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US Supreme Court Tag

You may have heard about the upcoming Supreme Court case of Sebellius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.
On November 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., a case arising out of commitment of the Green family, the sole owners of Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., to live out their deeply held religious convictions by “operating their company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.” These principles were put to the test when the federal government mandated that the Greens and their family businesses provide four specific potentially life-terminating drugs and devices through their employee health plan in conflict with their deeply held religious convictions. While the Green family has no moral objection to providing 16 of the 20 FDA-approved drugs and devices that are part of the federal mandate, providing drugs or devices that have the potential to terminate a life conflicts with their faith. Accordingly, the Greens and their family businesses filed suit in September 2012 to defend their right to religious freedom under the Constitution and federal law. Throughout, the Greens have been assisted and represented in the legal case by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit, public-interest legal and educational institute with a mission to protect the free expression of all faiths.
The case is scheduled to be decided by the Supreme Court by the end of the June term. Apart from the legal work being done on Hobby Lobby’s behalf, the company has also engaged in a fairly strong public relations campaign. They’ve created a number a videos, featured on YouTube and their website, including this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4pL32qQ_3k Hobby Lobby also appears to be engaging in a very active Twitter campaign to help control the narrative — to the extent possible — about their impending case.

The last time we checked on Hobby Lobby after a 60,000 citizen buycott in support of its case against Obamacare, it looked likely that US Supreme Court would take up the case. SCOTUS has now formally done just that.
The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to review the lawsuit filed by Hobby Lobby against the federal government over the Obamacare mandate that employers provide contraceptive coverage in their health plans. Hobby Lobby, which is owned by an Oklahoma City family with strong Christian beliefs, says a 1993 law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, protects the company from the mandate. The company is particularly opposed to paying for coverage that includes the morning after pill.
The court also accepted a related case from Pennsylvania involving a Mennonite family with a furniture-making business. In that case, a federal appeals court initially ruled that the owners could not challenge the mandate on religious ground because a company did not enjoy the same rights as individuals.

Supreme Court Justices occasionally issue statements in connection with the Court's decision not to accept a case for review.  Sometimes the statement is in the nature of a dissent, other times just to make a point. Justice Alito has issued a blistering statement in connection with the Court's denial of a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the case of Martin v. Blessing.  Justice Alito did not disagree with the decision not to take the case in light of the fact that the issue involved appeared isolated. The issue was the practice of U.S. District Judge Harold Baer in the Southern District of New York in requiring that class action counsel ensure that attorney staffing of the case reflect the racial and gender of the class.  That practice, apparently unique to Judge Baer, sparked a lengthy statement by Justice Alito warning that if the Court of Appeals does not address the situation, future Supreme Court review may be warranted. Think about it for a second.  While Judge Baer's intent undoubtedly is to bring diversity to the case, what if the class itself is non-diverse?  What if the class constituted almost entirely white males, would Judge Baer insist that only white male attorney staff a case?  I think not. Justice Alito's statement was part of an Order list issued this morning.  I have extracted Justice Alito's Statement, which is embedded at the bottom of this post.  Here's an excerpt (emphasis added):
The petition in this case challenges a highly unusualpractice followed by one District Court Judge in assessingthe adequacy of counsel in class actions. This judge insiststhat class counsel “ensure that the lawyers staffed on the case fairly reflect the class composition in terms of relevant race and gender metrics.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 35a. The uniqueness of this practice weighs against review by this Court, but the meaning of the Court’s denial of the petition should not be misunderstood.

The Supreme Court has another affirmative action case on its docket for next term, as explained by Jennifer Gratz (the plaintiff in Gratz v. Bollinger / U. Michigan), The two-faced defense of affirmative action (emphasis added): Though last week’s Supreme Court ruling in Fisher v. University of...

A follow up to the Supreme Court's decision in Fisher v. U. Texas. John Yoo writes at National Review (emphasis mine): Some conservatives are probably taking heart that the Court, by seven to one, reversed the lower court, which had upheld UT’s explicit use of racial preferences in...

NOTE:  Tomorrow is the last opinion day -- so we will get gay marriage and DOMA decisions.  Be here at 10 a.m. Section 4 of Voting Rights Act held invalid. Full Opinion embedded at bottom of this post. Via ScotusBlog live blog: 10:10 Amy Howe: Shelby County. The...

[Note -- More decisions will be released Tuesday -- check back here at 10 a.m.] Full opinion embedded at bottom of post Via ScotusBlog live blog: 10:14 Amy Howe: The opoinion by Kennedy. The Fifth Circuit is vacated and remanded. 10:15 Amy Howe: The holding is because the Fifth...

Today is oral argument in Windsor v. United States, challenging the Defense of Marriage Act. We have not followed the DOMA litigation very carefully to date. We did cover the secondary boycott effort directed at the King & Spalding law firm.  There was  a truly abysmal threat to...

The oral argument just concluded.  The audio will be posted later.  Update -- Audio is here. Transcript is here. Expect an avalanche of spin from various pundits -- as if the spin matters. I'll link to numerous sources which I deem on the low-end of spin meter. ...

Today at 10 a.m. is the argument in Hollingsworth v. Perry, also known as the California Proposition 8 case.  Tomorrow is argument in the Defense of Marriage Act case. It's hard to believe that this day has arrived.  We have been covering Prop 8 almost since...

A couple of days ago I charitably described Andrew Cohen's embarrassingly gushing celebration of Justice Sonia Sotomayor and her new book in The Atlantic as "treacly drool." It is not alone, accompanied now by a full court liberal press (NPR, CBS News, the New York...

Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment....