality… Read More