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Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup – April 23, 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.)

VIDEO: This week, the Supreme Court hears arguments in a case that could shape the future of TV broadcasting. Professor Ed Lee explains the issues in ABC v. Aereo

This week’s oral argument is not the first time the Supreme Court will decide on a First Amendment right to lie. Discover the last case in which the Court faced the issue (and how it might affect the current one) in the latest Drama in the Court post

Prof. Ed Lee analyzes the Aereo case and predicts a winner

The Court ruled this week that Michigan’s voter ban on affirmative action is constitutional. Learn about what the divided Court said

Most other English-speaking countries allow cameras in their Supreme Courts. One writer argues SCOTUS should do the same

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OT 2013, Patent Law

The Aereo Case – and Prediction

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On April 22, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in an important copyright case involving Aereo, an Internet TV service from Brooklyn that has the financial backing of media mogul Barry Diller. The case has received a lot of media attention because it pits a disruptive Internet startup against the old-line broadcast TV networks. But it also has the potential to transform the cable industry and the way in which people watch TV.

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Drama in the Court, First Amendment

Lies and the First Amendment

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Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus, a First Amendment challenge to an Ohio law that prohibits intentionally false statements about political candidates. The case itself presents the basic free speech question only obliquely. The central issue before the Court is a technical one: whether a party can even go to court to challenge this kind of law prior to being prosecuted for violating that law. This is a question, in other words, of whether the plaintiff has “standing” to make the First Amendment challenge. But the underlying constitutional question—whether the First Amendment permits the regulation of blatant lies in political campaigns—will surely be part of the tomorrow’s oral argument.

The First Amendment status of lies is not a new issue for the Roberts Court. It was at issue before just two years ago in United States v. Alvarez, a case involving a small town public official who liked to tell stories about himself. In describing his background at a local water board meeting, Xavier Alvarez described himself as a retired marine who had won the Congressional Medal of Honor. This was a bald-faced lie. Alvarez had never even served in the military. It was, as the Court would describe it, “a pathetic attempt to gain respect that eluded him.” Alvarez was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, a federal law that prohibited falsely claiming military decorations or medals. Alvarez challenged the law as infringing his First Amendment right to free expression.

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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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