Supreme Court

Little guidance from court on New York interest requirement on national bank escrow accounts

Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s opinion for a unanimous court Thursday in Cantero v. Bank of America will not be one for the casebooks or treatises, as it says almost nothing about how the lower court is supposed to reconcile provisions of the National Bank Act that protect national banks with a New York statute requiring all banks (including national banks) to pay interest on the escrow accounts they hold for their mortgage customers.

The difficulty arises because amendments to the … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Supreme Court once again considers the “categorical approach” to sentencing enhancements

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 cleared out quite a bit of its backlog of relisted cases at last week’s conference. For starters, it granted review in City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency, concerning how specific Clean Water Act pollutant discharge permits have to be. But the court denied review in … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Alito reject calls to recuse from Trump, Jan. 6 cases in light of flag controversies

Two weeks after the New York Times first reported that an upside-down American flag – popular among the “Stop the Steal” movement – flew outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel Alito in the days following the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol, Alito rebuffed requests from Democratic lawmakers to recuse himself from cases involving immunity for former President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attacks and the scope of a federal criminal law … Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Friday, May 24

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:

Supreme Court rules in South Carolina gerrymandering case (Nina Totenberg, NPR)
Supreme Court throws out race claim in South Carolina redistricting case in win for GOP (Lawrence Hurley, NBC News)
Supreme Court Conservatives Add New Minority Voter Roadblocks (Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson, Bloomberg Law)
Tired, testy and fractured: The Supreme Court prepares for more drama

… Read the rest

Supreme Court

Restrictions on gender-affirming medical care – and assault weapons

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.

After going two conferences without any new relists, the Supreme Court ended the relist drought this week with a vengeance. We have 12 new relists, several of which are potential blockbusters if the court grants review.

Gender-affirming care

Three of the cases involve constitutional challenges brought against state prohibitions on providing gender-affirming care … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court rules for South Carolina Republicans in dispute over congressional map

The Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a ruling by a federal district court holding that a congressional district on the South Carolina coast was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander – that is, it sorted voters based primarily on their race. In an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, the justices cleared the way for the state to use the map going forward. The 6-3 decision, with the justices divided on ideological lines, means that the disputed district will remain a … Read the rest

Supreme Court

The morning read for Tuesday, May 21

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:

Supreme Court denies challenge to Mountain Valley pipeline (Niina H. Farah, E&E News)
Supreme Court declines case on Montgomery Co. Public Schools gender identity policy (Kate Ryan, WTOP News)
The Supreme Court’s CFPB Ruling Saved the Fed, Too (Noah Feldman, Bloomberg)
Justice Alito sold Bud Light stock amidst anti-trans boycott effort (Chris Geidner, Law

… Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices dubious about dismissing suits while waiting for arbitration

Smith v. Spizziri is this week’s item on the court’s bountiful menu of cases under the Federal Arbitration Act. The question here is what options are available to a trial court that decides to send a case to arbitration. Must it stay the matter or, instead, does it have the option to dismiss it entirely? Discussion at the argument suggested that the justices were skeptical about the practical consequences of dismissal, so Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s opinion for a unanimous … Read the rest