Supreme Court

Justices to consider choice-of-law clauses in maritime insurance contracts

Tuesday’s argument in Great Lakes Insurance v. Raiders Retreat Realty offers a breather between the divisive disputes about the CFPB and voting rights topping the headlines at the advent of the October Term 2023. Perhaps some of the justices will even enjoy a return to their law-school days, as they consider whether state or federal law should govern the enforceability of maritime choice-of-law clauses.

For the readers who decided to continue past my opening paragraph, Great Lakes Insurance falls … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices consider civil rights tester’s right to sue

The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral argument in the case of a civil rights tester who searches the internet to find hotels whose websites do not provide information about the accessibility of their facilities, as required under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The owner of a Maine hotel argued that because the tester, Deborah Laufer, never intended to stay at the hotel, she does not have a legal right to bring a lawsuit. But after roughly 90 minutes … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices deny appeals from anti-abortion activists, Eastman, and former New Jersey candidates

The Supreme Court on Monday morning declined to take an appeal by anti-abortion activists in a First Amendment dispute with Planned Parenthood, as well as a test of New Jersey’s “slogan statutes.” After adding 12 cases to their merits docket for the 2023-24 term on Friday, the justices on Monday denied review in nearly 900 cases that they considered at their conference last week. The justices also sought the Biden administration’s views in three more cases. The full list … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Section 8 vouchers take center stage in dispute between landlord and disabled tenant

The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

Federal law bars housing discrimination against a person with a disability. Under the Fair Housing Act, landlords and sellers must provide “reasonable accommodations” to give someone with a disability “equal opportunity” to rent or buy a home. This week, we highlight petitions that ask the court to consider, among other … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Consumer watchdog funding fight goes before justices

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Congress consolidated the task of enforcing federal consumer finance laws into one agency. It created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect consumers in the marketplace and, in part, regulate predatory financial products, like the high-risk mortgages that had contributed to the crash. As part of its efforts to foster the agency’s independence, funding for the CFPB would come not from the annual appropriations process in Congress, but instead from the … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court denies Alabama’s request to use voting map with only one majority-Black district

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Alabama’s request to allow it to use a congressional map in the 2024 elections that a lower court had concluded likely violates the Voting Rights Act. The brief unsigned order, from which there were no public dissents, came less than four months after a divided Supreme Court agreed that the 2021 iteration of the map violated federal law by weakening the collective voting power of Black voters in the state.

Tuesday’s order from … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Florida man subject to lifetime sex-offender registration requirements argues that he is “in custody” for purposes of federal post-conviction laws

The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

A person held in state prison can challenge the constitutionality of their criminal conviction in federal court through a legal tool known as a writ of habeas corpus. Habeas relief is available to anyone “in custody,” which the Supreme Court has interpreted to mean not only physical confinement but also … Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Friday, September 22

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:

Clarence Thomas secretly participated in Koch network donor events (Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica)
Sports betting fight heading to Supreme Court (Dara Kam, News Service of Florida)
Coerced, censored, shut down: How will Supreme Court manage social media’s toxic sludge? (John Fritze & Jessica Guynn, USA Today)
Supreme Court ruling could

… Read the rest