The Supreme Court started yesterday with 14 decisions yet to deliver and only reduced the number by two—neither of them the Trump immunity case nor the Loper case concerning the future of the agency deference doctrine of...more
6/27/2024
/ Article III ,
Bribery ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Misleading Statements ,
Murthy v Missouri ,
Public Officials ,
SCOTUS ,
Snyder v United States ,
Social Media ,
Standing
Of the Supreme Court opinions issued today, the one that will draw the greatest public attention is Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, unanimously holding that the pro-life organizational...more
6/14/2024
/ Abortion ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
NLRB ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
SCOTUS ,
Starbucks ,
Starbucks Corp. v McKinney ,
Trademarks ,
Unions ,
USPTO ,
Vidal v Elster
Once again, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down three decisions on a Thursday, each of them substantively important to the individuals involved, but all of them essentially involving the Supreme Court’s instructing lower...more
5/31/2024
/ Bank of America ,
Cantero v Bank of America NA ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Death Penalty ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Evidence ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Firearms ,
First Amendment ,
Liability Insurance ,
Murder ,
National Bank Act ,
NRA ,
Preemption ,
SCOTUS ,
Supreme Court Justices
On Friday, March 15, a unanimous Supreme Court decided two companion cases (Lindke v. Freed and O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier) that resolved a split in the Circuits concerning whether public officials can be held liable under...more
3/18/2024
/ 42 U.S.C. §1983 ,
Censorship ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Facebook ,
First Amendment ,
Government Officials ,
Lindke v Freed ,
O’Connor-Ratcliff v Garnier ,
Online Commentary ,
Personal Use ,
Right to Delete ,
SCOTUS ,
Social Media
June 30th is the nominal last day of the Supreme Court’s current term. The Court began the day with the long-awaited decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, another 6-3 jurisprudentially ideological split in which, per...more
7/3/2023
/ 303 Creative LLC v Elenis ,
Article III ,
Biden Administration ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Department of Education v Brown ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd v Colorado Civil Rights Commission ,
Public Accommodation ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Website Design
Of the four cases decided last Friday, the one that likely pertains to the largest number of this blog’s readers is Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski, a 5-4 opinion delivered by Justice Kavanaugh, who wrote for himself, the Chief...more
6/26/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Article III ,
Automatic Stay ,
Biden Administration ,
Coinbase ,
Coinbase Inc v Bielski ,
Confessions ,
Confrontation Clause ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Evidence ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
First Amendment ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Motion to Compel ,
Removal Orders ,
Samia v United States ,
Sixth Amendment ,
Standing ,
United States v Hansen ,
US v Texas
The question of whether a would-be trademark, “TRUMP TOO SMALL,” warrants a First Amendment exception to the Lanham Act’s prohibition on registering a living person’s name as a trademark without that person’s permission has...more
6/19/2023
/ CAFC ,
Certiorari ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Lanham Act ,
Public Figures ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
Emerging from the pattern of unanimity, or near unanimity, that has characterized most of the cases decided so far this term, the Supreme Court decided one of its most eagerly awaited and controversial cases. And the outcome...more
Coming off the decisions in the landmark Dobbs and Bruen cases, the rest of the term might seem anticlimactic. Nevertheless, as the shelf is being cleared of the remaining cases, there are still rulings of significance to...more
I’m currently in the wilds of Alaska, learning about the training of sled dogs. Nevertheless, word of the Supreme Court’s five most recent decisions has traveled northward. While none of these decisions is earthshaking, they...more
6/23/2022
/ All Writs Act ,
Death Penalty ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Evidence ,
First Amendment ,
Free Exercise Clause ,
Habeas Corpus ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Secondary Payer Act ,
Public Schools ,
SCOTUS
Notwithstanding the fact that, as we approach the end of the term, the Court still had 30 cases to decide as of Wednesday morning, June 8, the day’s count has only been reduced by one. So, expect a flurry of cases with the...more
Further evidencing an ongoing shift from more absolutist thinking about the intersection between the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and an individual’s or group’s right of free speech, we find this morning’s unanimous...more
Auguring a flood of opinions in the remaining weeks of the term, the Supreme Court decided five cases today. Some of them offer support for the media/popular equation of a political party background with jurisprudential...more
4/22/2022
/ Content-Neutral ,
Due Process ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Fine Art ,
First Amendment ,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA) ,
IRS ,
Nazi Looted Art ,
Puerto Rico ,
SCOTUS ,
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) ,
Tax Penalties
The Court issued opinions in two cases today, both interesting in their particular factual circumstances, but neither controversial, with one unanimously decided and the other with a lone dissent....more