Supreme Court Rejects Request to Stay Lobbying Ruling
The Associated Press
April 22, 2008
Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday night rejected an emergency request by the National Association of Manufacturers, delivering the day's second punch to the group's fight against a new lobbying law. The trade group sought relief from the Supreme Court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit earlier rejected the group's appeal to postpone enforcement of a key part of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which requires trade groups to name certain dues-paying members.
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Supreme Court Upholds Kentucky's Lethal Injections
Legal Times
April 17, 2008
The de facto nationwide moratorium on executions for the last six months is likely at an end as a result of the Supreme Court's 7-2 decision Wednesday upholding Kentucky’s protocol for lethal injections. Two death row inmates had challenged the procedure used by Kentucky and 34 other states, claiming that if improperly administered, it could cause excruciating pain before death, in violation of the Eighth Amendment ban on "cruel and unusual" punishment.
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Supreme Court Sends Tax Case Back to Illinois
Legal Times
April 16, 2008
Tuesday was Tax Day at the Supreme Court as it was in the rest of the nation, with the justices handing down two tax rulings, including one that could affect big corporations facing tax bills in several states. MeadWestvaco Corp. v. Illinois Department of Revenue was closely watched by revenue-thirsty states seeking to tax multistate and international corporations. The Court sent the case back to Illinois, postponing a determination of important state taxation issues.
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What Would a Scalia-Alito Corporation Sell?
Legal Times
April 15, 2008
During a Supreme Court oral argument on Monday about tribal courts' jurisdiction over disputes between a nontribal bank and a company that is majority Indian-owned, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. took the debate in an unexpected direction -- across the Atlantic to southern Europe. Used as examples in Roberts' hypothetical: Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel A. Alito Jr.
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Supreme Court Justices Turn to Ex-Clerks for Unusual Role
Legal Times
April 14, 2008
Sidley Austin partner Jay Jorgensen is about to make his debut before the U.S. Supreme Court, following a little-known, rarely available pathway that has launched the high court appellate careers of several former Court clerks. Among them: John Roberts Jr., now chief justice, and Maureen Mahoney, who heads the appellate and constitutional practice at Latham & Watkins. Even more rare is the fact that Jorgensen won't be the only lawyer arguing as an appointed counsel under these circumstances on Tuesday.
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Scalia to Go Before the News Cameras -- Voluntarily
Legal Times
April 09, 2008
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who makes no secret of his disdain for the news media, has agreed to appear in a segment of CBS News' "60 Minutes" on the eve of the publication date for a new book he has co-authored. In the life of the Court and Scalia's career, this is a remarkable, Nixon-goes-to-China moment. No justice has excoriated the news media like Scalia has, and it would have surprised no one if he had completed his tenure on the high court without ever consenting to a broadcast interview.
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Supreme Court Upholds Delaware's Veto Power Over British Petroleum Project
Legal Times
April 01, 2008
BP will have to find another site for a planned $600 million natural gas terminal after the Supreme Court on Monday upheld Delaware's right to nix the plan -- even though the bulk of it would sit on New Jersey soil. The Court ruled that Delaware can exercise what amounts to veto power over the project because the pier would extend into parts of the Delaware River owned by Delaware. New Jersey-born Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito Jr. were the only justices to side with New Jersey in the dispute.
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Supreme Court Hears Case Involving Mentally Ill Defendants Representing Themselves
Legal Times
March 27, 2008
When mentally ill defendants are found competent to stand trial, does that also mean they are competent enough to represent themselves in court? The Supreme Court struggled with that question Wednesday during an oral argument that weighed the Sixth Amendment right to self-representation against a state's interest in not having trials "descend into farce." Along the way, some lawyer jokes were also cracked.
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Mukasey Argues Case Before High Court
Legal Times
March 26, 2008
As a former federal judge, Attorney General Michael Mukasey must have grown to appreciate terseness in the lawyers who appeared before him. Mukasey certainly took it to heart when he appeared before the Supreme Court on Tuesday for the first time. His answers to justices' questions were brief, to the point, and seemed to hit the right notes.
