US Supreme Court | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 33
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Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 27, 2019 10 Comments
In one of the major cases of this term, the Supreme Court has refused to provide a role for federal courts in deciding so-called partisan gerrymandering cases. That is, cases in which the federal courts pass judgment on the political process that gave rise to sometimes unfair districts benefitting one party or another. It was a straight 5-4 conservative-liberal split.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 20, 2019 34 Comments
The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and has ruled that the 1925 'Peace Cross' Memorial erected to remember World War I dead can stay on public land. The Opinion is here. Here is an explainer about the case from The Federalist Society:

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 18, 2019 36 Comments
Melissa and Aaron Klein, the Christian owners of a bakery in Oregon called "Sweet Cakes by Melissa" were thrown into a legal and media maelstrom several years ago when they declined to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. They were ultimately ordered to pay over $100,000 to the couple and closed the bakery as a result.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 10, 2019 14 Comments
During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump famously put out a list of judges he would consider for the Supreme Court if he were elected. The list served both to assure conservatives and also to motivate Republican voters. It's widely agreed that the Supreme Court specifically, and the federal judiciary more generally, were key factors in Trump's victory.

Posted by Jared Samilow on June 05, 2019 30 Comments
The Supreme Court will soon decide whether the Trump administration can include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. It might seem strange that such a matter is before the Supreme Court at all. But when the Trump administration explored adding the question it was not...especially solicitous, shall we say, about following administrative law. Nevertheless, the government argues that it is entitled to significant deference on how to best design the census and, after the oral argument in April, most observers got the impression that the five conservative justices agreed. 

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 28, 2019 17 Comments
The Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law that required a burial or cremation of an aborted human being, but decided to provide an unsigned opinion on the portion of the law that bans abortion based on sex, race, and disability. Vice President Mike Pence signed the bill into law in 2016 when he served as governor of Indiana. Justice Clarence Thomas issued an opinion in support of the Indiana law on abortion restrictions due to eugenics using abortion as a form of eugenics on minorities.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 23, 2019 61 Comments
The Supreme Court heard oral argument on the issue of whether the Commerce Department can add a citizenship question to the Census.  Various District Courts ruled against the Trump administration, and the administration sought the unusual remedy of direct review by the Supreme Court. We previously covered the issues in our post when the Supreme Court granted direct review, Supreme Court agrees to hear Census citizenship question case.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 19, 2019 26 Comments
The Trump administration scored a big win in the Supreme Court today in the case of Nielsen v. Preap. Equally important, the court's focus on statutory language and interpretation bodes well for the Trump administration at such point as the litigation over Trump's Declaration of National Emergency makes its way to the Supreme Court. The Opinion is complicated, with multiple concurring opinions. But at a macro level, it split on the conservative-liberal line, with Chief Justice Roberts siding with the conservatives.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 26, 2019 22 Comments
One of the more curious opinions was handed down by the Supreme Court as part of its February 25, 2019 Order List. The Opinion was Yovino v. Rizo (pdf.)(full embed at bottom of post), arising out of the 9th Circuit. The issue was whether the vote on the case of the late Judge Stephen Reinhardt could be counted where he expressed his vote while alive, but died before the opinion was filed. The 9th Circuit said sure, count the vote even though Reinhardt was not alive at the time the opinion was filed.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 07, 2019 53 Comments
The Supreme Court has granted a stay of the new Louisiana anti-abortion law, in a 5-4 vote with Chief Justice Roberts siding with the four liberal Justices. The law in question requires a doctor performing abortion to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, which critics alleged would result in only a single abortion doctor in the entire state. This is only a stay pending appeal, not an ultimate disposition of the case.