I am aware of four new relists today in paid cases. Those include: -the three Maxwell-Jolly cases, viz., Maxwell-Jolly v. Independent Living Center of Southern California, 09-958, Maxwell-Jolly v. California Pharmacists Assn., 09-1158, and Maxwell-Jolly v. Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, 10-283. All are from the Ninth Circuit, and all involve questions arising under 42 U.S.C. […]
Archive | Supreme Court
The “Pro-Business” Supreme Court Revisited
New York Times reporter Adam Liptak recently published an interesting article on the controversy over whether the Roberts Court is “pro-business.” The article is much more balanced and nuanced than the accompanying headline (which probably, as per usual practice, was not written by the author): “Justices Offer Receptive Ear to Business Interests.” Liptak cites a […]
The Role of Law Clerk Numbers in the Rise of the Supreme Court Bar
Adam Liptak has an article in the New York Times which is a variation on the “rise of the specialized Supreme Court bar” story — in this case, focusing on the role of the specialized Supreme Court bar in representing business interests before the Supreme Court. There’s an interesting underlying question here: Why did a […]
Supreme Court Relist Watch
On a day when traffic to read about the substantively important decision in Virginia v. Seblius is so heavy that the page is running very slowly, this seems like a great time to post on a subject of interest to practically no one at all. But hey, I amuse myself. Three apparent new relists: Swartout […]
7th Circuit to Conrad Black: No Reply Brief for You!
Last Term, the Supreme Court vacated former executive Conrad Black’s conviction on the ground that the “honest services” fraud instructions given in his case were invalid under Skilling v. United States, and remanded for a determination whether the error was harmless. On remand, the Seventh Circuit (Posner, Kanne, and Sykes–under circuit procedure, the same panel […]
Ginsburg on Dissenting Opinions
The Minnesota Law Review has published “The Role of Dissenting Opinions” by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The essay is based on a lecture Justice Ginsburg gave at the Harvard Club of Washington, D.C. in December 2009. ustice Ginsburg summarizes her view as follows: although I appreciate the value of unanimous opinions, I will continue to speak […]
More Commentary on American Electric Power:
Following up on my post from earlier today, here is some more commentary on the Supreme Court’s decision to accept cert in American Electric Power v. Connecticut. Douglas Kysar (Yale), ACSBlog Jonathan Zasloff (UCLA), Legal Planet And here is news coverage from the WSJ and Greenwire. UPDATE: More from NRDC’s Swithcboard and the Center for […]
Supreme Court Relist Watch
A bunch of new relists today, and the beat goes on for the group of perennial favorites. PLIVA, Inc. v. Mensing, 09-993/ Actavis Elizabeth LLC v. Mensing, 09-1039, CA8, present the question whether the Eighth Circuit abrogated the Hatch-Waxman Amendments by allowing state tort liability for failure to warn in direct contravention of the statute’s […]
Global Warming Goes Back to Court
This morning the Supreme Court accepted certiorari in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, a case in which several states and environmental groups alleged that greenhouse gas emissions from several large utilities constitute actionable contributions to the public nuisance of global warming. This case has potentially broad implications for continuing climate change litigation in federal courts […]
Supreme Court Relist Watch
A couple of important apparent relists today. First, a closely watched labor class action case: Wal-Mart v. Dukes, 10-277, from the en banc Ninth Circuit (over dissents by Kozinski and Ikuta), presents the questions (1) whether (and under what circumstances) claims for monetary relief can be certified under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(2), which petitioners […]
Somber news for the Supreme Court bar
The Austin American-Statesman is reporting that Greg Coleman, the former SG of Texas and one of the leading lights of the Supreme Court bar, has died in light plane crash off the coast of Florida. The paper reports: Coleman, 47, was piloting the Piper Malibu when it crashed into a bayou while approaching the Destin […]
Supreme Court Relist Watch
The Court may have relisted in Harper v. Maverick Recording Company, 10-94, out of the Fifth Circuit, which presents the question “Should the inadvertent innocent infringer defense to copyright infringement be eliminated for all Internet music downloading?” I say they “may” have relisted because it’s possible that the Court is holding the case for Global-Tech […]
George W. Bush on the Miers and Alito Nominations
Over at her Crossroads blog, Jan Crawford reports on what George W. Bush’s memoir of his presidency says about his Supreme Court selection process. “After he tapped Roberts for chief justice when William Rehnquist died,” Crawford explains, “he only considered women candidates to replace O’Connor” because Bush “didn’t like the idea of the Supreme Court […]
Quixotic Iraq War Litigation
The AP reports that the Rutgers-Newark Law School clinic has filed a cert petition seeking review of a case challenging the constitutionality of the Iraq War. Filed on behalf of an Iraq war veteran, two mothers of deployed soldiers and an anti-war group, the suit maintains that the invasion of Iraq was not constitutionally authorized […]
Interesting Free Exercise Clause Petition
A lot of ink has been spilled over the years about how much the Free Exercise Clause should keep courts from addressing employment disputes between houses of worship and clergy. Because such employment disputes frequently hinge on matters implicating faith, courts are often loathe to become involved. Such concerns arise most obviously when a house […]