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Supreme Court

Court will hear affirmative-action challenges separately, allowing Jackson to participate in UNC case

The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will consider two challenges to the role of race in college admissions separately, rather than – as it had originally planned – together. That news, which came in a brief order from the court, was not unexpected: It allows Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s newest justice, to participate in one of the cases, involving the consideration of race in the University of North Carolina’s undergraduate admissions process, while recusing herself … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Divided court declines to reinstate Biden’s immigration guidelines, sets case for argument this fall

The Supreme Court will again weigh the executive branch’s authority to set immigration policy as some red states claim that the Biden administration’s enforcement decisions are too lax. The justices on Thursday agreed to take up a challenge by Texas and Louisiana to a new federal policy that prioritizes certain groups of unauthorized immigrants for arrest and deportation. The justices will hear the case in late November without waiting for a federal appeals court to weigh in.

The justices … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Another gun case waits in the wings

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.

On Thursday, the court issued its first major ruling on the Second Amendment in over a decade, striking down a New York gun regulation and holding that the right to bear arms extends outside the home. Fourteen years earlier, the court’s modern jurisprudence on guns began with the decision in … Read the rest

Supreme Court

In the case of the praying football coach, both sides invoke religious freedom

Joseph Kennedy had never coached football when Bremerton High School, a public school near Seattle, Washington, hired him in 2008. He was too small to play in high school, and his football experience was limited to playing for two years while he was in Hawaii serving in the Marines.

Kennedy describes the school district’s decision to hire him to coach the school’s junior varsity team and to serve as an assistant for the varsity team as a “fluke”: His … Read the rest

Circuit Courts

Clerk’s Office Earns Award for Cutting Case Processing Time in Half

Case filings are being processed more efficiently than ever in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, thanks to several procedural improvements made by the Clerk’s Office. The court’s administrative arm effectively cut the case processing time for submitted documents and filings in half, while also increasing the accuracy of how documents are submitted to the court to as high as 95 percent, up 13 percent since the improvements were made.
Judiciary News – United States Courts… Read the rest

Circuit Courts

Judiciary Urges Dialogue on Electronic Case Files Bills, Seeks Delay in Action

The Judiciary sent letters to Congress this week urging lawmakers to defer action on pending bills affecting the federal courts’ electronic records management system until a “meaningful two-way dialogue” between the two branches of government can take place to resolve important concerns.
Judiciary News – United States Courts… Read the rest

Circuit Courts

Just the Facts: Insurance Case Filings Spike After Natural Disasters

In the U.S. district courts, filings of civil cases involving insurance typically have surged following weather catastrophes. Over the past 20 years, devastating hurricanes and severe floods have resulted in the Eastern District of Louisiana processing the most insurance cases of any district court.
Judiciary News – United States Courts… Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices grant arbitration case, won’t take up Volkswagen emissions cases

Ten years ago, in AT&T v. Concepcion, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act requires courts to put arbitration agreements “on an equal footing with other contracts.” Concepcion involved a state law that treated arbitration clauses unfavorably. On Monday, the court agreed to hear a lawsuit from a fast-food worker who alleges that a lower court treated an arbitration clause too favorably.

The decision to take up the case, Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., came in … Read the rest