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
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in one of the biggest cases of the Term: Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. In this case, a baker who makes custom wedding cakes refused to provide a cake for a same-sex couple celebrating their marriage. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission found that he … Continue reading Oral Arguments Review: Week of December 4, 2017
By Harold J. Krent, Dean and Professor of Law, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago. This post is an abridged version of an article first published at Law360. Challenges to appointment of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission administrative law judges (ALJs) have spread across the country. Private parties that have lost on the merits before the … Continue reading Will The Supreme Court Review SEC’s In-House Judges?
Over the last two weeks, the Supreme Court has granted cert in eight new cases and has issued a number of rulings of note. First, on Friday, December 8, in a 5-4 order, the Court granted a stay of a discovery order in a case challenging the Trump Administration’s decision to end the DACA program … Continue reading Conference Report: December 1 and 8 Conferences
By Michael Gentithes, Visiting Assistant Professor, Chicago-Kent College of Law. The smartphones we carry in our pockets radically simplify our lives, reducing hour-long tasks to seconds and eliminating the need to separately carry a camera, map, book, and audio player. But should they also enable the government to access months of records of everywhere someone … Continue reading The End of Miller’s Time?
By Cody Jacobs, Visiting Assistant Professor, Chicago-Kent College of Law. Last Monday, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Kolbe v. Hogan, a Second Amendment challenge to Maryland’s ban on assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines. As a result, the Fourth Circuit’s decision upholding the ban was left in place. The Court’s denial is notable … Continue reading Do the Justices Look More Favorably on Gun Regulation than Many Fear?
The Court will hear arguments in five cases this coming week, including the blockbuster case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which will be argued on Tuesday, December 6. (People were already lining up to see this oral argument on Friday.) Masterpiece Cakeshop involves a Colorado bakery that refused to sell a wedding cake … Continue reading Arguments: Week of December 4, 2017