“Nevada high court justice’s car plows into store”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Officials say a Nevada Supreme Court justice and a store owner escaped injury when the judge’s car smashed through the glass front window of a UPS store in Las Vegas.”
And The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a news update headlined “Supreme Court justice drives into store.”
You can access the biography of Justice Kristina Pickering of the Supreme Court of Nevada at this link.
“Court Affirms Reimbursement for Special Education”: The New York Times has this news update.
“Judges on ACS Panel Agree on Caseload, Pay and Shoddy Lawyering”: Saturday at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Jeff Jeffrey had a post that begins, “They came from very different federal circuits, but the six appellate judges sitting on a panel at the American Constitution Society’s annual conference today agreed on several things. All six said that the volume of cases reaching their desks is becoming almost too much to bear, federal judges should be paid more, and something must be done about incompetent counsel.”
Analysis available online at “SCOTUSblog”: Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Is Section 5’s future shaky?”
And Tom Goldstein has a post titled “Supreme Court Invalidates Section 5’s Coverage Scheme.”
“Free-Speech Case for a Debt-Ridden Age”: In Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times, Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column.
“Supreme Court Backs Reimbursement for Private Tuition”: Mark Walsh and Erik W. Robelen of Education Week have this report.
“Et Tu, Scalia? Dispatch from the American Constitution Society convention.” Lydia DePillis has this essay online at Slate.
“Supreme Court victory for parents of disabled students; Justices rule that parents who remove a disabled child from public school can be reimbursed for private instruction; The court says a ‘free, appropriate’ education is a public duty”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this news update.
“Supreme Court narrows, but preserves, Voting Rights Act; In a unanimous decision, justices leave safeguards intact while allowing municipalities with a clean record to ‘bail out'”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this news update.
Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has a news update headlined “Supreme Court Rules Narrowly on Voting Rights Act.”
And James Vicini of Reuters reports that “Supreme Court avoids major voting rights ruling.”
“Supreme Court to review sex offender law; The top court agrees to assess a law that lets the US government indefinitely detain sex offenders even after they have served their sentences”: Warren Richey of The Christian Science Monitor has this report.
“Initial Thoughts on NAMUDNO: Chief Justice Roberts Blinked.” At his “Election Law Blog,” law professor Rick Hasen has a post that begins, “Despite Chief Justice Roberts’ longstanding skepticism of the Voting Rights Act and his blistering set of questions to supporters of section 5’s constitutionality during oral argument, the Chief has managed to put together a coalition of 8 of 9 Justices to put the question off for another day.”
James Vicini of Reuters is reporting: He has articles headlined “Supreme Court to decide federal sex offender law” and “Supreme Court rules for Coeur on Alaska permit.”
Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News is reporting: He has articles headlined “Voting Rights Act Narrowed by U.S. Supreme Court” and “Whistleblower Lawsuits Will Get Scrutiny By U.S. Supreme Court.”
Access online today’s opinions in argued cases and Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: The Court today issued three opinions in argued cases.
1. The Court’s first opinion today in an argued case issued in Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, No. 07-984. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court, in which the Chief Justice and Justices Clarence Thomas, Stephen G. Breyer, and Samuel A. Alito, Jr., joined in full, and in which Justice Antonin Scalia joined in part. Justice Breyer also filed a concurring opinion. Justice Scalia filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. And Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices John Paul Stevens and David H. Souter joined. You can access the ruling at this link and the oral argument transcript at this link.
2. Today’s second opinion issued in Forest Grove School Dist. v. T.A., No. 08-305. Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court, in which the Chief Justice and Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Alito joined. Justice Souter issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Scalia and Thomas joined. You can access the ruling at this link and the oral argument transcript at this link.
3. Today’s third opinion issued in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder. The Chief Justice delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Justices Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Alito joined. Justice Thomas issued a dissenting opinion. You can access the ruling at this link and the oral argument transcript at this link.
At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Section 5 survives” that begins, “With only one Justice voting to strike down Congress’s 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act’s controversial Section 5, the Supreme Court on Monday interpreted the law in a way that saves it.”
You can access today’s Order List at this link.
The Court today granted review in three cases — Graham County Soil & Water Conservation Dist. v. U.S. ex rel. Wilson; United States v. Comstock; and Florida v. Powell. The Comstock case presents the question whether the U.S. Congress has the power to authorize the continued confinement of sexually violent predators after they have served their federal criminal sentence.
At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Court to rule on sex offender law.”
In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “High court rules narrowly in voting rights case“; “Court OKs dumping gold mine waste in lake“; “Court says public must pay for private special ed“; “Court to rule on federal sex offenders law“; “Court to decide Miranda warning expansion“; “Court to look at standards in whistleblower case“; “Court won’t decide if fake money should look real“; “Court will not revive Plame’s lawsuit“; and “Court won’t get involved Massachusetts tax fight.”
“Federal judges’ workload to rise; Jurist’s departure will be 2nd vacancy from Md. bench”: The Baltimore Sun today contains an article that begins, “Maryland’s U.S. District Court judges already handle an average of 250 cases apiece, and the caseload is about to get heavier, with the U.S. Senate expected soon to confirm Andre Davis to a new position on the region’s federal appeals court.”
“GOP: no benefit to court fight.” Politico.com has this report, along with an article headlined “Oklahoma senator won’t meet with Sotomayor.”
The Journal News of Westchester, New York reports today that “Exonerated man opposes Sotomayor’s nod.”
Yesterday’s edition of Newsday reported that “Sotomayor’s views in speeches scrutinized.”
Today in The Washington Times, Charmaine Yoest has an op-ed entitled “Sotomayor worse than Souter; A stronger proponent by far of abortion rights.”
In The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Bruce Castor Jr. has an op-ed entitled “Obama’s Supreme Court nominee raises concerns.”
And in The Washington Post, today’s installment of Al Kamen’s “In the Loop” column is headlined “Do You Have Sotomayor’s Number?”
“Death penalty decisions loom for Barack Obama”: Josh Gerstein has this report at Politico.com.
“The Supreme Court Breakfast Table” at Slate returns: The first installment, written by Walter Dellinger, is titled “Harmonic Convergence at the High Court.” The other participants in the conversation will be Linda Greenhouse and Dahlia Lithwick.
