Access online today’s rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in argued cases: The Court today issued two rulings in argued cases and dismissed one argued case as improvidently granted.
1. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court in Astra USA, Inc. v. Santa Clara County, No. 09-1273. The ruling was unanimous, with Justice Elena Kagan recused. You can access the oral argument via this link.
2. Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court in Connick v. Thompson, No.09-571. Justice Antonin Scalia issued a concurring opinion, in which Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. joined. And Justice Ginsburg issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Kagan joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.
3. The Court issued a per curiam order dismissing the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted in Tolentino v. New York. No. 09-11556. You can access the oral argument via this link. This is the case that D.C. Circuit nominee Caitlin J. Halligan argued two Mondays ago.
In early news coverage, The Associated Press has reports headlined “Court: Exonerated inmate doesn’t get $14 million” and “High court limits lawsuits over drug prices.”
“Roy Moore may run for president”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, known as the ‘Ten Commandments judge,’ said he’s considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination.”
“Barry Bonds’ ex says he discussed steroid use”: Lance Williams has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle.
In today’s edition of The San Jose Mercury News, Howard Mintz reports that “Ex-mistress testifies at Barry Bonds perjury trial.”
The New York Times reports that “Ex-Girlfriend Details How Bonds Changed.”
And The Associated Press has a report headlined “Bonds trial: Ball players on deck to testify.”
“Supreme Court justices aren’t political hacks in robes”: The Washington Post contains this editorial today.
“Case of Haines City Officer’s Shooting Heads to United States Supreme Court Today”: This article appears today in The Lakeland (Fla.) Ledger.
“Court hears argument in Wal-Mart sex bias claim”: Mark Sherman of The Associated Press has this report.
James Vicini of Reuters reports that “Wal-Mart opposes big sex-bias case at top court.”
Bill Mears of CNN.com reports that “Justices to hear appeal over Wal-Mart gender pay lawsuit.”
Today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition” contained an audio segment entitled “Can A Business Be Too Big For A Class Action Suit?” featuring Nina Totenberg.
And Warren Richey of The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Supreme Court set to take up massive Wal-Mart discrimination case; On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will decide whether 1.5 million women can form a ‘class’ that faced the same injury — in this case, gender-based discrimination by Wal-Mart — or not.”
“2010 Law Prof Blog Rankings”: Paul L. Caron has this post today at “TaxProf Blog.”
“Court rivals spar over state constitution; Prosser, Kloppenburg differ on using state document to expand Bill of Rights”: This article appears today in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, along with a related article headlined “Matching funds for state Supreme Court races may face challenge; Similar law in Arizona faces court skepticism.”
And The Associated Press reports that “Fight over Wis. union law heads to court.”
“Appeals court upholds US whistleblower law secrecy”: The Associated Press has this report.
And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Mike Scarcella has a post titled “Divided Appeals Court Upholds Secrecy of Whistleblower Suits.”
U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III wrote the majority opinion on behalf of a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
“Supreme Court skeptical about Arizona’s campaign finance law”: Robert Barnes will have this article Tuesday in The Washington Post.
The Washington Times has a news update headlined “Justices bore into validity of Arizona election-finance law; Question whether reduces corruption.”
The Arizona Republic has a news update headlined “Court appears skeptical of Arizona campaign finance law.”
Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services reports that “High court weighs Arizona elections funding.”
And Ariane de Vogue of ABCNews.com reports that “Supreme Court Revisits Campaign Finance; Conservative Justices Appear Skeptical of Arizona’s Public Financing System.”
“Justices Deny New Appeal by Convict in Georgia”: Adam Liptak will have this article Tuesday in The New York Times.
Bill Rankin of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a news update headlined “U.S. Supreme Court rejects Troy Davis’ appeal.”
Warren Richey of The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Supreme Court declines case of death-row inmate who became cause celebre; Georgia death-row inmate Troy Davis had attracted the attention of anti-death penalty advocates worldwide, but the Supreme Court refused to take his case Monday.”
And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Davis innocence plea rejected; The Court turns down, without explanation, all pleas by Georgia death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis that he is innocent of a 1989 murder of an off-duty policeman.”
“High Court to Weigh Bias Exemption for Religious Teachers”: Mark Walsh has this post at the “School Law” blog of Education Week.
“UIC professor’s male bias theory to play big role in Wal-Mart case”: The Chicago Sun-Times has this news update.
“Immediate end to ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ urged”: The Associated Press has this report.
“Wal-Mart and workers’ rights: The Court holds oral argument Tuesday on a massive class-action case over the workplace policies of the giant discount retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, and their impact on women employees.” Lyle Denniston has this oral argument preview at “SCOTUSblog.”
And online at Slate, law professor Richard Thompson Ford has a jurisprudence essay entitled “Everyday Discrimination: Why the Wal-Mart sex-bias lawsuit is the most important case the Supreme Court will hear this year.”
“Justices Review Arizona Law on Campaign Financing”: Adam Liptak will have this article Tuesday in The New York Times.
