Weekly Roundup, January 15, 2016

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 big decision of the week came on Tuesday, when the Court struck down Florida’s death penalty procedure because it gives too much power to judges, rather than juries. Reports from USA Today and NPR. Quoted in the Orlando Sentinel, Orange-Osceola State Attorney Jeff Ashton believed the decision wouldn’t greatly impact local capital cases.

Monday’s oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association garnered commentary from Huffington Post, Forbes, The Washington Post, and The Economist.

On Wednesday, the Court heard oral arguments in Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle, regarding whether Puerto Rico and the U.S. government are separate sovereigns for purposes of the 5th Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause. Coverage from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and Slate.

Three upcoming cases concern Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) tests: Bernard v. Minnesota, Birchfield v. North Dakota, and Beylund v. Levi. Lisa Soronen wrote for the NCSL Blog, “The Supreme Court will decide whether state statutes criminalizing a person’s refusal to take a chemical BAC test where police have not obtained a warrant are unconstitutional.”

The Atlantic examines the impact the next President’s Supreme Court appointments could have on campaign finance reform.

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