The Supreme Court is in the midst of a critical juncture. For perhaps the first time since FDR was President, there is serious discussion regarding how many justices should sit on the Supreme Court. Roosevelt tried and failed to add as many as six more seats to the Supreme Court in 1937. The last time…
Narrowing Down Clinton’s Choices For Supreme Court Nominee
Let’s begin with a short timeline. Justice Scalia passed away on February 13, 2016. On March 16, President Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Then on May 18th, Donald Trump set forth a list of 11 individuals he viewed as potential Supreme Court nominees if he should win the presidency. On September…
The Great Supreme Court Debate
One of, if not the main duty of the Supreme Court is safeguarding Constitutional guarantees. Is the Court, however, the most important political branch of the government as well? For those who followed the Third Presidential Debate one could surely surmise such was and is the case. From a rule of law perspective, the Court’s…
Dissents from Denial of Cert (2010-2015)
The Supreme Court Justices released the first non-per curiam or related opinion of the 2016 Term today (contained in the Court’s opinions related to orders), although not in the traditional sense. This opinion came in the form of Justice Sotomayor’s detailed dissent from denial of certiorari in the capital case, Elmore v. Holbrook. Such dissents are becoming…
Breaking Down Arguments in Samsung v. Apple
On Tuesday the Justices heard oral arguments in the highly anticipated patent case, Samsung v. Apple. With this case, the Justices wrestled with the question of whether Samsung infringed on Apple’s front screen and interface on the IPhone. The stakes are quite high as the appellate court upheld a $400-million verdict against Samsung. While patent…
The Justices’ Surprising Support (Or Lack Thereof) for the U.S.
Since it’s election season it seems like as good of a time as any to gauge the Justices’ support for the government. The Justices and especially Justice Ginsburg have been by no means silent about the current presidential candidates. Furthermore, the Supreme Court is more relevant in this election than possibly in any prior presidential election. …
New Court Dynamics With A New Term of Oral Arguments
After the first week of oral arguments for the 2016 Supreme Court Term, two of the main stories from the Court deal with Justice Breyer’s hypothetical question involving the robbery of Kim Kardashian, and the slight upturn in the number of female attorneys participating in oral arguments at the beginning of this Term as compared to years…
Starting Lineups: SCOTUS Attorneys and Firms of Record at the Beginning of OT 2016
Oral arguments begin for the 2016 Supreme Court Term tomorrow, Tuesday October 3rd. On one hand, commentary surrounding the Term often relates to the lack of interesting cases on the Court’s docket. Much of the rationale for the current Court’s decisions is thought to stem from its depleted number of Justices. Thus while the political…
Quick Note: List of Counsel for Oct/Nov Argued SCOTUS Cases
This list includes counsel for the merits parties as covered in the Supreme Court dockets and so it does not exactly match and track all counsel set for arguments. In particular it does not cover arguing amici and it does contain parties’ attorneys of record even if they are not participating in oral arguments. For expanded…
Taking Stock: New Cases and an Emerging Picture of the Term
With the “long conference” before the beginning of the 2016 Supreme Court Term complete the Court has granted what could be the last set of cases before the Justices start hearing oral arguments next Tuesday (Oct. 4). The Court has two months of hearings scheduled with other cases still lacking oral argument dates. The Court’s…
Friends, Foes, and Votes
Since the beginning of the 2010 Supreme Court Term, 82 cases have been decided by one vote (80 by 5-4 votes and 2 by 4-3 votes. Both of the 4-3 votes were during the 2015 Term (see this post for more information on those cases)). These include orally argued cases and non-orally argued decisions where…
The OSG and More Potential Cases for 2016
With the Supreme Court’s 2016 Term around the corner, there is nowhere near a full slate of cases for the Justices to hear. While the October and November hearing schedules were released and there are a handful of other granted cases without oral argument dates on the calendar, there are currently only approximately 29 cases (see SCOTUSBlog’s list…
Empirical SCOTUS 