Access online today’s rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in argued cases: The Court today issued five decisions in argued cases. At the close of today’s session, the Court announced that it will issue additional rulings in argued cases tomorrow.
1. Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court in Vance v. Ball State Univ., No. 11-556. Justice Clarence Thomas issued a concurring opinion. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.
2. Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the Court in Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. v. Bartlettt, No. 12-142. Justice Breyer issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Kagan joined. And Justice Sotomayor issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Ginsburg joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.
3. Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court in United States v. Kebodeaux, No. 12-418. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justice Alito each issued an opinion concurring in the judgment. Justice Antonin Scalia issued a dissenting opinion. And Justice Thomas issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Scalia joined in part. You can access the oral argument via this link.
4. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, No. 11-345. Justices Scalia and Thomas each issued a concurring opinion. And Justice Ginsburg issued a dissenting opinion. Justice Kagan was recused from the ruling. You can access the oral argument via this link.
5. And Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court in University of Tex. Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, No. 12-484. Justice Ginsburg issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.
In early news coverage, The Associated Press has reports headlined “High court sends back Texas race-based plan“; “Court says no to generic drug design lawsuits“; and “Court: Supervisors must be able to hire and fire.”
Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Affirmative Action Case Yields Compromise Court Ruling“; “Patient Drug Suits Curbed as U.S. Supreme Court Backs Takeda“; and “Job-Supervisor Harassment Suits Limited by U.S. Supreme Court.”
And from Reuters,Lawrence Hurley reports that “U.S. justices send affirmative action case back to lower court.” In addition,Hurley and Jonathan Stempel report that “U.S. justices rule against college employee in harassment case.”
Access online today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: The Court has posted today’s Order List at this link. The Court granted review in nine new cases. The Court also called for the views of the Solicitor General in two cases. And the Court issued a per curiam opinion in Ryan v. Schad, No. 12-1084.
In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “High court to hear Obama recess appointments case“; “High court to review cross-border pollution rule“; “Court to hear appeal of abortion buffer zone“; “High court to review immigration dispute“; “Court to referee union-company agreement“; “Court nixes appeal over added ethanol in gasoline“; and “High court reinstates Schad’s death sentence.”
Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Obama’s Recess Appointments Draw Supreme Court Scrutiny“; “Obama’s EPA Gets Supreme Court Hearing on Coal Pollution“; “Abortion Clinic Buffer Zone Gets U.S. High Court Review“; “Ethanol Increase Survives as Top Court Rejects Challenges“; and “Pfizer Loses Top Court Bid for Shield From Asbestos Suits.”
Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “U.S. justices to hear presidential appointments case.”
And at the “School Law” blog of Education Week, Mark Walsh has a post titled “Supreme Court Declines Appeal on IDEA Residential Placements.”
“LBJ Vision for Racial Justice Weighed as Ruling Nears”: Michael Tackett of Bloomberg News has this report.
And yesterday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” contained an audio segment titled “What Happens Without Affirmative Action: The Story Of UCLA.”
“State fight brews over charities”: The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown, Pennsylvania has this report.
“New York prayer case could have local input — and impact”: Monday’s edition of The Winston-Salem Journal will contain this article.
“Anticipation Turns to Acceptance as California Awaits Marriage Ruling”: This article will appear Monday in The New York Times.
Monday’s edition of The Los Angeles Times will contain an article headlined “The man behind the Proposition 8 lawsuit: When Chad Griffin challenged California’s same-sex marriage ban, gay rights groups feared the case was too risky; Now he’s hailed as a visionary.”
And in Monday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, Jess Bravin will have an article headlined “Court Sifts Legalities in Gay-Marriage Suits; Procedural Thicket Could Obscure Public’s Yes-or-No Choice.” You can freely access the full text of the article via Google News.
“The highest dictionary in the land?” “OUPblog” has this marriage-related post today.
“DMV data case against top SC trial lawyers returned to lower court”: The State of Columbia, South Carolina has this report.
“High court poised for a week of high-stakes rulings”: Bill Mears of CNN.com has this report.
And Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Historic Week Opens as High Court Saves Biggest Cases for Last.”
“States Reined In by 1965 Voting Act Await a Decision”: Campbell Robertson will have this article Monday in The New York Times.
“In All Four Big Cases, Supreme Court’s Decision Could Be Not To Decide: A procedural question about whether the right party is before the court could be a hurdle for the pending Supreme Court cases involving the Defense of Marriage Act, California’s Proposition 8, affirmative action policies, and the Voting Rights Act.” Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed has this report.
“A Test Track for Tuning Up Supreme Court Arguments”: In Monday’s edition of The New York Times, Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column.
“Supreme Court Comes to Defense of Business”: Brent Kendall will have this article in Monday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
You can freely access the full text of the article via Google News.
“Fish, Fetuses, Fletcher and the Idea of Pain”: Senior U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf had this post Friday at his blog, “Hercules and the Umpire.”
