I have a new post about the coming rule changes at the Cockle Legal Briefs website, where I explore how the new rules may apply to cases already docketed on July 1st. Check it out!
The Court’s revised Rules will go into effect on July 1st. (See the revisions here, and the new complete rule book here.) There are no blockbuster changes, but certain key aspects of Supreme Court practice will change. I will be discussing some of the changes over at Cockle Legal Briefs website. My first post previews the [...]
Adam Chandler over at SCOTUSblog recently posted this update of his earlier work on the influence of petition-stage amici. Chandler notes that in the last five years, the number of petition-stage amicus filings has increased 35%, and the total number of amicus filers has increased by almost 65%. “In short: more, more, [...]
We are getting near the end of the Court’s October 2012 Term. Some petitioners and respondents might be thinking about timing their filings to either have the case considered this term, or have it carried through the summer and into next fall. The last conference for this term is June 20th, and the last paid-petition [...]
The Supreme Court’s 2012 Term started big and it will finish big. The finish to this Term will include decisions regarding same-sex marriage, affirmative action, and the Voting Rights Act cases. And if that wasn’t enough, there are a number of interesting criminal cases that the Court will decide before the end [...]
Law Professor Stephen Wermiel has a great post over at SCOTUSblog on what happens at the Supreme Court during the summer. Professor Wermiel notes that: In recent years, the Court has received between 7500 and 8000 cert. petitions per year: from July 2011 to July 2012, for example, 7712 new petitions were filed. There were 7857 [...]
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky published this article last week on the ABA Journal’s website complaining about the Supreme Court’s decision in Knox v. SEIU. That’s the case in which the Supreme Court said that the union must ask non-members before it takes away their money to run a political campaign. As I explain here, the rule [...]
As SCOTUSblog noted yesterday, Chief Justice Roberts, after reading his most famous opinion, issued a public recognition to Supreme Court Clerk William K. Suter for his 50 years in government service. Fifty years at anything is impressive, but Clerk Suter's dedication to the law is unsurpassed. Clerk Suter has played a profound role at the Court, including syncing [...]
The Supreme Court today issued its decision in Knox v. SEIU, the union fees case in which PLF (joined by Cato, MSLF, and CCJ), filed this amicus brief. The case was about whether the union violated the law by requiring non-members to pay a special assessment to support a political campaign without first issuing the [...]
UPDATE: On Thursday, the Court denied cert, over a rare written dissent from Justice Sotomayor. You can see other coverage in the ABA Journal, Courthouse News Service, and at the AllGov website. On March 13, 2012, we printed and filed the Petition in Fairey v. Tucker, 11-7185. In the Conference of April 16th, the Court requested the record [...]