SCOTUScast

On Nov. 25, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a summary opinion in Thompson v. Hebdon, a case involving campaign-finance law. Specifically at issue was whether Alaska’s political contribution limits are consistent with this Court’s First Amendment precedents. Currently, Alaska’s law imposes (among other things) a $500 annual limit on individual contributions to a political cand...

On Jan. 14, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Kelly v. United States, a case asking whether a public official “defraud[s]” the government of its property by advancing a “public policy reason” for an official decision that is not that official’s subjective “real reason” for making the decision. In 2013, in a New Jersey scandal known as “B...

On Tuesday, in a 5-4 decision in McKinney v. Arizona, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a landmark death penalty and criminal procedure opinion about the division between direct and collateral review and the jury requirements that the Court had previously explicated in the Apprendi line of cases, including Ring v. Arizona and Hurst v. Florida. At issue was an Arizona Supreme Court opin...

The case of Hernandez v. Mesa arises from a 2010 confrontation on the U.S.-Mexican border in which U.S. Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa shot and killed Sergio Hernandez, a teenage Mexican national. Although the FBI apparently cleared Mesa of wrongdoing, and Hernandez was not standing on American soil at the time he was shot, the Hernandez family filed suit against Mesa and the federal government ba...

On March 4, 2020, the Supreme Court oral argument in consolidated cases June Medical Services v. Russo and Russo v. June Medical Services (formerly June Medical Services v. Gee and Gee v. June Medical Services), which involve the constitutionality of Louisiana's law requiring physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital and whether abortion providers can be pre...

In Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of the CFPB, an agency long criticized not just by the business community but also constitutional scholars who see major problems a single-director agency seemingly unaccountable to the president or anyone else. The lawsuit was brought by a law firm that assists in resolving persona...

On February 25, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of United States v. Sineneng-Smith. At issue is "whether the federal criminal prohibition against encouraging or inducing illegal immigration for commercial advantage or private financial gain, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) and (B)(i), is facially unconstitutional." To discuss the cases, we have Brian M. Fish, S...

On Dec. 9, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Thryv, Inc. v. Click-to-Call Technologies, LP, a case involving a dispute over certain appeal and time restrictions applicable to “inter partes review” (IPR) proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the Board) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In 2013, Ingenio--a predecessor entity to petitioner Thryv, Inc.--...

On Dec 11, 2019 the Supreme Court decided Peter v. NantKwest Inc., a case considering whether a party opting to bring a challenge in federal district court to an adverse decision of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) must pay the PTO’s resulting attorney’s fees. When a patent applicant is rejected by the PTO, and the PTAB affirms tha...

On Dec. 11, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Monasky v. Taglieri, a case involving the standard of appellate review applicable to determinations of “habitual residence” under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, as well as the conditions under which habitual residence is established for an infant. The Hague Convention, and the federa...

On Dec. 4, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee v. Sulyma, a case asking what degree of knowledge of a possible violation is necessary to trigger the three-year statute of limitations provided in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Respondent Christopher Sulyma worked for Intel Corporation from 2010-12, and during that time partici...

On Nov. 4, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Barton v. Barr, a case involving a dispute over whether, for the purposes of the “stop-time rule,” a lawfully admitted permanent resident who is not seeking admission to the United States can be “render[ed] ... inadmissible”. The stop-time rule affects the discretion afforded the U.S. Attorney General to cancel the r...

In Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian, the Supreme Court will determine whether the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act preempts state common law claims for restoration damages for pollution also addressed by an EPA-directed cleanup plan. In this case, a Montana copper smelter polluted its neighbors’ properties for decades but has also spent $450 million to...

On Oct. 16, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Kansas v. Garcia, a case involving a dispute over whether the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) precludes states from using any information contained in a federal Form I-9, (which includes common information such as name, date of birth, and social security number) to prosecute the person with a state crime. Respondents Rami...

On Dec. 2, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, a case involving a dispute over whether New York City rules limiting transportation of licensed firearms to ranges within New York City limits (and certain state-designated hunting areas) violate the Second Amendment, the dormant Commerce Clause, and the constitutional...

On Nov. 5, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Allen v. Cooper, which involves a dispute over the way state sovereign immunity and federal copyright law interact when an author alleges state infringement of that author’s federal copyright. Petitioner Frederick Allen and his company, Nautilus Productions, contend that North Carolina violated their federal copyrights by publishing v...

The case of Hernandez v. Mesa arises from a 2010 confrontation on the U.S.-Mexican border in which U.S. Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa shot and killed Sergio Hernandez, a teenage Mexican national. Although the FBI apparently cleared Mesa of wrongdoing, and Hernandez was not standing on American soil at the time he was shot, the Hernandez family filed suit against Mesa and the federal government ba...

On Nov 6, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard County of Maui, Hawai’i v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, which involves a dispute over whether the Clean Water Act’s permit requirement applies when pollutants originate from a concrete point but are only conveyed to navigable waters indirectly, via groundwater. Under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), someone seeking to discharge a pollutant...

On Nov. 4, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Kansas v. Glover, a case involving a dispute over the “reasonable suspicion” necessary to justify a traffic stop when the registered owner of a vehicle has a revoked license but the actual driver of the vehicle has not been identified. A county sheriff’s deputy pulled over Charles Glover, Jr. after running a registration c...

On October 16, 2019, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Mathena v. Malvo, a case which concerns the scope of a new constitutional rule when applied retroactively on collateral review. In 2004, respondent Lee Boyd Malvo was convicted in Virginia on various counts of capital murder due to his participation in the “DC Sniper” attacks of 2002. As he was 17 years old at the time, he a...

On October 8, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in two consolidated cases asking whether discrimination “because of … sex,” which is prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, includes discrimination based on sexual orientation. In Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda, gay skydiving instructor Donald Zarda was fired after a female client with whom he was prepa...

On October 7, 2019, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Kahler v. Kansas and Ramos v. Louisiana, both of which raise questions of constitutional criminal law. In Kahler, a jury convicted James Kahler of capital murder. Among other things, he objected at trial to a Kansas statute limiting any “mental disease or defect” defense to formation of the requisite mental state for the cha...

On October 7, 2019, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Peter v. NantKwest Inc., a case which considers whether a party opting to bring a challenge in federal district court to an adverse decision of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) must pay the PTO’s resulting attorney’s fees. When a patent application is rejected by the PTO,...

On May 28, 2019, the Supreme Court decided Nieves v. Bartlett, a case that considers the conditions a plaintiff must meet to prevail on a claim of retaliatory arrest by law enforcement. State troopers Luis Nieves and Bryce Weight arrested Russell Bartlett during the 2014 “Arctic Man” winter sports festival held in Alaska’s Hoodoo Mountains. According to the officers, an apparentl...

On March 19, 2019, the Supreme Court decided Nielsen v. Preap (and its companion case Wilcox v. Khoury), both of which consider the extent to which the mandatory detention provision of the Immigration and Naturalization Act applies to defendants who were not arrested by immigration officials immediately upon their release from criminal custody. Aliens who are arrested in order to be removed from t...