Opinions Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. Whiting, 09-115, May 26, 2011 The federal Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) applies three general provisions that are relevant here: 1) it forbids the intentional hiring of undocumented workers, 2) it expressly preempts all state laws that impose sanctions on [...]
Opinions Brown v. Plata, 09-1233, May 23, 2011 Since 1990, the State of California has consistently failed to meet court-ordered benchmarks to bring its prison healthcare system within standards that do not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Considering the trial court’s determination that California had exhausted its opportunities to remedy conditions, [...]
Yesterday, I and representatives from several pro-freedom organizations filed this amicus brief in Seven-Sky v. Holder, the latest Court of Appeals case about the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I also filed briefs in the Fourth Circuit case and the Eleventh Circuit case. The briefs cover different—and very interesting—issues. As I [...]
Many have argued that the Supreme Court’s process for choosing cases is too secretive, allows too much influence to the Court’s clerks, provides too many opportunities to business interests and too little opportunities to public interests, and should be changed. To alleviate some of these concerns, scholars have proposed changes to the Court’s certiorari [...]
Opinions and Orders of the Court Kentucky v. King, 09-1272, May 16, 2011 The Fourth Amendment generally bars warrantless searches, except under certain exigent circumstances, such as the imminent destruction of evidence. An exception to the exception applies when the police create the exigency by acting or threatening to act unconstitutionally. In [...]
Opinions and Orders of the Court Stevens v. Mississippi, 10-10390, May 10th The Court declined to stay the execution of Benny Joe Stevens, a convicted quadruple murderer. Later that day, Mississippi executed Stevens. As noted in Crime & Consequences and SCOTUS Blog, Stevens had claimed that Mississippi unlawfully changed its execution procedures, [...]
“If the will of the Queen in Parliament is already being constrained by a group of European lawyers sitting in Strasbourg, . . . then Parliamentary sovereignty is a waning idea.” – Tom Ginsburg I felt I might begin my tenure as a regular contributor to the Cocklebur blog with an exposition [...]
Last term, Justice Kennedy said in Salazar v. Buono, that a “cross by the side of a public highway,” marking “where a state trooper perished,” was not a statement of “governmental support for sectarian beliefs,” and therefore, would not violate the Establishment Clause. As Lee Corso would say: Not so fast Justice [...]
Last week, I claimed that, in terms of cases with broad importance that will be decided this term, American Electric would be “unmatched.” I am not alone. Yesterday, Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal started his argument off with what is at stake: “In the 222 years that this court has been sitting, [...]
If any of you follow the Supreme Court you will have undoubtedly come across a Josh Blackman post about some SCOTUS development. The man is simply a writing machine. He blogs daily. He publishes law reviews like some publish blog posts. He teaches at Penn State Law School. He is the President and [...]