The Supreme Court handed down only orders this morning, meaning the next possible time for it to release an opinion in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is early next year. Several commentators, most notably John Elwood on Volokh Conspiracy and Tony Mauro for the Legal Times, have considered the possible reasons and consequences of [...]

As we head into the April sitting, the court’s term is entering its home stretch. The court has already issued 43 opinions, well ahead of where it has been in the last few years. Opinions published going into April sitting: OT05 43 OT06 27 OT07 28 OT08 43 The reason for the increase in early [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

Barack Obama has chosen a running mate that shares his views on fiscal policy, healthcare, education, the war on terror, and…Clarence Thomas? It seems that the presumptive Democratic nominee, fresh off his remarks at Saddleback, has selected Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) as his VP. Biden is widely-respected as the Chair of the Senate Committee on [...]

The Supreme Court today released a press release announcing that they will be providing the audio recording of oral arguments in Boumediene and Al-Odah as early as possible. Its nice to see that the Court is embracing the internet and recognizing the advantage that speedily released arguments provide. The transcript will appear online at its [...]

Yesterday the University of Texas sent out an email to all of its students outlining its policy towards hazing and detailing some crimes that are considered hazing. You can find the entire email in memorandum form here but these are the relevant excerpts: According to the law, a person can commit a hazing offense not [...]