Greetings, Court Fans!
We’re back with more outstanding opinions from the end of the Term, leading off with yesterday’s ruling in Panetti v. Quarterman (06-6407), where a 5-4 majority led by Justice Kennedy blocked, for the time being, the execution of a mentally ill Texas man. Panetti was sentenced to death after killing his wife’s parents, despite what the Court described as obvious signs


Read More Panetti v. Quarterman (06-6407), National Ass’n of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife (06-340) and EPA v. Defenders of Wildlife (06-549) and order list

Greetings, Court fans!

Before officially recessing for two weeks, the Court surprised us with two more opinions. We’ll try to be brief . . . .

In Rousey v. Jacoway, No. 03-1407, a unanimous Court (Thomas, J.) held that IRA assets may be exempted from a bankruptcy estate under 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(10)(E). The Rouseys declared bankruptcy several years after depositing distributions from
Read More Rousey v. Jacoway (03-1407)

Greetings Court fans!

The Court issued 5 opinions on Thursday, leaving 7 to be issued this coming week. As you probably know by now, they issued their decision in the Cheney energy task force case, but they also issued a major Sixth Amendment opinion that impacts thousands upon thousands of criminal prosecutions across the country. I’ll begin there.

The decision is called Blakely v.

Read More Blakely v. Washington (02-1632), Schriro v. Summerlin (03-526), Beard v. Banks (02-1603)

Greetings, Court Fans!
This Term the race to author the first opinion (and historically it has been a race, with former Justice O’Connor always vying for the win) turned into a short sprint, as the Chief took the crown last week with his five-Justice majority in Winter v. NRDC (07-1239), vacating the Ninth Circuit’s preliminary injunction barring sonar tests by the U.S. Navy in


Read More Winter v. NRDC (07-1239) and order list

Greetings, Court fans!

There were two opinions yesterday, and one more today (all unanimous!), but what everyone’s really talking about is yesterday’s oral argument in Marshall v. Marshall, concerning the scope of the “probate exception” to federal jurisdiction. But it’s not that scintillating topic that’s making the news – it’s that Vicki Lynn Marshall (a/k/a Anna Nicole Smith) is a former Playboy Playmate/”reality” TV
Read More Illinois Tool Works Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc. (04-1329), Texaco, Inc. v. Dagher (04-805), Shell Oil Co. v. Dagher (04-814) and Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, Inc. ("NOW III") (04-1244)

Greetings, Court Fans!

Still no decisions from the Court, though we do have some items to report from Friday’s and Monday’s order lists. The big news this week, however, is that tomorrow the Court will hear arguments in Gonzales v. Carhart (05-380) and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood (05-1382), in which it will consider the constitutionality of the federal Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003. The
Read More Order List