The Supreme Court handed down three more opinions this morning, including one which explicitly overruled a generation-old precedent set in Michigan v. Jackson. I’ve uploded a new version of the Term voting chart here. With 53 opinions handed down and 75 opinion expected, the Court has now handed down an opinion in 70% of the [...]

Judge Sotomayor’s frequent encounters with major league sports are well-documented. She also grew up near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and is a life-long fan of the Yankees. Justice Stevens, the Court’s longest-serving member, is a long-time fan of another famous baseball team: the Chicago. He was present at the game at Wrigley Field in [...]

President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter is the type of decision we have come to expect from the Obama administration. It involved important political considerations and will likely prove to be good enough for liberals but not off-putting for conservatives. Let me start off with the assumption that she [...]

Most news sources are now reporting that President Obama is narrowing in on his nominee for the Supreme Court and will likely announce his decision next week, just before leaving on a lengthy foreign trip in early June. More specifically, Fox News is hypothesizing that the pick will be announced either Tuesday morning or Friday [...]

President Obama gave the commencement speech at Notre Dame earlier today and spoke primarily about abortion and other social issues. You can find a full recap from the New York Times here. I don’t ordinarily take note of political speeches coming from the White House, but I have to think about whether or not the [...]

The Court will be holding conference for the next seven consecutive Thursdays (as opposed to the normal friday conference meeting). We will likely see at least a few opinions and accepted cases every week from now until the Court breaks at the end of June. In the short-term, the Court’s opinion hotline also tells us [...]

If this AP article is to be believed, President Obama’s shortlist contains one name people haven’t really considered yet: Carlos Moreno. Name: Carlos R. Moreno DOB: November 4, 1948 Age: 60 Undergraduate: B.A. Yale ’70 Graduate: J.D. Stanford ’75 Current Position: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California, ’01-Present Notable Past Positions: Federal District [...]

Kathleen Sullivan’s name is being mentioned more and more frequently as a potential nominee to replace Justice Souter. For the sake of full disclosure, I’ll admit that she would be my ideal choice, but I wouldn’t bet-the-house on her chances. Name: Kathleen Marie Sullivan DOB: August 20, 1955 Age: 53 Undergraduate: Cornell ’76 Graduate: Oxford [...]

I’ve been thinking about Kedar’s post on the issue, and I am compelled somewhat bizarrely by this form of pedantry. My compulsive use of Google has unearthed the following: The vulgar Latin that was prevalent in large parts of Europe in the centuries post-Rome, when the term was likely adopted, would have pronounced it more [...]

Even though I should be hard at work on the two amicus briefs that my organization is currently working on, I’ve still found time recently to roam about the internet following bizarre Supreme Court memes. The most interesting of which would be the perennial debate over the correct pronunciation of the word “Certiorari.” In 2001, [...]