Access today’s rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in argued cases: The Court issued rulings in two argued cases.
1. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh delivered the opinion of the Court in Culley v. Marshall, No. 22-585. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch issued a concurring opinion, in which Justice Clarence Thomas joined. And Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.
2. And Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court in Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy, No. 22-1078. Justice Gorsuch issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Thomas and Samuel A. Alito, Jr. joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.
“A Judge Had a 13-Year-Old Girl Handcuffed for No Reason. A Year Later, He’s Faced Basically No Consequences.” Law professor Steven Lubet has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.
“The Post-Chevron Separation of Powers; Eliminating Chevron may hasten our return to a division of power that helps guarantee liberty”: John O. McGinnis has this post at the “Law & Liberty” blog.
“Who Was at the Lectern This Supreme Court Term? If it weren’t for the four female justices, oral arguments would often have the feel of a male echo chamber, with 23 of the term’s 61 argued cases not featuring a single female attorney; That’s compared to just five cases that did not feature a male advocate.” Jimmy Hoover of The National Law Journal has this report.
“Conservative Judges Plan to Blackball Columbia University Graduates; More than a dozen Trump appointees sign letter critical of school’s response to student protests, academic-integrity issues”: Jess Bravin and Melissa Korn of The Wall Street Journal have this report.
And in commentary, in Thursday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Matthew Solomson will have an op-ed titled “Why Judges Are Boycotting Law Clerks From Columbia: The reputational costs from our boycott ought to provoke some soul-searching at the school.”
“Catholic school can fire gay drama teacher for marrying, court rules; The decision comes from an appellate court that in recent years has become one of the most progressive in the country”: Rachel Weiner of The Washington Post has this report.
And Patrick Dorrian of Bloomberg Law reports that “Gay Teacher’s Job Bias Win Nixed Under ‘Ministerial Exception’; Split 4th Cir. panel says ministerial exception isn’t waivable; Teacher fell under it, so no need to address other defenses.”
You can access today’s ruling of a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.
“Sullivan & Cromwell Plans Vigilant Hiring Checks After Protests; Sullivan & Cromwell ‘closely’ follows events at schools it recruits from; Conservative judges have pledged not to hire Columbia grads”: Tatyana Monnay of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“Biden taps Florida judge for Atlanta-based federal appeals court”: Rosie Manins of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this report.
Nate Raymond of Reuters reports that “Biden nominates four new judges including to 11th Circuit.”
And Tiana Headley of Bloomberg Law reports that “Biden to Tap US Magistrate Judge for Eleventh Circuit Seat; Embry Kidd leads new batch of judicial nominees; Would serve in Florida, which has two Republican senators.”
The White House today issued a news release titled “President Biden Names Forty-Ninth Round of Judicial Nominees.”
“Supreme Court Achieves Historic Unanimity but Tougher Cases Loom; Justices unanimous in 15 of 18 opinions released so far; Abortion cases, Trump immunity, still to be decided”: Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“Appellate panel scrutinizes Idaho ‘abortion trafficking’ law as state seeks to revive it; The appellate panel asked what it means to ‘recruit’ someone to obtain an abortion”: Hillel Aron of Courthouse News Service has this report.
Brendan Pierson of Reuters reports that “Idaho seeks to revive ‘abortion trafficking’ law in US appeals court.”
And Avalon Zoppo of The National Law Journal reports that “9th Circuit Judges Probe Scope of Idaho’s ‘Abortion Travel Ban’; The state’s law, which went into effect last May, criminalizes ‘recruiting, harboring, or transporting’ a pregnant minor to access a legal abortion if the adult has the intent to conceal the abortion from a parent or guardian.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has posted the video of today’s oral argument on YouTube at this link.
“Columbia Law voices confidence in grads in face of conservative judges’ boycott”: Nate Raymond and Karen Sloan of Reuters have this report.
“Anti-Choice Activists Are Threatening to Sue Women Over Legal Abortions Now; Jonathan Mitchell wrote Texas’s anti-choice bounty hunter law; Now, he’s pushing the most aggressive possible interpretation to try and make women afraid to exercise their rights”: Madiba K. Dennie has this essay online at Balls & Strikes.
“Justice Samuel Alito to address record-breaking 2024 class at Franciscan University”: Kate Quiñones of Catholic News Agency has this report.
“US Supreme Court Argument Order Gives Unlucky Lawyers Less Time; More questions asked by justices in first case of the day; Short break between cases would help, advocate says”: Lydia Wheeler of Bloomberg Law has this report.
As arguing counsel for respondent in the first “second case” argued this Term, I fortunately anticipated the concern mentioned in the article by Daniel Geyser, as noted here.
“Judge skewers Alabama attorney general, allows abortion travel lawsuit to proceed”: Howard Koplowitz of The Birmingham News has this report.
