Court appoints lawyer in Oklahoma death penalty case

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The Supreme Court on Friday morning appointed a former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts to defend a ruling by an Oklahoma court leaving in place the conviction and death sentence of Richard Glossip – even after the state’s attorney general agreed that they should be set aside.

The justices agreed to hear Glossip’s case on Monday, after considering the case at 11 consecutive conferences since late September 2023. Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1997 … Read the rest

Justices take up camping ban case

Justices take up camping ban case

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The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether an Oregon city can enforce its ban on public camping against homeless people. The announcement came as part of a short list of orders released from the justices’ private conference earlier in the day adding five new cases to the court’s merits docket.

The court’s ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson could affect how other cities address their own epidemics of homelessness. San Francisco, which spent over $ … Read the rest

Justices take up abortion case pitting state against federal law

Justices take up abortion case pitting state against federal law

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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

Court grants review in federal employee’s filing deadlines case

Court grants review in federal employee’s filing deadlines case

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The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon agreed to take up another case exploring the distinction between deadlines that are jurisdictional – so that courts cannot hear a case if they are not met – and those that are instead simply a limitations period that can be waived or extended.

The justices granted review in Harrow v. Department of Defense, the case of a federal government employee who challenged his 2013 furlough. The case was the only grant on a … Read the rest

Major OxyContin case headlines December session

Major OxyContin case headlines December session

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The justices will kick off the December argument session on Nov. 27 with oral argument in a pair of consolidated cases, Brown v. United States and Jackson v. United States, involving the Armed Career Criminal Act. The ACCA extends the minimum sentence – from 10 years to 15 – for an individual who had been convicted of a felony and possesses a firearm when that person has at least three “serious drug offenses.” The question before the justices … Read the rest

Justices grant four new cases, including Chevron companion case

Justices grant four new cases, including <em>Chevron</em> companion case

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The Supreme Court has added a second case asking it to overrule its landmark 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council to its docket for the 2023-24 term. The announcement came on a list of orders released on Friday afternoon from the justices’ private conference earlier in the day. The court will hear oral argument in both Relentless v. Department of Commerce, the case granted on Friday, and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which it agreed in … Read the rest

To stand or not to stand – a case of legal standing

This blog was co-authored by Sebenzile Magagula, Candidate Attorney.

A claim (Joubert and Others v Louw (CIV APP RC 08/2022) [2023] ZANWHC 102 (22 June 2023)) was dismissed by the High Court on the grounds that the respondent lacked the requisite legal standing to litigate on behalf of her husband who was the party to the contract sued on.

The claimant sued for delictual damages arising from failure by the defending attorneys to institute timeous action against a construction … Read the rest

Civil rights “tester” asks court to dismiss case

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Lawyers for a self-appointed civil rights “tester” have asked the Supreme Court to dismiss her case as moot – that is, no longer a live controversy. Deborah Laufer, who has physical disabilities and vision impairments, told the justices that she has voluntarily dismissed her case in the district court after an attorney who represented her in other cases was disciplined by a federal court in Maryland. But lawyers for the hotel company that Laufer is suing urged the justices … Read the rest