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Supreme Court Allows Employers to Coordinate Retiree Benefits With Medicare
The Associated Press
March 24, 2008
The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a federal policy that allows employers to reduce their health insurance expenses for retired workers once they turn 65 and qualify for Medicare. The justices turned down an appeal by the 35-million-member AARP to undo a rule that essentially allows employers to treat retirees differently depending on their age. The rules were put into place by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, with the support of labor unions and other groups.
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Supreme Court Hears Arguments in D.C. Gun Ban Case
Legal Times
March 18, 2008
After nearly 70 years of sidestepping the meaning of the Second Amendment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday was finally ready to tackle the knotty question head-on. Although the District of Columbia's strict handgun ban may not survive intact, lawyers for both the Bush administration and gun-rights advocates acknowledged that some lesser regulation of the right would be acceptable. Five or more justices appeared ready to recognize some form of an individual right to keep and bear arms.
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A Supreme Court Milestone for the New Millennium
Legal Times
March 18, 2008
At the Supreme Court on Monday, an unusually large number of veteran advocates could be seen watching oral arguments. But they were not there just to listen to the unusual discussion of how to compensate individuals for the thieving ways of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, at issue in the first argument. Many were there to mark a milestone for Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler. He was arguing in the 100th case of his career in the SG's office, more than any lawyer currently in practice.
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Supreme Court Will Hear Case on Broadcast Indecency
Legal Times
March 18, 2008
Thirty years after it approved FCC rules banning the use of "indecent" language on broadcast television and radio, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to look at the issue again -- this time in the context of the fleeting use of expletives in live broadcasts. At issue in the case of FCC v. Fox Television Stations is the seemingly spontaneous use of the "F-word" by Cher in 2002 and Nicole Richie in 2003 on Fox broadcasts of the Billboard Music Awards.
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Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Washington State Primary
The Associated Press
March 18, 2008
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the state of Washington's open primary election system, a setback for the Republican and Democratic political parties in the state. By a 7-2 vote, the Court says the state may use a primary system that allows the top two vote-getters to advance to the general election, even if they are from the same party. Under Washington's system, all candidates for a particular office may list their political party preference after their names.
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Supreme Court Declines Review of NSA Wiretapping Program
Legal Times
February 20, 2008
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up the first legal challenge to the Bush administration's once-secret National Security Agency program of warrantless wiretapping. Acting without comment on the case of American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency, the Court in effect placed the program beyond judicial review, ACLU officials charged. Other suits triggered by the program are still pending, including several against telecommunications companies for their participation.
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Exxon Spill Award Hits High Court
Legal Times
February 15, 2008
On Feb. 27, the Supreme Court could see the final chapter of the legal wrangling over the damage caused by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Arguments will focus on a $2.5 billion verdict awarded against the oil company. Exxon describes that judgment as "larger than the total of all punitive damages awards affirmed by all federal appellate courts in our history." The plaintiffs call it "about three weeks of Exxon's current net profits."
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Scalia Says 'So-Called Torture' Cannot Be Ruled Out as Interrogation Method
The Associated Press
February 14, 2008
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said in an interview broadcast in Britain on Tuesday that interrogators can inflict pain to get critical information about an imminent terrorist threat. Referring generally to some controversial U.S. interrogation techniques as "so-called torture," Scalia asked, "Is it really so easy to determine that smacking someone in the face to find out where he has hidden the bomb that is about to blow up Los Angeles is prohibited by the Constitution?
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Energy Contracts Spark High-Stakes Supreme Court Case
The National Law Journal
February 13, 2008
In a U.S. Supreme Court case with major ramifications for the nation's volatile energy market, consumer groups and state utility regulators are waging a battle with energy suppliers and federal regulators stemming from the long-term "forward" contracts from the Western energy crisis several years ago. At stake for the Snohomish County, Wash., utility district is about $153 million, said its high court counsel, Christopher J. Wright. But that pales next to the $1.4 billion at stake in California's contracts.
