Justice Kennedy’s streak of being in the majority in 5-4 decisions has been snapped today with his dissenting vote (and opinion) in Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisions. Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion and was joined by the Chief Justice and Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Ginsburg. Justice Kennedy penned a dissent that was joined [...]

Randy Newman sang a rather interesting song at the conclusion of the Macworld Keynote Speech. Here was the relevant portion of his song: Its pissing me off a little that the Supreme Court is going to outlive me. Couple young Italian fellas and a brother on the Court now, too. But I defy you to [...]

No surprises here- Justices decide 5-3 along the usual lines (with Breyer recused) against certain consumer lawsuits against corporations accused of malfeasance (Opinion here.) Justice Kennedy, authoring the majority opinion, found that “The decision to extend the cause of action is thus for the Congress, not for this Court.” Justice Alito also keeps up his [...]

The Supreme Court’s opinion in John R. Sand and Gravel marked one of their most phiosophical in quite some time. The Court was asked to decide whether or not a court of appeals can consider an argument sua sponte. In district court, thee government had brought up statute of limitations concerns after John R Sand [...]

Ever since I located a glorious set of old books at a friends hosue, I’ve been hankering to purchase a particular antiquarian book. I’ve been on the search for a version of Giles Duncombe’s Tryals Per Pais (1655.) I’d prefer an early edition, but I found a 4th edition printed in 1702 for $850 (here). [...]

Justice Stephen Breyer has taken part in a groundbreaking new online forum that was launched today, BigThink.com. The site finds ‘experts’ in various fields and invites them to give candid interviews on a variety of topics. For a more indepth look, check out an article from the New York Times here. Justice Breyer has always [...]

In Irizarry v. US (opinion below), the Court is asked to decide whether or not a district court must offer advance warning for an upward sentencing departure. In 2000, Richard Irizarry’s wife moved from California to South Carolina and filed for divorce, claiming that Mr. Irizarry verbally and mentally abused her and their children during [...]

In the first Orders List of the new year, the Supreme Court accepted review in six new cases. You can find it on the Court’s website here. They include three sentencing cases, one Indian Tribes case, one civil RICO case, and a case about Article III standing. Over the next few days I’ll be offering [...]