John Fritze of CNN reports that “Federal judge blasts threat by Alabama to prosecute groups aiding out-of-state abortions.”
And at his Substack site, Chris Geidner has a post titled “Federal judge rebukes Alabama AG’s threat to prosecute providing help for out-of-state abortions; ‘[T]he Constitution protects the right to cross state lines and engage in lawful conduct in other States, including receiving an abortion,’ Judge Myron Thompson ruled.”
You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama at this link.
“ProPublica Wins Pulitzer Prize for Supreme Court Coverage; The award marks ProPublica’s 7th Pulitzer; Uvalde shooting investigation is named a Pulitzer finalist”: ProPublica has this report.
“Dormant Commerce and Corporate Jurisdiction”: Law professor Stephen E. Sachs has posted this article at SSRN.
“Barrow wages legal battle to campaign for court post on pledge to ‘protect’ abortion; Facing possible sanctions for pledging to ‘protect’ abortion rights, former U.S. Rep. John Barrow is challenging the state’s Judicial Code of Conduct as he seeks a seat on Georgia’s top court”: Greg Bluestein of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this report.
“Conservative Judges Won’t Hire Columbia Law Clerks Over Protests; Judges label university ‘incubator of bigotry’; Students call to divest from pro-Israel companies”: Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law has this report.
And Nate Raymond and Karen Sloan of Reuters report that “Conservative US judges boycott Columbia grads over campus Gaza protests.”
You can view the letter at this link.
“The New York Times and The Washington Post Win 3 Pulitzers Each; The prize for public service went to ProPublica for coverage of the Supreme Court; The Pulitzer board also issued a special citation for journalists covering the Middle East”: Michael M. Grynbaum of The New York Times has this report.
“A death-row prisoner won a new trial. Now, the Louisiana Supreme Court may change its mind.” John Simerman of The Times-Picayune of New Orleans has this report.
“The Supreme Court: The most powerful, least busy people in Washington; The justices are quietly quitting their day jobs as judges, even as they become more and more political.” Ian Millhiser has this essay online at Vox.
“The Supreme Court’s Republican bias hangs over the Trump immunity case; The conservative justices must navigate a crisis moment of their own making”: Columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. has this essay online at The Washington Post.
“Blockbuster cases abound as Supreme Court enters opinion season; The justices have a lot of news to make before running off to summer recess”: Kelsey Reichmann of Courthouse News Service has this report.
“Former Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer: ‘Are you kidding? You’ll get more cases than ever!’; The American lawyer on the problem of overturning of Roe vs Wade, the ‘psychological difficulty’ of retirement — and what ‘Macbeth’ tells us about Washington.” Stefania Palma of Financial Times has this “Lunch with the FT” report.
“Asked and Answered: A Listener Mailbag Episode!” You can access today’s new episode of the “Strict Scrutiny” podcast via this link.
“Six months out: The dangers to — and from — the courts in a second Trump administration; If Trump does win, even the best-case scenarios are very bad — for Democrats and the left, certainly, but also for democracy.” Chris Geidner has this post at his Substack site.
“UC Berkeley opens civil rights investigation into backyard confrontation between a law professor and a student; Malak Afaneh attempted to deliver a pro-Palestinian speech at an invitation-only dinner when professor Catherine Fisk tried to grab her microphone”: Alicia Victoria Lozano of NBC News has this report.
“How Originalism Ate the Law: The Trick; Part one of a series examining the theory of constitutional interpretation that has eaten the law and gobbled up a bunch of your rights with it.” You can access the new episode of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.
“Judicial Notice (05.05.24): Not Above The Law; A bad day for a DA, Columbia sued over antisemitism, the debut of A&O Shearman, and other legal news from the week that was.” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.
“How ‘History and Tradition’ Rulings Are Changing American Law: A new legal standard is gaining traction among conservative judges — one that might turn back the clock on drag shows, gun restrictions and more.” Emily Bazelon will have this article in tomorrow’s edition of The New York Times Magazine.
“Booker on Mangi nomination: ‘It’s not over yet’; Senator says he’s still working to push through stalled Third Circuit nominee.” Joey Fox of the New Jersey Globe has this report.
And Chuck Ross of The Washington Free Beacon reports that “Embattled Biden Nominee Adeel Mangi Facilitated Meeting Between Leaders of Anti-Israel and Anti-Police Groups.”
“Judicial Security Resources Stretched Amid Rising Threats”: Suzanne Monyak of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“Federal judge sentences McGirt to 30 years, expected to be released in 30 days”: Mckenzie Richmond of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s KTUL has this report.
“Biden Top Supreme Court Lawyer Laments Shadow Docket Effect”: Suzanne Monyak and Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson of Bloomberg Law have this report.
