Legal minds on legal matters and whatever else strikes our fancy.
I read several great pieces over the weekend. Here are the best of them. University of Chicago Professor Geoffrey R. Stone had this New York Times op-ed entitled "Our Untransparent President." Mr. Stone alleges that: "While Mr. Obama has taken certain steps, notably early in his administration, to scale back some of the Bush-era excesses, [...]
Stern v. Marshall, 10-179 This highly anticipated ruling, covered by E! Online and Access Hollywood, has finally established that bankruptcy court judges are not federal judges in the Article III sense, and therefore may not hear certain claims (C.J. Roberts wrote the opinion; J. Scalia filed a concurring opinion; J. Breyer filed [...]
The USA Today and a host of other media outlets report that Representatives Ron Paul and Barney Frank introduced a bill to legalize marijuana. According to Politico, the bill was: Modeled on the 21st Amendment to the Constitution that repealed the prohibition of alcoholic beverages, the legislation is being cast by the Marijuana Policy Project [...]
Sometimes the Supreme Court reaches out to decide issues not raised in the petition for certiorari. It is a rare occurrence. But it happened in Turner v. Rogers, No. 10-10. If you weren’t following the case, here are the facts: Michael D. Turner racked up large debts owed to his child’s mother [...]
Here is the how the story begins at the Gaston Gazette. James Richard Verone woke up June 9 with a sense of anticipation. He took a shower. Ironed his shirt. Hailed a cab. Then robbed a bank. And why did this guy decide one morning to just up and rob a bank? [...]
In our latest round with Obamacare, Pacific Legal Foundation today filed a friend of the court brief in the Arizona federal district court in Coons v. Geithner, a case that challenges the constitutionality of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB. That’s the agency that, under the Obamacare law, will exercise virtually unchecked power to set [...]
The U.S. Supreme Court largely ducked the most outlandish parts of the Second Circuit’s decision in American Electric. Instead, the Court reversed the lower court on the easiest of the several grounds for reversal: displacement of federal common law. But how would the political question doctrine have fared had the Court [...]
Although there were several interesting SCOTUS decisions handed down yesterday, I instead decided to cover some local issues with national implications. Creighton University School of Law announced that they are reducing the number of seats for incoming law school students. Tthe Omaha World Herald’s story leads with this: Too many lawyers. Too few [...]
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 10-277, June 20, 2011 A group of female employees sued Wal-Mart for gender discrimination, and sought to represent a group of about 1.5 million current and former women employees in a class action. The trial court acknowledged the unprecedented size of the class, but found that the [...]
CockleBur contributor and UVA Law Professor Dan Ortiz earned a big SCOTUS win yesterday in Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri, No. 09-1476. This is how SCOTUS Blog's Lyle Denniston described the Court's opinion: Solemnly fretting that lawsuits by government employees challenging their bosses might disrupt official activity by, among other ploys, an emotional appeal to a jury [...]