The Supreme Court handed down five opinions in argued cases and one sumamry reversal, and these decisions were largely unanimous. The Court also dismissed Robertson v. U.S. ex rel. Watson as improvidently granted. Here the Court split 5-4. Those dissenting from the unsigned, per curiam opinion were the Chief Justice, and Justices Scalia, Kennedy, and […]
Archive | Supreme Court
Kagan and Graham
The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to hold unconstitutional sentences of life-without-parole for juvenile offenders convicted of non-homicide crimes did more than invalidate a few outlying state sentencing provisions. According to Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion, “Thirty-seven States as well as the District of Columbia permit sentences of life without parole for a juvenile nonhomicide offender in […]
Justice Sotomayor, Graham, and International Law
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 22, 2010 10:28 am in International Law, Judicial Nominations, Supreme Court
At her confirmation hearing, Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared to renounce any reliance on the use of foreign or international law in constitutional decisions, walking back from prior statements. In response to a question from Senator Schumer, she said: “American law does not permit the use of foreign law or international law to interpret the Constitution.” […]
Interesting SCOTUS Lineup
Among the opinions handed down today by the Supreme Court was Abbott v. Abbott. The case involved the question of whether a ne exeat clause confers a “right of custody” within the meaning of the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. (More here.) The Court answered “yes,” by a vote of 6-3, but the lineup […]
Federal Government Wins Comstock
This morning the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in United States v. Comstock, a challenge to the federal government’s authority to civilly commit a “sexually dangerous” federal prisoner beyond the time of his sentence. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the federal government lacked such authority within its enumerated […]
James Ely on Stevens, Kagan, Obama, and Property Rights
By Ilya Somin on May 16, 2010 8:25 pm in Eminent Domain, Judicial Nominations, Kagan Nomination, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights, Supreme Court
Vanderbilt lawprof James Ely – a leading expert on constitutional property rights – has an interesting column on the relevance of property rights to the current Supreme Court nomination: In seeking a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, President Obama indicated that he wanted to name someone in the Stevens mold. Among […]
Summary Reversal Watch in Jefferson v. Upton
It has been a very busy Term at the Supreme Court for summary reversals: There have been 10 already—far more than the Court usually has in an average Term, and the Term ain’t over yet. The odds are good that we’re about to get one more, in a capital case out of the Eleventh Circuit, […]
A New York Court?
If Elena Kagan is confirmed, the Supreme Court will have four justices from New York City, the New York Times reports. The four are a portrait of the city, each carrying distinct New York traits to Washington. “Kagan is so Manhattan, Scalia is so Queens, Ginsburg is so Brooklyn and Sotomayor is so Bronx,” said […]
My own Kagan experience
By Sasha Volokh on May 11, 2010 4:43 pm in Executive Branch, Federalist Society, Guns, Judicial Nominations, Kagan Nomination, Law Schools, Supreme Court
Elie Mystal, who graduated from law school at the same time as I did, has bad memories of Elena Kagan from when he had her for Civ Pro as a 1L. [UPDATE: Read The Whole Thing, the commenters remind me to say.] For what it’s worth, here are my own impressions of Elena Kagan: I […]
My Forbes Op Ed on the Kagan Nomination
Forbes just published an op ed I wrote on the Kagan nomination, in which I develop some of the points I made in this post: From a libertarian or conservative standpoint, Elena Kagan is far from an ideal Supreme Court nominee. But she may well be the best we can hope for at this time. […]
Kagan, the Harvard Ban on Military Recruiters, and Anti-Military Bias
By Ilya Somin on May 10, 2010 8:32 pm in Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), Judicial Nominations, Kagan Nomination, Supreme Court
Conservative critics of Elena Kagan, such as William Kristol and Ed Whelan, have focused on her role in trying to prevent military recruiters from interviewing at the Harvard Law School campus because of the law banning openly gay individuals from serving in the military. The critics argue that Kagan’s stance was badly misguided and a […]
Kagan’s Scholarship
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 10, 2010 8:31 am in Judicial Nominations, Kagan Nomination, Supreme Court
At Balkinization, Marvin Ammori and Mark Tushnet review some of Elena Kagan’s scholarship (and seem more impressed than Paul Campos and Paul Mirengoff). Ammori explores some of her First Amendment scholarship and wonders whether she is sympathetic to “corporate speech rights,” such as those embraced by the Supreme Court in Citizens United. Brian Leiter also […]
Preliminary Reflections on the Kagan Nomination
I don’t have a lot to say about Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan that can’t be said better by others. Unlike now-Justice Sotomayor, she does not have an extensive record on issues that are within my core areas of expertise. I do, however, want to highlight one important advantage Kagan has over the realistic alternatives: […]
Elena Kagan: “I LOVE the Federalist Society! I LOVE the Federalist Society!”
By Jim Lindgren on May 10, 2010 12:10 am in American Constitution Society, Federalist Society, Kagan Nomination, Supreme Court
Charles Fried tells part of the story about Elena Kagan’s appearance at a Federalist Society dinner at Harvard a few years ago: In February 2005 the student branch of the Federalist Society (a group founded in the early ’80s to explore and promote conservative and libertarian perspectives on the law) held its national jamboree at […]
Justice Kagan I Presume?
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 9, 2010 10:25 pm in Judicial Nominations, Kagan Nomination, Supreme Court
SCOTUSBlog’s Tom Goldstein says the pick is coming tomorrow, and David Lat has reasons to think it’s Kagan (as Politico reported Friday). If Kagan is the pick, there will be no filibuster and she will be confirmed — perhaps even with 65 votes as Goldstein predicts — but there could be some bumps on the […]