Law360's The Term - News & Analysis on the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court capped its first oral arguments of the term with the case of Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee subjected to CIA torture during the War on Terror. Can Zubaydah collect evidence to hold the CIA's alleged Polish collaborators liable? Journalist Spencer Ackerman joins Law360's The Term to break down the case.

We’re back! With the start of the 2021 SCOTUS term just days away, Law360’s weekly Supreme Court podcast is kicking off its third season by welcoming special guest Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog and Howe on the Court to preview all the blockbuster cases on the docket, from the biggest challenge to Roe v. Wade in 30 years, to a gun rights case that would expand the Second Amendment outside the home, and ma...

An uptick in unanimous decisions caught U.S. Supreme Court watchers off-guard this term, but simmering beneath the surface are stark differences among the justices on the direction of the court. We’re talking big takeaways and wrapping up the term this week with the help of Law360 data editor Jackie Bell, who will break down the numbers behind the cases -- including who’s the new “Mr. Majority.”

Eight years after its Shelby County decision, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has once again blunted a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act over the outraged dissents of the liberal minority. This week, the hosts explore the consequences of Brnovich v. DNC and other high court action on the final day of the October 2020 term.

When a high school cheerleader posted a profane Snapchat three years ago, she could hardly have known the episode would give rise to the biggest Supreme Court ruling on student free speech rights in half a century. This week, The Term talks to the ACLU’s David Cole, who argued her case, on what the victory means. Also this week, the high court rejects NCAA rules limiting education-related compensa...

On this week’s episode of The Term, we break down all the blockbuster decisions handed down Thursday by the Supreme Court, where the Affordable Care Act survived another GOP challenge, Nestle and Cargill defeated claims of aiding child slavery on cocoa farms and the court sided with a Catholic foster agency with a policy of refusing to certify same-sex parents.

The Term team is still waiting for a flood of opinions expected to drop by the end of the month, but that doesn’t mean we had a slow week at the high court. This week we discuss a new case taken up over government surveillance, an unsuccessful challenge to the male-only draft and a major immigration ruling dashing the hopes of many immigrants with "temporary protected status" of obtaining green ca...

A cop who took $5,000 to look up a stripper's license plate information may have broken department protocol and the public trust, but he did not violate federal computer crime law, according to a majority opinion handed down by the Supreme Court on Thursday. On this week’s episode of The Term we explore the closely-watched ruling, plus look at a corporate giant’s failed bid to escape a $2.1 billio...

The Supreme Court handed down rulings affecting immigrants, Superfund pollution sites and more this week as it works to clear its docket of argued cases before summer recess. Law360's The Term recaps all the latest developments, including a prisoner's failed attempt to be executed by firing squad rather than lethal injection that he says will cause severe pain.

The U.S. Supreme Court took an extraordinary step this week when it agreed to hear a closely watched abortion case that many observers speculate could mean the end of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that has protected abortion rights for half a century. On this week’s episode of The Term, we unpack how the case landed on court’s docket and which justices are the most likely targets of advocates...

In light of a slow news week at the Supreme Court, we take the opportunity on this week’s episode of The Term to welcome guests Vernon Burton and Armand Derfner, the co-authors of a forthcoming book examining the high court’s long, fraught history with race, from the first days of the Republic to the modern day Roberts Court.

The Supreme Court heard its final oral argument of the term this week in a criminal case involving sentencing relief for crack offenders that saw some tough questions for the Biden administration. Law360's The Term dives into the case, then looks ahead to some of the biggest decisions that are expected to come by the end of June.

The case of a high school cheerleader whose profanity-laced Snapchat led to a suspension landed in front of the Supreme Court this week, where the justices struggled to balance punishment for disruptive online speech while avoiding all-out censorship and student expression. On this week’s episode of The Term we break down the oral argument, as well as a potential landmark gun rights case the high...

With the stroke of a pen, the Supreme Court on Thursday nixed a legal strategy that the Federal Trade Commission used for many years to return billions of dollars to consumers. Law360's The Term breaks down the ruling—along with a big defeat for juvenile justice reformers and Justice Amy Coney Barrett's eye-popping book deal.

Long a political non-starter, the idea of "court-packing" is now dominating Washington as Democrats in Congress push legislation to add four seats to the Supreme Court and a presidential commission studies the broader issue of court reform. Will these latest efforts go anywhere? Law360's The Term discusses on this week's episode.

After a decade of litigation, Google has finally defeated a lawsuit from Oracle over the chunks of computer code Google used to develop the Android smartphone platform. This week, The Term welcomes Law360 senior intellectual property reporter Bill Donahue to explain the Supreme Court's ruling in the tech battle—plus we also look at one justice's foray into the discourse of regulating Big Tech.

The spirit of spring has the justices cleaning out their docket this week with decisions on Florida's oyster fisheries, Facebook's class action liability and long-lived media ownership limits. The Term breaks down all the action, plus we take a deep dive into the NCAA's very bad day at the high court over its "amateurism" rules with Law360 senior sports reporter Zach Zagger.

The Supreme Court delivered a rare victory for civil rights plaintiffs this week in a case over a police shooting that divided the court's conservative justices. Law360's The Term explores the contentious Fourth Amendment ruling, plus a look at the Boston bomber's death penalty case now facing the court.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has found himself under the political spotlight recently with liberals calling on the 82-year-old to retire to avoid a repeat of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's replacement by a conservative. On this week’s episode of The Term we break down the debate, plus unpack a more lenient stance by the Biden administration on sentence reductions for those serving time in p...

It was a matter of standing doctrine, of all things, that spurred the first "solo dissent" of Chief Justice John Roberts’ Supreme Court career this week. Law360's The Term discusses why that shouldn't come as a surprise—and what lawmakers are saying about "dark money" at the high court.

After years of patents being thrown out by the controversial Patent Trial and Appeal Board, one patent owner asked the Supreme Court Monday to return the favor and declare the board itself invalid. Law360's The Term recaps the hearing, along with a crucial moment for the Voting Rights Act.

The Supreme Court swept away the last of the election cases and a Trump subpoena battle this week, so why did it take up two new challenges to Trump-era abortion and immigration policies that could very well be rescinded and rendered moot by President Joe Biden before they're argued? We’re breaking it down on this week’s episode of The Term.

The past week saw Congress' first-ever hearing on the U.S. Supreme Court's so-called shadow docket, the justices' late-night, unsigned orders on weighty legal questions that don't go through their normal process of public deliberation. On this week’s episode of The Term we unpack a few recent shadow docket rulings and recap some of the notable moments from the hearing, including criticisms that th...

As the Supreme Court prepares for its next session, Law360's The Term catches up on some noteworthy petitions that the justices appear to be interested in, from a direct attack on Roe v. Wade to the right of U.S. presidents to create offshore national monuments. We also recap a couple of important developments from the past week, including the Biden administration’s change of position in the Affor...

The Supreme Court may still be on break, but a bustle of activity in the border wall, "Remain-in-Mexico" and Nazi art theft cases gives The Term podcast team a lot to discuss this week. We dive into the latest high court news on this week’s episode, plus look at Justice Amy Coney Barrett's first dissent in a surprising 5-4 lineup.