It had to happen sooner or later, and today was the day. This morning the Supreme Court decided Sykes v. United States, the first case in which Justices Kagan and Sotomayor disagreed on the judgment. Beyond the disagreement of the Court’s newest justices, it also featured an interesting line-up. In Sykes the Court held that […]
Archive | Supreme Court
The Supreme Court’s New York Twins
The New York Post reports on the apparent meeting of the minds between Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. The Supreme Court’s two newest justices have yet to disagree in a single case decided this term. The two have also shown a remarkable degree of agreement in their reasoning, fully joining the same opinions in […]
Justice Alito’s Failure to Recuse
Several news organizations (e.g. AP, Bloomberg, and the WSJ Law Blog) are reporting on the revelation that justice Samuel Alito inadvertently failed to recuse himself from FCC v. Fox Television, despite holding 2,000 shares of Disney stock on behalf of his children. Disney had an interest due to its ownership of ABC, which was a […]
CVSG on Whether Incompetency Should Stay Habeas Proceedings
This morning the Supreme Court called for the views of the Solicitor General in Ryan v. Gonzales, a habeas case arising out of the Ninth Circuit posing the question whether a habeas petitioner is entitled to a stay of the proceedings if the petitioner is not competent to assist counsel. This question is similar to […]
Interesting Line-Ups
Two of today’s Supreme Court decisions had very interesting line-ups. In Camreta v. Greene, which concerned the reviewability of a constitutional question in an appeal of a qualified immunity claim, Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of Court, joined by the Chief Justice and Justices Scalia, Ginsburg, and Alito. Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Breyer, concurred […]
Nabokov, Hemingway, Proust, or “24”?
Adam Liptak reports on the justices’ literary inspirations, as detailed in a series of interviews published in The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing.
Stevens Hearts Alito
Retired Justice John Paul Stevens has not been shy about commenting on Supreme Court decisions since he left the bench. As Lyle Denniston reports on SCOTUSBlog, Justice Stevens has commented on several decisions released this term. Interestingly enough, Justice Stevens’ comments indicated he would have had an unusual partner in some cases: Justice Alito. In […]
Cert. Petition in Right to Carry Case
By David Kopel on April 22, 2011 4:19 pm in Constitutional Law, Guns, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Standing, Supreme Court
Filed earlier this week by Stephen Halbrook, in the case of Williams v. Maryland. In short, Maryland bans all handgun transportation or carry without a permit, and has a permitting process which formally declares that it will deny permits to almost everyone. As the petition explains, “the Maryland State Police, the Maryland Handgun Permit Review Board, […]
Standing in Connecticut v. AEP
One of the issues in American Electric Power v. Connecticut is whether the state and environmentalist group plaintiffs can satisfy the requirements of Article III standing. One might have thought this issue was settled in Massachusetts v. EPA, at least with regard to the state litigants, but it was not. Although both cases concern injuries […]
More on AEP v. Connecticut Oral Argument
Last night I reviewed the transcript of the oral argument in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, which poses the question of whether several states (and private groups) may sue the nation’s largest utilities for contributing to the “public nuisance” of global warming under federal common law. I agree with most commentators that things don’t look […]
AEP v. Connecticut Oral Argument
Lyle Denniston and the AP report on today’s oral argument in American Electric Power v. Connecticut. Neither suggests the state and environmentalist plaintiffs have much chance of prevailing, as even the Court’s most liberal justices seemed skeptical of the arguments in favor of letting these lawsuits proceed, though it is unclear what rationale will attract […]
Climate Change Back in the High Court
Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, which presents the question whether states and environmentalist groups may sue utilities seeking injunctive relief for contributing to the “public nuisance” of global warming. This case languished before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for years before […]
Virginia Health Care Challenge petition for cert before judgment relisted
The Supreme Court has relisted the Commonwealth of Virginia’s petition for certiorari before judgment in Virginia, ex rel. Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II, Attorney General of Virginia v. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, 10-1014. The Court will take the matter up again at its April 22 Conference, and we may be hearing back […]
Kagan’s Recusal Manuevers
While serving as Solicitor General, Justice Elena Kagan allegedly began maneuvering to avoid having to recuse in any eventual challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, months before her nomination was announced — indeed, even before she was told she was under consideration — according to a series of documents released in response […]
Justices Aren’t “Political Hacks” (Even If They Side with Wal-Mart)
In light of today’s oral argument in Wal-Mart v. Dukes — and efforts by political activists to paint the case in reductionist, ideological terms — today’s Washington Post has an editorial that echoes a theme that have been repeated on the VC quite often. It’s easy in cases such as this one to try to […]