In two recent decisions, the Court has delved into procedural issues with significant impact on the course of actual litigation. In Artis v. District of Columbia, the issue was what happens to the statute of limitations for state law claims when a plaintiff brings both those claims and federal claims in federal court, but the … Continue reading Opinion Update: Environmental Litigation and Statutes of Limitation
In case you missed them the first time around, here is a roundup of some of the most interesting recent stories about the Supreme Court. Supreme Court Halts Alabama Execution On January 25, the Supreme Court granted a stay of execution for Vernon Madison, a death row inmate in Alabama. In 1994, a jury recommended … Continue reading Supreme Court News Roundup
On January 22, the Court handed down its decision for District of Columbia v. Wesby, a Fourth Amendment case out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, ruling that the police acted reasonably in their response to a loud party at a vacant house. Justice Thomas wrote an opinion for himself and … Continue reading Latest Fourth Amendment Opinion: District of Columbia v. Wesby
On January 19, the Supreme Court held its last Conference until February 16 and on the same day it announced its decision to grant review in the latest travel ban case, Trump v. Hawaii. This case involves one of several legal challenges to President’s Trump third executive order restricting entry into the country primarily by … Continue reading Conference Report: January 19, 2018 Conference
The Court had two days of oral argument last week. Tuesday, January 16 On Tuesday, the Court heard arguments in Dalmazzi v. United States and Hall v. Hall. In Dalmazzi (consolidated with Ortiz v. United States and Cox v. United States), the justices considered whether a military judge is statutorily or constitutionally precluded from serving … Continue reading Oral Arguments Review: Week of January 16
At its Conference on January 12, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear twelve new cases, including an important Texas voting right case and a potentially significant case about whether states can tax their residents’ purchases from out-of-state vendors. In Abbott v. Perez, the Court agreed to hear a pair of appeals from the … Continue reading Conference Report: January 12, 2018 Conference
With only two argument days this week, the Court will hear argument in four, quite different cases with issues ranging from arcane civil procedure questions to whether a capital defendant’s lawyer can, in the hopes of avoiding a death sentence, effectively concede guilt against the defendant’s express objection. The death penalty case is McCoy v. … Continue reading Arguments: Week of January 16, 2018
Last week’s Supreme Court arguments featured the Fourth Amendment, voting rights, and disputes between states over water. On Monday, the Court heard arguments about two Fourth Amendment cases involving vehicles. First, the Court heard Byrd v. United States in which the issue was whether, under the Fourth Amendment, the driver of a rental car whose … Continue reading Oral Arguments Review: Week of January 8, 2018
On Monday, the Supreme Court gave a death row inmate another chance to persuade the federal courts to consider whether his sentencing proceeding was infected with racial bias. The opinion in this case, Tharpe v. Sellers, was issued as part of the Order List from the Court’s January 5, 2018 Conference. The Court did not … Continue reading Conference Report: January 5, 2018 Conference
The Court begins 2018 with a full schedule of oral arguments on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week. Among the most interesting arguments are an important voting rights case and two cases about Fourth Amendment searches involving vehicles. The Fourth Amendment cases will both be argued on Tuesday. In Byrd v. United States, the … Continue reading Arguments: Week of January 8, 2018