Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup – April 18, 2014

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Did you miss your Supreme Court news this week? Let our Weekly Roundup help. (To stay on top of the latest Supreme Court happenings, follow ISCOTUS on Twitter.)

The Court decided not to hear another case against the NSA’s phone record collection, leaving key legal issues unresolved

A conversation with Supreme Court sketch artist Art Lien

In all of Supreme Court history, only one case that shaped American history has stemmed from chickens. Join author Amity Shlaes at Chicago-Kent College of Law on April 22 as she discusses the famous “sick chicken” New Deal case

With the New Mexico photography case turned away from the Supreme Court, ISCTOUS director Christopher Schmidt considers the Court’s history with these kinds of “right to discriminate” claims

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Civil Rights, First Amendment

The Right to Discriminate in Historical Perspective

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Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in a New Mexico case involving a photography business that refused to take pictures at a same-sex commitment ceremony. This act of discrimination, according to the state human rights commission, ran afoul of the New Mexico public accommodations law. The couple who owned the photography company claimed that a legal requirement to serve same-sex customers in this context infringed their First Amendment rights. Their argument, in essence, was that in certain circumstances they had a right to discriminate.

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Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup – April 9, 2014

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Did you miss your Supreme Court news this week? Let our Weekly Roundup help. (To stay on top of the latest Supreme Court happenings, follow ISCOTUS on Twitter.)

What does the campaign finance McCutcheon decision actually mean? Professor Sanford Greenberg of Chicago-Kent College of Law explains

Listen to oral arguments from McCutcheon on Oyez

Goldberg’s swing and miss – ISCOTUS Director Chris Schmidt continues his Drama in the Court series with a former Justice’s embarrassing return to the Court in Flood v. Kuhn

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Drama in the Court

Baseball and the Supreme Court: Remembering Flood v. Kuhn

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To celebrate the opening of a new baseball season, let’s look back to 1972 when baseball had its day (its third day, actually) in the Supreme Court.

Several factors made Flood v. Kuhn such a memorable moment in Supreme Court history. This was a legal challenge to the national pastime, after all, being pursued by one of the game’s star players. It resulted in one of the strangest opinions ever written by a Supreme Court justice, with Justice Blackmun beginning his opinion for the Court with a gushy, overwrought history of the game (including his bizarre listing of “the many names, celebrated for one reason or another, that have sparked the diamond and its environs and that have provided tinder for recaptured thrills”). The case also featured a famously bad oral argument.

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Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup – April 3, 2014

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Did you miss your Supreme Court news this week? Let our Weekly Roundup help. (To stay on top of the latest Supreme Court happenings, follow ISCOTUS on Twitter.)

The McCutcheon opinion

Learn the facts behind the McCutcheon case from Professor Carolyn Shapiro

Viewpoint bias or safety bias? The High Court heard argument on a case against Secret Service agents from anti-Bush protesters

Transcripts and audio for oral argument in the Hobby Lobby case are available on Oyez

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News

Canadian Supreme Court Rejects Its Newest Member

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While ISCOTUS is dedicated to matters that relate to the highest court in the U.S., a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada is worthy of a few passing remarks. Last Friday the Supreme Court of Canada, in a rare advisory opinion, held that the most recent appointment to its own Bench was not qualified as a Quebec appointee. The appointee, the Honourable Marc Nadon, a semi-retired judge on Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal (a court of specialized, limited jurisdiction, similar to the Federal Circuit Court and focused exclusively on federal law), according to the Supreme Court, lacked sufficient connection to Quebec.

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Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup – March 26, 2014

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Did you miss your Supreme Court news this week? Let our Weekly Roundup help. (To stay on top of the latest Supreme Court happenings, follow ISCOTUS on Twitter.)

Hobby Lobby Arguments

The Court is considering whether corporations can raise religious liberty claims. But might they dodge the question?

Watch the Oyez case page on Friday for Hobby Lobby oral argument audio and transcript

Adam Liptak reports on the implications of the Hobby Lobby case: “If Hobby Lobby were to prevail, the consequences would extend far beyond the issue of contraception.”

Read the Wall Street Journal’s live blog of Hobby Lobby oral arguments

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Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup – March 21, 2014

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Did you miss your Supreme Court news this week? Let our Weekly Roundup help. (To stay on top of the latest Supreme Court happenings, follow ISCOTUS on Twitter.)

Go-go dancers brought a free speech case to the Supreme Court in Barnes v. Glen Theater. The play “Arguendo” on this case stopped by Chicago last weekend and featured Professor Jerry Goldman of The Oyez Project as well as other Chicago-Kent professors leading post-show discussions

That was embarrassing… Professor Christopher Schmidt revisits some low moments for lawyers at the Supreme Court

Aereo continues expanding even while the case against their business model is before the Supreme Court – with no backup plan in sight

Last Saturday was Justice Ginsburg’s 81st birthday. Learn more about the Court’s second female Justice

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