At 10AM on September 9th, the Supreme Court will sit for a special rehearing of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (08-205). The case will be the first heard by Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor––and it should be one that she feels very comfortable with. Back in May, the New York Times noted that Sotomayor, who [...]

One can only hope that Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) horded the tasteless Intrade contract for “Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Be Next Justice to Depart US Supreme Court,” looking to cash in on his classy prediction that the Justice would be dead in nine months. I think everyone-except Bunning, that is–breathed a collective sigh of relief [...]

Politico has an article up this week about “the birthers,” a fringe group that challenges the validity of Obama’s ascendency to the presidency on the alleged basis that he was born outside the United States. Such a claim, if true, would render him constitutionally ineligible for office pursuant to Article II, Section I, Clause IV. [...]

It now appears as though the much-anticipated case al-Marri v. Spagone (08-368) won’t be heard by the Supreme Court. al-Marri has gotten a taste of some change he can believe in, courtesy of the Obama administration. The United States Circuit Court for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled en banc last June that [...]

On Monday, in response to a complaint from the United States Department of Justice alleging that Governor Milorad “Rod” Blagojevich had solicited bribes and engaged in a massive conspiracy to commit fraud, the Illinois House voted 113-0 to begin impeachment proceedings. Blagojevich has not yet been indicted. On December 10th, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [...]

A little over a year and a half ago, in a piece analyzing the Justice Department transition from Clinton to Bush, I wrote: Unsurprisingly, one factor that is very seldom discussed in Election 2008 coverage is how the candidates would treat the DoJ if elected, both ideologically and logistically. Perhaps it’s time for Wolf Blitzer [...]

Over the course of the past week, both the blogosphere and mainstream media have been spending quite a bit of time over at the Supreme Court rumor mill. There has been a lot of buzz about two cases concerned with president-elect Obama’s citizenship, Donofrio v. Wells (08A407) and Wrotnowski v. Bysiewicz (08A469). The applications for [...]

Again, our thanks to commenter Ted for bringing the Scalia referral to our attention. In speaking about that application for stay, Ted writes: I don’t think Team Obama should get too comfortable with the Court’s denial of [Donofrio] since [Wrotnowski] IS distributed for Dec 12 conference. It’s important to remember that the “safe harbor” deadline–the [...]

The Supreme Court appears to have declined review in a case filed against the Secretary of State of New Jersey that sought to nullify Barack Obama’s election to the presidency. The case, which centers on Obama’s citizenship, was not among those for which the Court accepted review on Friday; thus, watchers of the high Court [...]

Tomorrow, the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle will host the 55th Red Mass. Tradition holds that, on the Sunday before the opening of the Court’s October term, the Catholic Church hosts a mass to bring wisdom and guidance to the Justices of the high court. Although the current Court is a 5-4 majority of [...]