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Retaliation Cases Hit High Court En Masse
The National Law Journal
February 04, 2008
Job retaliation challenges have arrived en masse at the U.S. Supreme Court as part of the largest onslaught of employment cases on the docket in years. In the past three years, the justices have decided two major retaliation cases, but this term alone they have granted review in three cases, with each arising under a different civil rights law. Two of the cases will be argued in February, while the third one -- which could have the greatest potential impact -- is as yet unscheduled.
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Commas, Clauses and Missing Butter at the Supreme Court
Legal Times
January 23, 2008
This term, grammar knowledge is looming large as a Supreme Court justice skill set. First, the meaning of commas in the Second Amendment emerged as a potentially major factor in deciding a gun case. And Tuesday, in yet another case, grammar played a role in interpreting the statute at issue. A close parsing of the matter may even offer some hints about how the justices will handle the Second Amendment case.
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Conference Call: Warrantless Spying Case Before High Court
Legal Times
January 18, 2008
Since its disclosure by The New York Times in late 2005, the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program has generated a host of constitutional questions. In the first petition challenging the program to reach the Supreme Court, the justices will confront the question of whether individuals who feared being subject to NSA surveillance -- and thus refrained from using certain forms of communication -- have standing to challenge the program in the first place.
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U.S. Supreme Court Upholds New York State's Judicial Election System
New York Law Journal
January 17, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld Wednesday the constitutionality of New York state's convention system for nominating Supreme Court justices. Though four justices expressed reservations about the process, the Court held that, while the system might be unfair, it is not unconstitutional. Wrote Justice Antonin Scalia in the majority opinion, "Party conventions, with their attendant 'smoke-filled rooms' and domination by party leaders, have long been an accepted manner of selecting party candidates.
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Supreme Court Limits Trusts' Tax Deductions
The Associated Press
January 17, 2008
The Supreme Court upheld limits Wednesday on income tax deductions for trusts and estates, ruling against the family that created Pepperidge Farm. The Court said trusts ordinarily may not deduct the full cost of investment advice on their income tax returns. Those expenses are deductible only when they exceed 2 percent of adjusted gross income, the same limits faced by individual filers, Chief Justice John Roberts said for a unanimous Court.
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Justices Skeptical of Patent-Holders' Claim
Law.com
January 16, 2008
In a closely watched case that may determine how far companies can go when demanding fees for patents they've licensed, several Supreme Court justices Wednesday seemed open to limiting patent-holders' rights in connection with the use of their products by downstream purchasers in the manufacturing process. The case involves the doctrine of patent exhaustion, which Chief Justice John Roberts said is "the subject of great confusion," based on conflicting high court and Federal Circuit precedents.
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Supreme Court First: A Female Special Master
Legal Times
January 16, 2008
The Supreme Court on Tuesday quietly helped shatter a glass ceiling by appointing the first female special master in the Supreme Court's history. Munger, Tolles & Olson's Kristin Linsley Myles, a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, was named special master in South Carolina v. North Carolina, which comes to the Court under its original jurisdiction -- a category of cases in which the dispute goes to the Supreme Court without the fact-finding or review of any lower court.
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High Court's Docket Shrinks Again
Legal Times
January 16, 2008
In what was seen as a partial response to concerns about a shrinking docket, the Supreme Court in late September granted review in 17 cases, an unusually large number that helped fill its argument calendar for January and February. But one of those cases has been dismissed following a settlement between the U.S. government and a Somalian refugee. The settlement is unusual because the government is usually loath to scrub a case after the parties and the Court have devoted so much time and effort to it.
