Breaking News

Author: Erin Miller

By on Jul 14, 2010 at 7:46 pm

Today Senator Arlen Specter announced in a USA Today op-ed that he will vote for Elena Kagan's confirmation to the Supreme Court. Specter says Kagan did "just enough" to win his vote "by her answers that television would be good for the country and the court,...

By on Jul 13, 2010 at 2:07 pm

As expected, the Senate Judiciary Committee has delayed for another week a vote on Elena Kagan's confirmation, which was originally scheduled for today.  Jeff Sessions, the Committee's ranking Republican member, requested the delay, which was granted by the chairman of the Committee, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy....

By on Jul 12, 2010 at 12:31 pm
The "Notable Petitions" feature lists petitions that likely will later appear on our "Petitions to Watch" list when they are ready for consideration by the Justices.  "Notable Petitions" are those that Tom has identified as raising one or more questions that has a reasonable chance of being granted in an appropriate case.  We generally do not attempt to evaluate whether the case presents an appropriate vehicle to decide the question, which is a critical consideration in determining whether certiorari will be granted. The newest notable petitions, along with the opinions below and any other briefs filed at the Court so far, follow the jump.

By on Jul 12, 2010 at 8:53 am
The Court is in recess for the summer, and is expected to return on October 4 for the first oral argument of October Term 2010. The schedule of merits briefs due this week follows the jump.

By on Jul 9, 2010 at 6:19 pm

Today, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan  returned answers to written questions for her submitted after her hearing by Republican Senators Coburn, Cornyn, Graham, Grassley, Kyl, and Sessions.  You can download all of her responses together here.  All of these answers are available also on the Senate...

By on Jul 8, 2010 at 3:46 pm
The "Notable Petitions" feature lists petitions that likely will later appear on our "Petitions to Watch" list when they are ready for consideration by the Justices.  "Notable Petitions" are those that Tom has identified as raising one or more questions that has a reasonable chance of being granted in an appropriate case.  We generally do not attempt to evaluate whether the case presents an appropriate vehicle to decide the question, which is a critical consideration in determining whether certiorari will be granted. The newest notable petitions, along with the opinions below and any other briefs filed at the Court so far, follow the jump.

By on Jul 8, 2010 at 3:30 pm
The "Notable Petitions" feature lists petitions that likely will later appear on our "Petitions to Watch" list when they are ready for consideration by the Justices.  "Notable Petitions" are those that Tom has identified as raising one or more questions that has a reasonable chance of being granted in an appropriate case.  We generally do not attempt to evaluate whether the case presents an appropriate vehicle to decide the question, which is a critical consideration in determining whether certiorari will be granted. The newest notable petitions, along with the opinions below and any other briefs filed at the Court so far, follow the jump.

By on Jul 8, 2010 at 10:30 am
The Associated Press (via the Boston Globe) reports that a group of Chicago residents and a gun sellers group have already filed a lawsuit challenging a recently enacted Chicago gun control ordinance that prohibits handgun possession outside homes and bans gun shops in the city.  Chicago officials passed the ordinance last week in response to the Court’s decision in McDonald v. Chicago.  Ashby Jones at the WSJ Law Blog also has coverage of the lawsuit. Commentators continue to reflect on the just-completed Term.  C-SPAN interviews Los Angeles Times correspondent David Savage, who says, among other things, that he was most caught off guard by the Court’s decision in Graham v. Florida, holding that sentencing any juvenile to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is cruel and unusual punishment -- especially because Chief Justice Roberts crossed ideological lines to concur in the judgment.  And in an interview on NPR’s All Things Considered, SCOTUSblog’s Tom Goldstein observes that the jumble of alignments among the Justices in decisions this Term makes the Court hard to cast as “just a hard right or a hard left place.”  Yesterday the Heritage Foundation held its annual Term Review panel, with panelists including two former Solicitors General Walter Dellinger and Gregory Garre and Professor Richard Epstein (see the full video on C-SPAN).

By on Jul 7, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Here (as one file) are all of our statistics, charts, and lists from the just-concluded October Term 2009.  That includes a list of all OT09 cases with questions presented and results, and a visual representation of voting lineups for all cases decided 5-4.  Our summary memo compiles the most interesting trends and data from this Term. In addition to our regular offerings, we have added new charts: one breaking down 5-4 cases, a graph showing the pace of opinion releases, cross-Term analysis of individual Justices’ dissents and concurrences, a breakdown of cases by their subject-matter and vote split, and charts reflecting the success rate of the Solicitor General’s merits cases and invited recommendations at the cert. stage. We also have a special mini-Stat Pack on Justice Stevens, in honor of his retirement. All of the cross-Term statistics – which use SCOTUSblog Stat Packs going back to OT95 – and the case list are the work of the tremendous Kedar Bhatia of the Daily Writ. We welcome any citation, republishing, or repurposing of these facts and figures.  We only ask that you acknowledge SCOTUSblog as the source.  You can download any individual data set below the jump.

By on Jul 7, 2010 at 11:20 am

Tomorrow, July 8, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia will hold a Supreme Court Term review discussion hosted by SCOTUSblog's own reporter Lyle Denniston.  Lyle and the panelists -- Gregory Garre, former U.S. Solicitor General, and John Payton, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund...