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Posted on March 3, 2010 Leave a Comment
During this morning’s oral argument, a couple of U.S. Supreme Court justices announced their enthusiasm for mandatory minimum sentences — of the linguistic, not criminal, kind. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. had allowed Akin Gump’s Patricia Millett time to finish up her thought when she ran out of time during the Samantar v. Yousuf […]
Posted on March 2, 2010 Leave a Comment
In recent months, some legal experts have got awfully excited over the idea that the Supreme Court might decide to incorporate the Second Amendment against the states via the “privileges or immunities” clause of the 14th Amendment. It ain’t gonna happen. Ultimately, as Justice Antonin Scalia noted at today’s argument in McDonald v. Chicago, it’s […]
Posted on February 23, 2010 Leave a Comment
Pugnacious questioner Justice Sonia Sotomayor almost scored a first round knockout against Solicitor General Elena Kagan during today’s argument in the terrorism material support case (Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 08-1498). But Kagan survived and managed to land a sucker punch of her own later on. Kagan, tipped by many as a leading contender to […]
Posted on January 28, 2010 Leave a Comment
Everyone knows by now that Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wasn’t too pleased about President Barack Obama’s remarks in the State of the Union speech regarding last week’s campaign finance ruling in Citizens United v. FEC. He seemed to mouth something like “that’s not true” as the president spoke. Not exactly “you lie!,” but perhaps […]
Posted on January 21, 2010 Leave a Comment
After September’s re-argument in Citizens United v. FEC, your blogger wondered how Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. would reconcile overturning two Supreme Court precedents with their humble, anti-judicial activism rhetoric. As the experts I interviewed concluded at the time, Roberts and Alito both left themselves plenty of wiggle […]
Posted on January 19, 2010 Leave a Comment
The U.S. Supreme Court gave some important guidance today to potential jurors: think twice before giving the judge a chocolate penis. It’s also not advisable to give the bailiff a pair of chocolate breasts. Especially in a death penalty case. “The disturbing facts of this case raise serious questions concerning the conduct of the trial,” […]
Posted on January 12, 2010 Leave a Comment
It’s not just (fake) Justice Sotomayor and (fake) Justice Scalia who are on Twitter. Your blogger is too. Follow him here for all the latest SCOTUS-related updates.
Posted on January 12, 2010 Leave a Comment
Your blogger doesn’t want to write about Justice Antonin Scalia every day but, after yesterday’s brouhaha over vocabulary, today he gave a shout-out to international law. It’s a little surprising coming from him, bearing in mind how outraged conservatives get at any reference to foreign law in a Supreme Court opinions. The case argued today […]
Posted on January 11, 2010 Leave a Comment
There’s been plenty of debate recently about Justice Antonin Scalia’s derision for incorrect word usage, especially when it involves the word “choate” (which, according to Scalia, is not a word, although lawyers use it all the time). Even the New York Times Magazine chimed in. During today’s argument in Briscoe v. Virginia, it was the […]
Lawrence Hurley 