This time last year, as we summarized Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), King v. Burwell (2015), among other decisions, all the talk was about the Supreme Court’s “left turn.” But some observers predicted that OT15 could be the term that “the Empire Strikes Back,” with conservative victories on public-sector unions, affirmative action, and possibly even abortion. That rightward correction never materialized. As
Read More Order List 7/5/16Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (15-274)
We’re back with our penultimate Update of OT15, covering one of the biggest decisions (and certainly the longest) of the term, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (15-274). Hellerstedt, the first significant abortion case to reach the Court in nearly a decade, posed a test to the enduring vitality of the “undue burden” standard first announced in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). Under Casey…
Read More Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (15-274)
McDonnell v. United States (15-474) and Voisine v. United States (14-10154
Though most of the attention coming out of the final decision day of OT15 has focused on Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (15-274), where a 5-3 majority held that a Texas law regulating abortion providers imposed an undue burden on a woman’s right to choose, the Court also announced two important criminal-law decisions, touching on the federal government’s ability to regulate guns and graft.
Read More McDonnell v. United States (15-474) and Voisine v. United States (14-10154Mathis v. United States (15-6092), Utah v. Strieff (14-1373), Birchfield v. North Dakota (14-1468) and Taylor v. United States (14-6166)
The Court finished up OT15 this morning with decisions in Voisine v. United States (14-10154), holding that a reckless domestic assault qualifies as a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” under the federal felon-in-possession statute; McDonnell v. United States (15-574), holding that an “official act” for purposes of federal corruption statutes requires more than the kind of small favors that former Virginia governor Bob…
Read More Mathis v. United States (15-6092), Utah v. Strieff (14-1373), Birchfield v. North Dakota (14-1468) and Taylor v. United States (14-6166)Fisher v. University of Texas (14-981) and United States v. Texas (15-674)
While “Brexit” is dominating the international headlines, it was a Texas twin bill yesterday on First Street, as The Eight handed down a 4-4 affirmance in United States v. Texas (15-674), upholding a nationwide injunction against implementation of the Obama Administration’s deferred-action immigration policy, while The Seven (with Justice Kagan recused) issued a narrow ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (14-981) …
Read More Fisher v. University of Texas (14-981) and United States v. Texas (15-674)RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Community (15-138), Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro (14-415), Kingdomware Technologies, Inc. v. United States (14-916) and Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee (15-446)
Having cleared some near-blockbusters off the table on Friday (everything’s relative this term), we’ve still got an eight-case backlog to get through before the final decision day of OT15 on Monday. Since we’ve got an even split of civil and criminal cases in the queue, we’re going to break them up accordingly. Read on for summaries of our civil backlog: RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European …
Read More RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Community (15-138), Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro (14-415), Kingdomware Technologies, Inc. v. United States (14-916) and Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee (15-446)