Legal minds on legal matters and whatever else strikes our fancy.
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 [...]
I’m not one to toot my own horn, but if you go back and look at my predictions from when the NBA Playoffs were just starting you’ll see the only series I got wrong was the Chicago/Philadelphia match-up in the first round. And who can blame me? I’m a homer. If I [...]
Can our public officials arrest and torture American citizens without fear of accountability? The answer is a resounding yes. Yesterday, the Supreme Court denied the petition filed on behalf of Jose Padilla, an American citizen who was arrested by the FBI in 2002 at Chicago O’Hare airport. The U.S. Government designated Padilla as [...]
While reading my first-year Constitutional Law textbook, I noticed a line that made me pause mid-sip from a cup of coffee. I reread the line written by Chief Justice John Roberts, and I stopped, again. No, can’t be. The line comes from a 2007 case called United Haulers Ass’n, Inc. v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management [...]
Brief for Petitioner in Ryan v. Gonzales, No. 10-930, filed on May 25, 2012 Respondent’s Brief on the Merits in Johnson v. Williams, No. 11-465, filed on May 29, 2012
There are innumerable details about the U.S. Supreme Court that many, including practitioners, simply do not think about; mostly, because it just doesn't come up that often. About twice a year, I will receive a call from an attorney who is planning to file for certiorari, but who is waiting on the Court to rule on their motion for [...]