U.S. Courts News Reporter
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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.
Five years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that pleading guilty to a crime does not prevent a defendant from arguing that the law criminalizing their conduct is unconstitutional. This week, we highlight cert petitions that ask the court to consider, among other things, an issue that decision left open: Under … Read the rest
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It might be fairly said that in recent decades venue in criminal cases has not been the hottest topic on the court’s docket. Nevertheless, as the briefs in Smith v. United States emphasize, the criminal venue right was so significant to the Framers that the Constitution addressed it twice. The original Constitution provides in Article III that jury trials in criminal cases “shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed.” The Sixth Amendment … Read the rest
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If anything is clear after Tuesday’s argument in Coinbase v. Bielski, it is that the justices are not going to agree on the answer. The case asks what a trial court should do if it denies a defendant’s motion for arbitration. The Federal Arbitration Act gives the defendant the right to an immediate (“interlocutory”) appeal, but it says nothing about a stay of litigation in the district court. So in these cases (proposed class actions against Coinbase, a … Read the rest
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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.
Nearly three years ago, the Supreme Court extended a First Amendment protection known as the “ministerial exception,” a court-created doctrine that bars courts from reviewing employment decisions by religious employers about their ministers. Last year, four justices issued a statement regarding the denial of a petition that sought to further … Read the rest
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The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.
The Supreme Court will observe St. Patrick’s Day this year by meeting in conference to discuss which of the 184 petitions and applications for resolution that day should be granted favorable consideration. Only one of those cases is newly relisted: Chapman v. Doe. Jane Doe, then an unemancipated 17-year-old, went to Missouri … Read the rest
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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:
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Today is the last day for our editor, James Romoser. The blog hired James nearly three years ago, in the middle of the pandemic, after a series of interviews over (of course) Zoom. We had only met him once in person several years before, and even after hiring him we still would not meet him in person for many months to come.
Although our early meetings with James may have been virtual, his impact on the blog was very … Read the rest
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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.
Going to court is one way to enforce your civil rights if they are violated by a state official. As options go, though, it can be expensive. This week, we highlight cert petitions that ask the court to consider, among other things, when a prevailing plaintiff in a civil-rights … Read the rest