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Supreme Court

Another follow-up from McGirt v. Oklahoma and a copyright dispute over an Icelandic song

This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, the requirements for defendants to prove “Indian” status under the Major Crimes Act and the proper test for when two songs (here, “Soknudur” and “You Raise Me Up”) are substantially similar for copyright claims.

The requirements for “Indian” status under the Major Crimes Act

Oklahoma v. Wadkins presents the justices with the latest in a series of cases emerging out of their 2020 … Read the rest

Supreme Court

A 27-year solitary confinement and a dispute about discharging settlement payments in bankruptcy

This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, whether a prisoner’s 27-year period in solitary confinement violates either the Eighth Amendment or the 14th Amendment, and whether a settlement can include a provision in which a debtor agrees that any payments are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Constitutional challenges to a 27-year solitary confinement

Dennis Wayne Hope has been in solitary confinement for 27 years since 1994. In Hope v. Harris, Hope … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Over Gorsuch dissent, justices deny review in dispute over definition of “minister” for tax-exemption purposes

After adding five cases to its merits docket for the spring on Friday, the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning issued more orders from the justices’ private conference last week. As expected, the justices did not grant any new cases. Perhaps most notably, they once again did not act on a pair of petitions challenging the consideration of race in the undergraduate admissions process at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, nor did they act on a petition … Read the rest

Supreme Court

In dispute over groundwater, court tells Mississippi it’s equitable apportionment or nothing

Less than two months after oral argument, in its first interstate groundwater case, the Supreme Court unanimously decided that Mississippi must rely on a doctrine known as equitable apportionment if it wants to sue Tennessee over the shared Middle Claiborne Aquifer. In an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court squarely rejected Mississippi’s claim that Tennessee is stealing Mississippi’s groundwater, noting that it had “‘consistently denied’ the proposition that a State may exercise exclusive ownership or control of … Read the rest