Wiggin and Dana just opened a a shiny new office Washington, D.C., but it seems our arrival has been eclipsed by that of another force of nature in the nation’s capital. Perhaps anxious to skip town before it’s buried, the Justices have been especially busy in the last week, churning out three new opinions, eleven cert grants (including a few biggies), and most recently a
Read More Kansas v. Carr (14-449) and Order List
Hurst v. Florida (14-7505), Bruce v. Samuels (14-844) and Order List
… and Happy New Year! Judging by the votes in its first two decisions of (calendar year) 2016—an 8-1 decision striking down Florida’s capital sentencing regime and 9-0 decision addressing filing fees under the Prison Litigation Reform Act—you’d think The Nine had resolved to set aside their differences and work towards unanimity in the new year. But judging by history, we know they’re just saving
Read More Hurst v. Florida (14-7505), Bruce v. Samuels (14-844) and Order List
DIRECTV, Inc. v. Imburgia (14-462), White v. Wheeler 14-1372) and Order List
We’re back with the first contested decision of the term (as well as a very-much uncontested one).
First, in DIRECTV, Inc. v. Imburgia (14-462), the Court addressed for the third time in five years the latest fad in Federal Arbitration Act jurisprudence: whether to enforce a waiver of class arbitration in a consumer contract. In a 6-3 decision, the Court reversed a California court’s
Read More DIRECTV, Inc. v. Imburgia (14-462), White v. Wheeler 14-1372) and Order List
Shapiro v. McManus (14-990) and Order List
While most of the Courtward attention this week was focused on oral arguments in Evenwel v. Abbott (14-940) and Fisher v. UT Austin (14-981), concerning “one person one vote” and affirmative action in college admissions, respectively, the Nine also found time to release another unanimous decision. This time it was Shapiro v. McManus (14-990), which concerned the authority of a single district judge to
OBB Personenverkehr AG v. Sachs (13-067) and Order List
If you blinked, you might have missed it, but the Court handed down its first signed opinion of the Term this week in OBB Personenverkehr AG v. Sachs (13-1067), unanimously holding that an Austrian railroad was immune from suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”).
Carol Sachs, a resident of Berkeley, California, bought a Eurail pass online from a Massachusetts travel agent to
Read More OBB Personenverkehr AG v. Sachs (13-067) and Order List
Mullenix v. Luna (14-1143) and Order List
Was it Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr or Jon Bon Jovi who remarked, “The more things change, the more they stay the same”? (They both did!) Over the last few terms, we’ve encountered a few steady themes in the Supreme Court’s docket, among them: (1) The Court loves arguing about Obamacare (so much so, that Justice Scalia has taken to calling it “Scotuscare”); and (2) The Court