Decision time

Tony Mauro

It's pressure cooker time at the Supreme Court. With oral arguments over, the justices are holed up with their clerks churning out draft opinions in pending cases, with an internal deadline of June 1.

10 years later, a mass appeal

Tony Mauro

Appellate practitioner Howard Bashman was largely unknown outside Philadelphia when he decided to take the plunge into law blogging in May 2002. Twenty million page views and 10 years later, his blog How Appealing has made Bashman something of a nationwide rock star in the usually staid field of appellate law.

Marcia Coyle at the Supreme Court: The last day of ACA arguments

Marcia Coyle, chief Washington correspondent for The National Law Journal, discusses developments on the last day of oral arguments before the Supreme Court involving the Affordable Care Act.

Hot bench over Arizona law

Tony Mauro

The U.S. Supreme Court appeared ready on April 25 to support at least part of Arizona's controversial immigration law, in spite of pleas by the Obama administration to keep the federal government as the predominant force in setting immigration policy.

Torture victims cannot sue foreign organizations under federal statute

Marcia Coyle

Foreign organizations, such as the Palestinian Authority, cannot be sued in federal court for the alleged torture or murder of U.S. citizens, ruled a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Relief for private lawyers working for government agencies

Tony Mauro

Private-practice lawyers and others engaged temporarily by government agencies are entitled to qualified immunity from being sued, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday.

At high court, big pharma finds overtime case a tough pill to swallow

Marcia Coyle

In arguments Monday in the U.S. Supreme Court, the pharmaceutical industry warned of "massive retroactive liability" if their sales representatives are not exempt from federal overtime pay requirements.

New book scrutinizes justices and law clerks

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Tony Mauro

Todd Peppers and Artemus Ward became the leading scholars on Supreme Court clerks within weeks of each other in 2006. That was when their books on the subject – Courtiers of the Marble Palace by Peppers, and Sorcerers' Apprentices, by Ward – were published after years of research unbeknownst to each other.

The Court and the Fourth Amendment

Erwin Chemerinsky

The Justices tend to find a violation if they can imagine the search applying to them personally.

Judge Jerry Smith's order to DOJ

Gregory P. Magarian

The Fifth Circuit order undermined the judicial authority it purported to defend.

Commentary: The Roberts-Kagan compromise on Obamacare?

Einer Elhauge

Even though the government needlessly gave itself an uphill burden by accepting the opponents' erroneous framing, the comments of Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justice Elena Kagan suggested a compromise that might still save the health insurance mandate.

Who owns lands under rivers?

James L. Huffman

In 'PPL Montana,' high court correctly ruled that whether a river is navigable, and thus state-owned, depends on its status at the time of statehood.

ACA at the Supreme Court: Instant commentaries

Snap reactions from those with a front seat at today's arguments.