David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “Justices appear ready to strike down Arizona campaign finance law.”
In Tuesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, Jess Bravin will have an article headlined “Campaign Law Has Doubters On Court.”
Warren Richey of The Christian Science Monitor has an article headlined “Why sharply divided Supreme Court may strike down Arizona campaign-finance law; The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday challenging an Arizona campaign-finance law that tries to guarantee competitive races; The court appeared split on the case.”
Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Arizona Election Public Financing Questioned by High Court.”
James Vicini of Reuters reports that “US top court considers Arizona campaign finance law.”
Bill Mears of CNN.com reports that “Arizona election finance law reveals high court rift.”
And online at Slate, Dahlia Lithwick has a Supreme Court dispatch entitled “Free Speech for Really Rich Guys: The Supreme Court finds a cause worth fighting for.”
“Supreme Court Stays Out of Joshua Tree Landfill Dispute”: Lawrence Hurley of Greenwire has this report (via The New York Times).
“Federal Courts Worry Your Smartphone Might Be a Bomb”: David Kravets has this post at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog.
Citibank vs. City Bank: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today issued its ruling in Citigroup Inc. v. Capital City Bank Group, Inc.
Back in February 2010, “The TTABlog” had this post reporting on the ruling of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board on this matter.
“Court skeptical of Ariz. campaign finance law”: The Associated Press has this report.
And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Kennedy shows his hand: Arizona’s 13-year-old system of providing public funds to subsidize candidates who forgo private contributions appears in serious constitutional jeopardy in an argument before the Court.”
You can access at this link the transcript of today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument in Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club Pac v. Bennett, No. 10-238.
Access online today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: You can access today’s Order List at this link. The Court granted review today in one case and called for the views of the Solicitor General’s office in one case.
The Court today also issued a separate series of three orders pertaining to Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis.
In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Court to decide if teacher can sue church school“; “High court rejects appeal from Troy Davis“; and “Court doesn’t say if it will hear NJ man’s appeal.”
“Abortion limitation creating cold feet; Some believe proposal will fail legal challenge”: Today’s edition of The Columbus Dispatch contains an article that begins, “Despite anti-abortion majorities in the House and Senate, a bill to give Ohio the most-restrictive abortion law in the nation has stalled after drawing fire from those on both sides of the debate.”
“Inside the Mind of Justice Kennedy: Will he strike down the individual mandate?” Frank J. Colucci has this essay online at The New Republic.
“Supreme Court weighs Clean Elections funds match; Constitutionality of state’s elections system at issue”: This article appears today in The Arizona Republic.
On today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Nina Totenberg has an audio segment entitled “High Court Takes Another Stab At Campaign Finance.”
And in The Los Angeles Times, Costas Panagopoulos has an op-ed entitled “Elections test: The Supreme Court should rule that clean election laws don’t have a chilling effect.”
“Justices to hear appeal over Wal-Mart gender pay lawsuit”: Bill Mears of CNN.com has this report.
“With same-sex marriage on hold, elderly and ailing couples face a lengthy appeals process; Judges last week extended a stay on same-sex marriage until higher courts rule on Prop. 8; Derence Kernek and Ed Watson hope that process will move faster than the advance of Watson’s Alzheimer’s disease”: Carol J. Williams has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.
“New Jersey man protests routine strip search”: Mark Sherman of The Associated Press has this report.
“Supreme Court to Weigh Sociology Issue in Wal-Mart Discrimination Case”: Adam Liptak will have this article Monday in The New York Times.
In Monday’s edition of USA Today, Joan Biskupic will have an article headlined “Women take case against Wal-Mart to highest court.”
And Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Wal-Mart Faces the Big Box of Bias Suits; The Supreme Court will soon decide the fate of a million-worker class action against the retailer.”
“Is lying protected speech? Military-medal case on track for Supreme Court.” Robert Barnes will have this article in Monday’s edition of The Washington Post.
“Wal-Mart asks Supreme Court to deny class-action suit by female workers”: Robert Barnes will have this article Monday in The Washington Post.
And online at The Atlantic, Andrew Cohen has a post titled “Welcome to Wal-Mart: The Biggest Case of the Term.”
“Ariz. campaign-finance case brings out sharp divisions”: Joan Biskupic will have this article Monday in USA Today.
“Judge Blane Michael”: Matt Bodie has this post at “PrawfsBlawg.”
“Supreme Court to decide Arizona’s unique campaign financing law; Arizona seeks to level the political playing field by helping finance some political candidates in a match of funds raised privately by opposing candidates; Does that chill free speech?” Warren Richey of The Christian Science Monitor has this report.
“Letters: Courthouse gunman angry at justice system.” Greg Bluestein of The Associated Press has an article that begins, “The Atlanta courthouse gunman said in letters that he escaped from guards and then killed four people in a shooting rampage to fight back against what he believed was a racist justice system, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.”
“Poisoned Web: A Girl’s Nude Photo, and Altered Lives.” This lengthy front page article appears today in The New York Times.
The newspaper also contains a related article headlined “States Struggle With Minors’ Sexting.”
