Merits Stage: Once the Court granted certiorari in the consolidated cases, moving it from the petition phase to the merits phase, the Court’s focus shifted from whether to decide the dispute to how to resolve it. And that called for a whole new round of briefing from the parties and any old or new “friends.” [...]
Petition Stage: The linked regulatory cases that are the subject of this four-part look at the Supreme Court’s docket began in the typical way for any request for certiorari review, with final decisions at the top of a chain of lower courts. On May 23, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of [...]
If you follow a big U.S. Supreme Court case in the news, you see an occasional milestone – certiorari petition filed, cert. granted, oral argument, and the decision – and you hear from the lead counsel for the two sides, along with all the commentary from talking heads. If you follow it on the Court’s [...]
The first four parts of this series covered the Supreme Court appendix contents that are either required or that are too lengthy to leave in the brief. This final installment addresses a provision that allows pretty much anything, but that should be used with caution. Other Material Believed Essential. Rule 14.1(i)(vi) is the tempting catchall [...]
Rehearing Denial. The last required appendix document may or may not exist, but if it does, it goes at the end of the required category. This would be an order denying rehearing by the court that issued the final judgment you are directly challenging. Rule 14.1(i)(iii). Or the last document may be something else, depending [...]
So far this series has covered the critical opening document of an appendix for a U.S. Supreme Court petition for certiorari. Now we move down the list in Sup. Ct. R. 14.1(i) to other must-have documents. Other Relevant Decisions. After the decision you actually want the Supreme Court to review comes a required category of [...]
When you are putting together a U.S. Supreme Court petition’s “appendix,” forget what you know about collections of documents going by the same name under lower federal court and state court appellate rules. Just read Supreme Court Rule 14.1(i). The rule’s limited categories of required documents reflect the high court’s unique role and the narrow [...]
Justice Antonin Scalia This Saturday, the owners and staff of Cockle Legal Briefs heard the news that Justice Antonin Scalia had passed away in the night. Our thoughts and prayers turn to his family, friends, and colleagues, and we join the rest of the nation in solemn remembrance of this iconic Supreme Court justice. Appointed to [...]
On January 12th, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Hurst v. Florida, a death penalty case. Writing for an eight-justice majority, Justice Sonya Sotomayor continued a line of recent Supreme Court rulings that is re-asserting the role of juries under the Sixth Amendment. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to [...]
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, a Supreme Court ruling that banned legal prohibitions of marriage based on the gender of the spouses. Millions of Americans greeted the opinion with celebration, millions of others with derision, and very few with ambivalence. Love it or hate it, [...]