Supreme Court

Supreme Court limits “safety valve” in federal sentencing law

Justice Elena Kagan’s opinion for a sharply divided court in Pulsifer v. United States resolves an ambiguity in the provisions added to federal sentencing law in the First Step Act of 2018, coming down firmly on the side of the government. The problem involves how to read a “safety valve” in federal criminal sentencing laws, which allows defendants to avoid the often lengthy mandatory minimum sentences scattered throughout the federal criminal code. The safety valve requires the defendant to … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Announcement of opinions for Friday, March 15

On Friday, March 15, we will be live blogging as the court releases opinions in one or more argued cases from the current term.

Click here for a list of FAQs about opinion announcements.

The post Announcement of opinions for Friday, March 15 appeared first on SCOTUSblog.

SCOTUSblog… Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Tuesday, March 12

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Tuesday morning read:

Trump seeks delay in N.Y. trial pending Supreme Court hearing on immunity (Shayna Jacobs, The Washington Post)
New Supreme Court petition calls for limiting NEPA reviews (Niina H. Farah, E&E News)
Texas tells Supreme Court its immigration law is key to handling border crisis (Kelsey Reichmann, Courthouse News Service)
Biden administration proposes $ 38

… Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Thursday, March 7

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Thursday morning read:

Supreme Court will hear Trump presidential immunity argument April 25 (Kevin Breuninger, CNBC)
Trump’s on the ballot, but the Supreme Court left key constitutional questions unanswered (John Fritze & Marshall Cohen, CNN)
Momentum builds in major homelessness case before U.S. Supreme Court (Claire Rush, The Associated Press)
Supreme Court wants $ 19.4 million in

… Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Friday, March 8

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read:

Biden admonishes the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade (Natasha Korecki, NBC News)
Trump ballot ruling raises new questions even as it answers others (Patrick Marley, The Washington Post)
US pharma group opposing abortion pill restrictions also backs Republicans attacking drug (Carter Sherman, The Guardian)
The Constitution Turned Upside Down (Sean Wilentz, The

… Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Wednesday, March 6

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Wednesday morning read:

US Supreme Court seeks security funding to protect justices, homes (Nate Raymond, Reuters)
The Perils of Inconsistent Judicial Role Morality (Steve Vladeck, One First)
In Trump Cases, Supreme Court Cannot Avoid Politics (Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
The Supreme Court Just Delivered a Rare Self-Own for John Roberts (Richard Hasen, Slate)
The tyranny

… Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices set aside university free speech challenge

Amid the debate over free speech on university campuses, the justices on Monday set aside a decision by a federal appeals court in a case involving whether so-called “bias-response team policies” – procedures created by universities to solicit, track, and investigate reports of bias – chill students’ speech.

The order in Speech First v. Sands was part of a list of orders from the court’s private conference last week.

Over a dissent by Justice Clarence Thomas that was joined … Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Friday, March 1

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read:

Few large employers alter abortion coverage after Supreme Court ruling (Tami Luhby, CNN)
Pace of Supreme Court Immunity Case Shadowed by Looming Election (Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
The Scandal of Clarence Thomas’s New Clerk (Jane Mayer, The New Yorker)
Why the Supreme Court Had to Hear Trump’s Case (David B. Rivkin Jr.

… Read the rest