DailyWrit

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the role clerks play and how they influence the way cases are accepted and decided. Obviously they play a huge role in Cert. Pool (which Justices Stevens and Alito forgo) as well as writing the opinions once they are ready to be distributed.
In today’s order’s list (here), […]

Audio files from the October Term 2007 are now online over at Oyez. You can find them here.
Recommended listens: Announcement of Boumediene v. Bush and Oral Arguments in Danforth v. Minnesota.

There is a fascinating fight going on behind the scenes of a case about to reach the Supreme Court. The argument more or less boils down to whether a local attorney who has been with a case for a decade or an experience Supreme Court advocate fresh to the case should argue in front of […]

The Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments in Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, a case revolving around Navy sonar exercises off the coast of California and their potential impact on the environment.
Justices on both sides of the normal ideological division seemed unpersuaded by the NRDC. Justice Breyer at one time asked,
I will express a […]

The Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in Herring v. US, a case that revolves around whether or not the exclusionary rule applies in scenarios where there is an error made by the police. Plaintiff was arrested after police where mistakenly notified that a warrant was out for his arrest. The warrant had been withdrawn […]

Apparently I’m late on this, but Adam Liptak at the New York Times reports that Justice Alito has opted out of the Cert. Pool. The Cert. Pool is a system in which Justices pool together their clerks to review cert petitions more efficiently. One clerk will review petitions and draft a memo that is circulated […]

The Court convened Monday to begin the new term and first heard oral arguments in Altria Group v. Good. The case revolves around whether or not federal labeling regulations on the use of ‘light’ or ‘low-tar’ cigarettes preempts state deceptive advertising claims.
Theodore Olsen opened arguments on the day on behalf of the tobacco companies […]

The Court last week decided to end months of speculation in Louisiana v. Kennedy when it struck down a motion for rehearing and simply issued a revised opinion. The move is not unprecedented but it is extremely unusual and done only in very specific circumstances. The modified opinion can be found here.
Justice Kennedy wrote an […]

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 Catholics, […]

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear its first case of the new term on Monday, October 6. The first case of the day will be Altria Group and Phillip Morris v. Good, a case that centers around whether a suit filed by the state of Maine against Phillip Morris and others for deceptive advertising […]

The State of Louisiana filed for reharing in Louisiana v. Kennedy, the landmark death penalty case in which the Court held, 5-4, that capital crimes cannot Consitutionally include non-life ending crimes such as child rape. The state filed a petition for rehearing earlier this summer and since then the Federal Government has asked to join […]

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 […]

Earlier tonight, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama joined Pastor Rick Warren at his California megachurch for an event pegged as “The Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency.” The interviews, each an hour in length, were separated by thirty-six tense seconds in which the presumptive nominees shared the stage (and an awkward hug [video here!]). […]

I’ve been a little surprised by how scarcely the Supreme Court is being mentioned during this election cycle. Especially as the dust was settling from Heller, I expected more talk about the role our next president may play in determining the trajectory of the Court. Recently, however, I’ve noticed that some smaller conservative blogs have […]

I just finished the Term Index, which you can find here.
Number of Opinions Released: 72
Per Curiam Decisions: 5 (7%)
Unanimous Decisions (9-0, 8-0): 24 (33%)
Lone Dissenter(8-1):6 (8%) [Thomas(3), Ginsburg(2), Breyer(1)]
Two Dissenters (7-2, 6-2, 5-2) :19 (26%)
Three Dissenters(6-3, 5-3): 9 (13%)
Five-to-Four Decision: 9 (13%)
More to come as I have more time to crunch numbers.