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Supreme Court Rules on Lawyers 'Phoning It In'
The National Law Journal
January 15, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court, in an unsigned opinion last week, reversed a federal appellate court decision holding that a defense lawyer who participates in a plea hearing by speakerphone was presumptively ineffective. Joseph L. Van Patten, who was sentenced to 25 years for homicide, had argued that his Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated by his trial counsel's physical absence from a plea hearing. The lawyer was linked to the courtroom by speakerphone.
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Tough Questioning From Justices in 'Judge Alex' Case
Legal Times
January 15, 2008
Bingham McCutchen's Eric Brunstad Jr. has been building an impressive Supreme Court practice in recent years by taking on out-of-the-way bankruptcy and estate law cases -- one of which became very high-profile because it involved the late Anna Nicole Smith's ex-husband. But in his seventh oral argument Monday -- in which he represented Alex Ferrer, stars of the syndicated television show "Judge Alex" -- the justices hit Brunstad harder than almost any lawyer in recent memory.
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Conference Call: Employer Retaliation Again in the Spotlight at Supreme Court
Legal Times
January 11, 2008
The Supreme Court justices, meeting in private conference today, will consider whether to grant certiorari on a question with a potentially sweeping impact for modern workplaces: whether the "anti-retaliation" provision of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to workers who voluntarily provide information during an internal office investigation of suspected discrimination or harassment.
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Breyer Just Missed Record as Junior Justice
Legal Times
January 10, 2008
When Justice Samuel Alito Jr. joined the Supreme Court in January 2006, Justice Stephen Breyer was 29 days short of having the longest tenure as junior justice in the Court's history. The best-known duty of the junior justice is to answer the door at the Court's private conferences -- a habit that was hard to break once Alito joined the Court, Breyer says in a recent journal article on the role of junior justice: "I had been used to it like a Pavlovian dog."
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Ind. Voter Identification Law Likely to Survive High Court Challenge
Legal Times
January 09, 2008
Indiana's strict law requiring voters to show current photo identification at the polls appears likely to survive a constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court. During oral arguments Wednesday, the Court's conservative majority raised potentially fatal concerns about whether the challengers had standing to sue, and whether the law should be attacked on its face before it takes effect and its "as-applied" impact on voters can be assessed.
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Justices Debate Stare Decisis
Legal Times
January 09, 2008
An otherwise mind-numbing Supreme Court ruling Tuesday morning nonetheless contained an interesting debate among the justices about an issue that often comes up during confirmation hearings: stare decisis, or the importance of respecting precedent. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissenting from Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion, wrote: "After today's decision, one will need a crystal ball to predict when this Court will reject, and when it will cling to, its prior decisions."
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High Court Skeptical Over Lethal Injection Challenge
Legal Times
January 07, 2008
The Supreme Court on Monday appeared unconvinced that the lethal-injection procedure used for capital punishment poses enough risk of pain that it raises constitutional objections as "cruel and unusual" punishment. The three-drug "cocktail" used to anesthetize, paralyze and then kill inmates is the focus in Baze v. Rees. "Where does that come from, that you must find the method of execution that causes the least pain?" asked Justice Antonin Scalia. "Is that somewhere in our Constitution?"
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Supreme Court Enhances Judges' Sentencing Discretion
Legal Times
December 11, 2007
In a pair of important decisions Monday, the Supreme Court gave federal trial judges much greater latitude to deviate from federal sentencing guidelines. In one of the decisions, the Court voted 7-2 to allow judges to weigh the controversial disparity between guideline sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses in giving defendants a below-guideline sentence. A separate ruling with potentially broader impact had the same 7-2 lineup of justices.
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High Court Justices Rule in Favor of Defendant on Gun Issue
The Associated Press
December 11, 2007
The Supreme Court unanimously refused on Monday to broaden the impact of a law that adds extra prison time to the sentences of drug traffickers who use a gun in carrying out their crimes. In a 9-0 decision, the Court said the tough anti-crime provision does not apply to traffickers who trade drugs for guns. The issue in the case was whether receiving a gun in exchange for drugs constitutes "use" of the gun under federal law.
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