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Supreme Court

Justices take up cases on religious tax exemption and California climate change mandate

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejecting efforts by Catholic Charities to seek an exemption from the state’s unemployment tax. Catholic Charities contends that both it and the four agencies that operate under its umbrella qualify for the exemption because they are operated “primarily for religious purposes.” The group, which is controlled by the bishop of the diocese of Superior, says that the state supreme court’s contrary decision, which rested … Read the rest

Circuit Courts

The Need for Additional Judgeships: Litigants Suffer When Cases Linger

With a worsening shortage of Article III judges to resolve critical copyright, trademark, patent, and contract disputes, judges across the nation are faced with increasingly complex litigation and growing caseloads.
Judiciary News – United States Courts… Read the rest

Supreme Court

Fourteen cases to watch from the Supreme Court’s end-of-summer “long conference”

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.

Just before the Supreme Court begins its new term on the first Monday in October, the court gathers to consider all the hundreds of cert petitions that have built up over the summer. The court’s so-called “long conference” took place on Sept. 30 this year, and it yielded 15 granted cases so far. … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court schedules first cases for 2024-25 term

The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the Biden administration’s efforts to regulate so-called “ghost guns” in the first week of the 2024-25 term in October, followed the next day by an unusual death-penalty case – in which the state’s attorney general supports the condemned man’s efforts to overturn his conviction and sentence. Garland v. VanDerStok and Glossip v. Oklahoma headline the Supreme Court’s October argument calendar, which was released on Friday morning.

The November argument calendar, released … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices appoint former clerk to argue First Step Act cases

The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon appointed a former clerk to Justice Samuel Alito (who also served as a clerk to then-Judge Neil Gorsuch on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit) to defend a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in a pair of cases involving the interpretation of the First Step Act, a 2018 law that — among other things – reduced the mandatory minimum sentences for some drug and … 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

Supreme Court takes up RICO and veterans “benefit of the doubt” cases

In a list of orders released from the justices’ private conference last week, the justices granted review in four cases – adding those cases to the lone four cases that they have agreed to take up for the 2024-25 term since early January. Monday’s grants involve (among others) the interpretation of federal racketeering laws and the “benefit of the doubt” rule for veterans.

In Medical Marijuana v. Horn, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether a commercial truck … Read the rest

Circuit Courts

New Civics Education Program Puts a Local Lens on Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Twenty-two high school students in the St. Louis area were the first to participate in a new civics education program teaching them about the federal Judiciary through a landmark Supreme Court case that originated in their hometown and local court.
Judiciary News – United States Courts… Read the rest