What SCOTUS Wrote Us

Audio of Bittner v. United States (Feb 28, 2023) Majority Opinion   U.S. persons with foreign bank accounts are required to file an annual Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, commonly known as an FBAR. Alexandru Bittner, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Romania, failed to report his interests in his foreign bank accounts on annual FBAR forms, as required by the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (B...

Audio of Delaware v. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (Feb 28, 2023) Majority Opinion (Escheatment, MoneyGram Official Checks) When property is abandoned and unclaimed, it often ends up becoming the property of the state where it's located - a legal principle called escheatment. But, when such property isn't tangible like, say, real estate - when it's something intangible, like an uncashed money order-...

Audio of Justice Barrett's dissenting opinion in Cruz v. Arizona (Feb 22, 2023) In 2005, John Montenegro Cruz was sentenced to death after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder for killing a Tucson police officer in 2003. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed, and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. In 2012, the state court dismissed Cruz’s petition for post-conviction relief and...

Audio of Helix Energy Solutions v. Hewitt (2023) Justice Kavannaugh, Dissenting 

Audio of J ustice Gorsuch, Dissenting in Helix Energy Solutions v. Hewitt (2023)   Music by Epidemic Sound  

Audio of NEW OPINION: Cruz v. Arizona (Feb 22, 2023)   In 2005, John Montenegro Cruz was sentenced to death after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder for killing a Tucson police officer in 2003. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed, and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. In 2012, the state court dismissed Cruz’s petition for post-conviction relief and the Arizona Supreme Cour...

Audio of Helix Energy Solutions v. Hewitt (Feb 22, 2023) Majority Opinion  Michael Hewitt was paid a set, daily rate for his job working as a supervisor on an offshore oil rig, but he frequently had to work far more than the usual 40-hour work week - only without the benefit of overtime. So, Hewitt sued his employer, Helix Energy Solutions, to get the overtime pay that Hewitt argued was owed to hi...

Audio of Bartenwerfer v. Buckley (2023) Majority Opinion - Unanimous Before David and Kate Bartenwerfer were even married, they bought a house together and decided to join the house-flipping bandwagon. So, they bought a home in San Francisco and renovated it - a project the couple claimed was mostly David's thing - Kate was largely uninvolved in that process. Soon, the Bartenwerfer's flipped the h...

Audio of Department of the Army v. Blue Fox, Inc. (1999) Majority Opinion Can subcontractors on federal projects force the government to pay when prime contractors don't? Music by Epidemic Sound

Audio of Denezpi v. United States (2022) Dissenting Opinion The Court of Indian Offenses is a trial court with jurisdiction over Native Americans where there are no tribal courts. Six months after Merle Denezpi, a member of the Navajo tribe, pleaded guilty to an assault charge in the Court of Indian Offenses, a federal grand jury indicted him for aggravated sexual assault for the exact same event...

Audio of Denezpi v. United States (2022) Majority Opinion  The Court of Indian Offenses is a trial court with jurisdiction over Native Americans where there are no tribal courts. Six months after Merle Denezpi, a member of the Navajo tribe, pleaded guilty to an assault charge in the Court of Indian Offenses, a federal grand jury indicted him for aggravated sexual assault for the exact same event t...

Audio of the opinion of the Court in  Louisiana v. United States (1965) About six months before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed, two very similar cases were argued before the Supreme Court on the same day in January - United States v. Mississippi and Louisiana v. United States - both cases were regarding state voting laws that prevented African Americans from voting. Today I'll be reading...

Audio of the opinion of the Court in Romer v. Evans (1996) . In 1992, the voters of Colorado adopted Amendment 2 to the Colorado State Constitution, which prohibited any legislative, judicial or executive action to protect individuals from discrimination that is based on "homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships." Several affected citizens challenged the am...

Audio of the 1972 opinion of the Court in Eisendtadt v. Baird (1972)    After his lecture on birth control and over-population at Boston University, William Baird gave contraceptive foam to an unmarried woman. But, it was a felony to give contraceptives to unmarried people in Massachusetts in 1967, so Baird was charged with the felony crime of distributing contraceptives to unmarried men or women....

Audio of Part 2: Trump v. Hawaii (2018) Justice Sotomayor, Dissenting (Muslim Travel Ban)  

Audio of Part 1 of Justice Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion in Trump v. Hawaii (2018)  Music by Epidemic Sound

Today I'll be reading the opinion of the Court in Trump v. Hawaii (2018) - also known as the Muslim Travel Ban case in which former President Donald Trump issued Proclamation No. 9645, asserting that it sought to improve the procedures used to screen the citizens of particular countries to determine whether they present “public safety threats” if permitted to enter the United States §1(a). So, the...

Today I'll be reading the opinion of the Court in Trump v. Hawaii (2018) - also known as the Muslim Travel Ban case

Audio of West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937) Majority Opinion (Minimum Wage for Women, Right to Contract) In the case I'll be reading today, the Court revisited the minimum wage for women issue once again. This time, regarding a Washington state law requiring a minimum wage of $14.50 for women for a 48-hour work week. But an employee of the West Coast Hotel Company, Elsie Parrish, received less tha...

Audio of United States v. Vaello-Madero (2022)  Justice Gorsuch, Concurring (Insular Cases)   Music by Epidemic Sound

Audio of United States v. Vaello-Madero (2022) Majority Opinion (Puerto Rico, SSI Benefits)   Next episode, I'll be reading Justice Gorsuch's concurring opinion in this case.    Music by Epidemic Sound

Audio of Part 2: McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010) Majority Opinion (Incorporation of Second Amendment to the states through Fourteenth Amendment)   Music by Epidemic Sound

Audio of Part 1: McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010) Majority Opinion (Incorporation of Second Amendment to the states through Fourteenth Amendment)   Music by Epidemic Sound

Audio of Dissent Part 2: District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) Justice Stevens' Dissenting Opinion (Second Amendment, Firearms Restrictions, Handguns)    

Audio of Dissent Part 1: District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) Justice Stevens' Dissenting Opinion (Second Amendment, Firearms Restrictions, Handguns)   Music by Epidemic Sound