U.S. Courts News Reporter
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The justices returned to the bench on Jan. 8 for a packed session of oral arguments – starting with immigration policy and the post-9/11 “No Fly List” and ending on Jan. 17 with two cases that could upend the functional power of the federal administrative state.
Monday’s arguments began with two consolidated cases, Campos-Chaves v. Garland and Garland v. Singh, in which the court will consider what kind of notice the government must provide before a noncitizen can … Read the rest
On January 2, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit delivered a death blow to the City of Berkeley, California law attempting to ban natural gas, which the Court had last year found was preempted by federal law, with the action last week denying a petition to rehear the case.
While the procedural complexities of this case are more than a little daunting, and instead of reading the more than 60 page amended opinion, nearly everything important … Read the rest
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The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon granted a request from Idaho and the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to temporarily put on hold a ruling by a federal district court that would require emergency rooms in the state to provide abortions to pregnant women in an emergency. The justices agreed to weigh in on the question at the center of the dispute: whether the federal law on which the lower court relied trumps an Idaho law that criminalizes most abortions in … 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 consider a whopping 472 petitions and applications at this Friday’s conference, making it the biggest conference since the behemoth end-of-summer “long conference.” The justices will be reconsidering three cert petitions for the first time.
Last June, the Supreme Court invalidated the undergraduate admissions programs at Harvard and the University of … Read the rest
“Implicit support” comes charging out of the gates as an early candidate for Word or Phrase of the Year for 2024.
Before year’s end, the IRS Office of Chief Counsel dropped a new generic legal advice memorandum (“GLAM”), AM 2023-008, titled “Effect of Group Membership on Financial Transactions under Section 482 and Treas. Reg. § 1.482-2(a).” The GLAM visits some familiar territory, including the “realistic alternatives” principle, this time in the intracompany lending context.
Tax authorities and taxpayers, of course, … 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.
Individuals held in state prison can challenge their convictions in federal court through a device known as a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. But under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, known as AEDPA, they generally only have one opportunity to do so. This week, … Read the rest
I have blogged about this many new years in the past and, here I am again, reminding you. Yes, I have my living trust in place but DO YOU? To me it seems very normal for people to say “I will get a living trust as part of my new years resolution!” The problem, like with many new year’s resolutions, is they don’t do it. Or maybe they meet with the estate planning attorney but don’t finish it. If you … Read the rest
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In his annual report, Chief Justice John Roberts on Sunday addressed the future of artificial intelligence in the judiciary. Roberts predicted that “human judges will be around for a while,” but he also suggested that “judicial work—particularly at the trial level—will be significantly affected by AI,” and he assured members of the public that committees within the federal judiciary would consider the use of AI in litigation in the federal courts.
Roberts submits the annual report each year on … Read the rest