Michael Dorf has an interesting post explaining why he thinks Justice Thomas (joined by Justice Scalia) was correct to argue that the Court should have accepted certiorari in Noriega v. Pastrana. Professor Dorf concludes: What I admire about Justice Thomas’s Noriega dissent is that he presents the legal issues without even hinting that he thinks […]
Archive | Supreme Court
Liptak on Stevens — A Minor Error and Not-So-Minor Omission
I was not particularly bothered by Adam Liptak’s highly favorable treatment of Justice Stevens in the NYT article David highlights below. Justice Stevens appears to be nearing the end of a long, honorable, and important tenure on the Court. He’s entitled to the occasional puff piece. I was struck less by the uncritical nature of […]
Puff Piece on Justice Stevens
Some “tough journalism” from the Times’s Adam Liptak. We learn of Stevens’s “plainspoken style,” his “common sense” and “moral clarity,” and that he is “the leader of the court’s liberal wing.” While in his early years on the Court “his views often seemed idiosyncratic,” he has since “emerged as a master tactician,” who uses the […]
Court action at last in Noriega v. Pastrana
After relisting the case a whopping ten times, the Court at last denied cert in Noriega v. Pastrana, which presented the questions whether Section 5 of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which provides that “[n]o person may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto in any habeas corpus or other civil action,” precluded […]
Briscoe v. Virginia Ends With a Whimper
Briscoe v. Virginia, a case on Confrontation Clause rights in criminal trials, has been one of the most closely-watched criminal law cases at the Supreme Court this Term. As detailed here, the Court’s decision to take the case suggested that it might use the case to overrule or sharply limit last Term’s major decision in […]
The Emerging Law of Detentions: The Guantanamo Habeas Cases as Lawmaking
By Kenneth Anderson on January 22, 2010 9:22 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Human Rights Law, Supreme Court, Terrorism, Uncategorized, War on Terror
Anyone doing serious work on detention, Guantanamo, war on terror, any of these areas, will want to read an extraordinary new study just out from the Brookings Institution by Benjamin Wittes, Robert Chesney, and Rabea Benhalim, The Emerging Law of Detention: The Guantanamo Habeas Cases as Lawmaking. (I’ve given the SSRN free download link; here […]
Citizens United
The Supreme Court’s opinions in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, including the syllabus, are a whopping 183 pages. There are five opinions in all. Justice Kennedy’s opinion for the Court, concurring opinions by Justice Scalia (joined by Alito and Thomas in part) and Chief Justice Roberts (joined by Alito), and opinions concurring in part […]
Fun SCOTUS Lineups
Based on the initial reports from SCOTUSBlog, there were some interesting line ups in today’s opinions. In Wood v. Allen, an AEDPA case, Justice Sotomayor wrote the majority, while Justice Stevens dissented, joined by Justice Kennedy. Also, in South Carolina v. North Carolina, an original jurisdiction case, Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion, while Chief […]
New Blog: First One @ One First
Georgetown law student Mike Sacks has a really cool new blog called First One @ One First, which he explains in his opening post First Post @ First One @ One First: My name is Mike Sacks. I am a third-year law student at Georgetown interested in legal journalism and the intersection of law and […]
Hollingsworth v. Perry, Bush v. Gore, and Manipulating Procedural Rules in High-Profile Litigation Impacting the Political Process
Today’s 5-4 decision staying Judge Walker’s order to allow the broadcast of the California same-sex marriage case reminds me of a case that will be extremely familiar to the respondent’s lawyers, Ted Olson and David Boies. I think it reflects the same basic idea, albeit in a much more persuasive doctrinal context, that was motivating […]
Impromptu Supreme Court Opinion in Gay Marriage Case
The Supreme Court, nearly an hour after its 4 pm deadline passed, just handed down a 17-page per curiam opinion enjoining broadcast of the gay marriage trial going on in the Northern District of California pending resolution of an anticipated cert petition or petition for mandamus. Justice Breyer, joined by Justices Stevens, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor, […]
Today’s opinion in NRG Power Marketing
Today’s 8-1 opinion in NRG Power Marketing appears to reflect a fairly market-friendly view of the world. The Federal Power Act, 16 USC §§ 791a et seq., requires that rates for the sale of electricity in interstate commerce be “just and reasonable.” The Court held in United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. Mobile Gas Service […]
No Citizens United this week.
The Court apparently released just one case today, an 8-1 reversal in NRG Power Marketing v. Maine Public Utilities Commission, No. 08-674. Still no Citizens United opinion. The further delay reinforces my impression that the decision will be a “dog’s breakfast” of separate opinions. As for timing, it seems likely the Court will release an […]
Court Reverses in Smith v. Spisak
By Jonathan H. Adler on January 12, 2010 10:58 am in Criminal Procedure, Habeas, Sixth Circuit, Supreme Court
The Supreme Court released one opinion today — and it was not the eagerly anticipated Citizens United. The Court released another habeas decision instead. In Smith v. Spisak, a unanimous Court reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s grant of death-row inmate Frank Spisak’s habeas petition. Justice Breyer wrote the opinion, and […]
Least Effective Question Presented, part I
From a recent(ish) cert. petition: (1) Was St. George Tucker correct when he told his William & Mary law students circa 1803 that all searches and seizures were considered general warrants and thus unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment unless based upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be […]