The news coming out of the Supreme Court is mostly quiet now, as Justices and clerks plow though opinions and the rest of the world speculates about Justice Souter’s replacement. On that note, Jan Crawford Greenburg has a post on her blog here confirming three of the six members of what she claims is the [...]

I’ve been thinking about the Court’s grant of cert. in two cases in which Juveniles were sentenced to long prison terms for crimes in which no one was killed. Lyle Denniston has some great analysis on the matter here. Another thing odd about these cases is that the Court considered them at several consecutive conference [...]

The Supreme Court granted review today in two cases revolving around whether or not sentencing children to long-term prison sentences for non-capital crimes constitutes cruel and unusual punishment as defined by the Eight Amendment. In Sullivan v. Florida, Joe Sullivan was 13-years old when convicted of raping an elderly woman and in Graham v. Florida, [...]

The Court issued a press release in which Justice Souter’s colleages expressed their best wishes towards him. I’ve reprinted them in full below: STATEMENTS FROM THE SUPREME COURT REGARDING JUSTICE DAVID H. SOUTER’S RETIREMENT May 1, 2009 Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.: Justice Souter has served with great distinction on the Court for nearly [...]

Justice Souter has officially given President Obama notice of his intent to retire at the end of the current term. His notification seemed to suggest that he will not remain in his position until his successor is seated. Thanks to SCOTUSblog, we can see the Court’s press release here and Justice Souter’s letter here. You [...]

Despite all the talk of Justice Souter’s importance to the Court, the proposition that Justice Souter has had a minimal impact on the Court’s most controversial issues is generally true. Since the beginning of OT06, Justice Souter has issued just 1 of 39 5-4 opinions and this lone 5-4 majority opinion was handed down less [...]

It would be naive to think that Justice Souter’s replacement won’t have a major impact on the future of the Supreme Court. At a minimum, if President Obama were to simply hit the refresh button on Justice Souter and replace him with a 55-year old version of himself, the liberal wing of the Court would [...]