Kashmir Hill and David Lat of Above the Law have an interesting Washington Post column urging Justice Clarence Thomas to run for president. I know Lat because he was a year ahead of me in law school. He’s a very smart guy, and I have great respect for all the success he has achieved as […]
Archive | Supreme Court
Is Legal Ethics the “Least analytically Rigorous and hence Most Subjective” Subject?
Justice Scalia apparently thinks so. Writing in dissent in Holland v. Florida, Justice Scalia (joined by Justice Thomas) wrote the following: The only thing the Court offers that approaches substantive instruction is its implicit approval of “fundamental canons of professional responsibility,” articulated by an ad hoc group of legal-ethicist amici consisting mainly of professors of […]
“Justice Souter’s Bad Constitutional History”
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 14, 2010 8:23 pm in Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Fourteenth Amendment, Racial Discrimination, Supreme Court
Last month, retired Justice David Souter delivered the commencement address at Harvard. His speech was a veiled challenge to proponents of originalism. Some commentators, such as Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Slate‘s Dahlia Lithwick, and TalkLeft’s Big Tent Democrat were impressed. Others, not so much. In today’s WSJ, Northwestern University’s John McGinnis and USD’s Michael […]
Revolt of the Junior Justices?
Among the four decisions handed down today was Dolan v. United States, which considered whether a sentencing court may order restitution despite missing the statutory deadline of 90-days after sentencing for restitution to be ordered. The Court held, 5-4, that the answer is yes, “at least where, as here, that court made clear prior to […]
Sotomayor a “Reliable Liberal Vote” on the Court
The LA Times reports: The early returns are in, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor is proving herself to be a reliable liberal vote on the Supreme Court. Cases this year on campaign speech, religion, juvenile crime, federal power and Miranda warnings resulted in an ideological split among the justices, and on every occasion, Sotomayor joined the […]
Judicial Law Clerks’ Memos to Their Bosses
The AP reports: Two senior Republican senators criticized Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan Thursday for memos she wrote as a young law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall, saying the papers suggest she lets politics dictate her legal decisions. Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Jeff Sessions of Alabama said the writings show that Kagan was […]
Supreme Court Relist watch
Two apparent relists by the Supreme Court today (there are probably more, but these are the only two I’ve inferred). Sears v. Upton, 09-8854, a capital case on petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Georgia, which presents two issues: (1) Having found that capital trial defense counsel were constitutionally deficient […]
Is the Sixth Now the “Most Reversed” Circuit?
The Daily Journal reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has gone 0-5 before the Supreme Court this term. As I noted here, all five cases were pro-prisoner habeas cases. The article discusses the role of the Michigan AG’s office in encouraging the Supreme Court to review the Sixth Circuit’s habeas […]
Two Thirds of Americans Cannot Name Even One Supreme Court Justice
A recent poll conducted by Findlaw shows that two thirds of Americans cannot name even one Supreme Court justice. Here are the percentages who can name each of the nine current justices [HT: Josh Blackman]: * Clarence Thomas – 19% * John Roberts – 16% * Sonia Sotomayor – 15% * Ruth Bader Ginsburg – […]
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act v Alien Tort Statute?
Sounds like Alien v Predator. Well, the Supreme Court might have taken up that question, but in the event, decided not to get involved with it. My Opinio Juris co-blogger Duncan Hollis explains at OJ. The case handed down today is Samantar v Yousef. I concur with Duncan’s takeaway: For human rights activists, however, the case […]
Is the Sixth Circuit the New Ninth (At Least in Habeas Cases)?
With today’s decision in Berghuis v. Thompkins the Supreme Court has once again reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in a habeas case. Indeed, this is the fifthsuch reversal this year. In each case, a panel of the Sixth Circuit granted a prisoner’s habeas corpus petition. In each case, the Supreme Court […]
Interesting SCOTUS Line-Up
Today provided yet another reminder that not every closely divided opinion splits the Supreme Court along ideological lines. In Carr v. United States, the Supreme Court held, 6-3, that the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), which requires convicted sex offenders to register with local authorities when they move from one state to another, […]
More on the SG’s Brief in U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. Candelaria
Like Stewart, I am interested in the Solicitor General’s decision to file a brief recommending cert in U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. Candelaria. I recommend readers to his post (and the comment thread), even if I don’t agree with every point. Here are my initial thoughts on the SG’s filing. The Supreme Court’s CVSG request […]
The Solicitor General Lays an Egg
Before the fuss over Arizona’s immigration law, there was a different fuss over a different Arizona immigration law. Now the first fuss is coming back to haunt the Obama Administration, the professionals in the office of the Solicitor General, and maybe even Elena Kagan. That first fuss was over the Legal Arizona Workers Act, a […]
SG Corrects Factual Record in Graham
The Blog of the Legal Times has a very interesting report about a post-decision filing by the Solicitor General’s office in Graham v. Florida, the case in which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional giving juveniles life sentences without parole for non-homicide crimes. The May 24 letter to Court Clerk William Suter, obtained by the Blog […]