“President-Congress showdown reaches high court; Battle over President Obama’s labor board appointments could result in landmark decision about presidential power and congressional oversight”: Richard Wolf will have this article in Monday’s edition of USA Today.
“Conservative Justices United in Cutting Back Civil Litigation”: Kenneth Jost has this post today at his blog, “Jost On Justice.”
“High Court Sticks to Its Ways, Oblivious to Social Media”: Michael D. Shear will have this article in Monday’s edition of The New York Times.
“Gay marriage in Supreme Court: Nation will be glued to Web awaiting rulings.” Howard Mintz of The San Jose Mercury News has an article that begins, “Decades ago, the U.S. Supreme Court would wind up its term each summer in relatively obscure fashion compared with the Internet microscope trained on its decisions today.”
“Affirmative action ban at UC, 15 years later”: This front page article appears today in The Oakland Tribune. The newspaper also contains a related article headlined “UC after Proposition 209: How minority student admissions changed.”
“Supreme Court decisions test chief justice’s moderate approach; The court will likely be strongly divided on affirmative action, voting rights and same-sex marriage, presenting Roberts with a difficult choice”: David G. Savage has this news analysis today in The Los Angeles Times.
“Supreme Court has range of options on gay marriage”: Mark Sherman of The Associated Press has this report.
And The AP also reports that “3 blockbusters among Supreme Court’s last cases.”
“Under the U.S. Supreme Court: Voter ID repercussions could be vast.” Michael Kirkland of UPI has this report.
“For secretive surveillance court, rare scrutiny in wake of NSA leaks”: The Washington Post has this report.
And The Los Angeles Times reports that “Obama may release edited opinions of surveillance court; The White House, under fire over revelations by Edward Snowden, seeks to show that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court plays a key role in regulating NSA monitoring.”
“Supreme Court Weighs Cases Redefining Legal Equality”: In Sunday’s edition of The New York Times, Adam Liptak will have an article that begins, “Within days, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a series of decisions that could transform three fundamental social institutions: marriage, education and voting.”
Access the most recent entries in Slate’s “The Breakfast Table” discussion titled “Supreme Court 2013: The Year in Review.” Walter Dellinger has a post titled “When DOMA passed, no one imagined it could be unconstitutional.”
Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner has a post titled “What’s the biggest flaw in the opinions this term?”
Emily Bazelon has a post titled “You know what Supreme Court opinions need? Headlines.”
And law professor Eric Posner has a post titled “Of course the justices are motivated in part by ideology.”
“Burbank couple that challenged Prop. 8 eagerly awaits Supreme Court’s gay marriage rulings”: The Los Angeles Daily News has this report.
And in related news, The Charlotte Observer reports that “N.C. lawyers listen as Justice Scalia bemoans ‘moral arbiter’ on eve of gay marriage ruling.”
“The Endless Battle Over Judicial Nominees”: David Leonhardt will have this “Capital Ideas” essay in the Sunday Review section of tomorrow’s edition of The New York Times.
“Man loses appeal in threats on judges”: The Record of Hackensack, New Jersey has an article that begins, “Radio talk show broadcaster Harold C. ‘Hal’ Turner, who served more than 2 1/2 years in federal prison for threatening three federal judges in a 2009 blog post, lost his attempt to get an appellate court to throw out the conviction, according to court documents filed Friday.”
And Mark Hamblett of New York Law Journal reports that “Circuit Finds Blogger Issued ‘True Threat’ Against Judges.”
My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Second Circuit ruling appears at this link.
In commentary from law professor Adam Winkler: Online at The Los Angeles Times, he has an essay titled “Might Justice Kennedy spring a surprise on DOMA? Gay rights supporters who expect the Supreme Court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act could be in for a surprise from the court’s swing vote.”
And online at The Daily Beast, he has an essay titled “Obama’s Terrible, Awful, Horrible Year at the Supreme Court: The Obama administration is about to end one of the worst years ever for the government winning cases at the Supreme Court.”
“Jerry Brown, Constitutional Scofflaw: On Thursday, three federal judges again reminded the California governor that his failure to fix prison overcrowding is a continuing violation of the Eighth Amendment.” Andrew Cohen has this essay online today at The Atlantic.
“Dismissing the DOMA Case”: Will Baude has this post today at “PrawfsBlawg.”
“Lengthy Battle on Arrest Seen in Leaks Case”: This article will appear in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.
“Two years later, Arizona federal judge nominee’s fate still in limbo”: Evan Bell of Cronkite News has this report.
According to the article, in second place for the longest wait for a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing is Eleventh Circuit nominee Jill A. Pryor,
“Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor offered advice to Cicero-North Syracuse graduates”: The Post-Standard of Syracuse, New York has this news update.
“A Lifeline for Minorities, Catholic Schools Retrench”: Today’s edition of The New York Times contains an article that begins, “Sonia Sotomayor lives in Washington, but she has never forgotten her roots in the Bronx.”
