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Author: Mark Walsh

By on Jun 18, 2015 at 3:45 pm
Thursday is the first “bonus” day – that is, a day added to the Court’s calendar for the sole purpose of releasing opinions – at the Court this Term. As seems to be the case each year for the first extra day, the bar section is lightly filled, with only eighteen or twenty bar members taking seats, not counting U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. and other members of his office. The public section is relatively full, and we understand that James Obergefell, the lead petitioner in the same-sex marriage cases, was first in line for a seat in that section again today. Despite speculation by cable-news hosts, Obergefell will not see a decision in his case today.

By on Jun 15, 2015 at 2:24 pm
[caption id="attachment_229063" align="aligncenter" width="570"]Justice Scalia accidentally calls Ginsburg Goldberg while delivering opinion in Kerry v Din (Art Lien) Justice Scalia accidentally calls Ginsburg Goldberg while delivering opinion in Kerry v Din (Art Lien)[/caption]

On Saturday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg appeared before the liberal American Constitution Society, where -- amid making a wide range of points about her rock-star status, her legacy litigating for equal rights for women, her dissenting practices as a Justice, and same-sex marriage -- she referred to the public coming to the Supreme Court to “watch the show.”

Today’s show at the Court will start out rather drily but will build to an amusing finish.

By on Jun 8, 2015 at 12:50 pm
[caption id="attachment_228785" align="aligncenter" width="570"]Justice Scalia dissents in Zivotofsky (Art Lien) Justice Scalia dissents in Zivotofsky (Art Lien)[/caption]

Today will turn out to be international affairs day at the Supreme Court.

The spirit may have been set over the weekend at the Washington Opera Ball, an annual benefit for the Washington National Opera that is traditionally held at a foreign embassy. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Samuel A. Alito, Jr., were in attendance Saturday night at the ball held at the German Embassy, according to The Washington Post, which reported that the locale was “a Teutonic tie-in with the opera’s upcoming performance of Wagner’s Ring Cycle.”

By on Jun 1, 2015 at 5:29 pm
The monthly calendar has turned to June, and with twenty-five merits decisions left going into today, the end of the term is coming into focus. The Court takes the bench this morning with Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor absent. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has the first opinion of the day, in Mellouli v. Lynch. It’s a seven-to-two decision clarifying when a non-citizen, in this case a lawful permanent resident, may be deported because of a misdemeanor state conviction for possession of drug paraphernalia. Justice Ginsburg is wearing one of her more elaborate jabots today, though not the same one she donned in a photo in this morning’s edition of The Washington Post, along with an item about the wedding ceremony -- of opera singer Alyson Cambridge and lawyer Timothy Eloe – over which she presided on Saturday. The Post’s Reliable Source gossip column says that Ginsburg, “in a white doily-like collar and black sunglasses, looked as rock star as Prince.” By today, the Web version of the story has replaced “doily-like collar” with “frilly cuffs spilling out of her judge’s robe.” [caption id="attachment_228650" align="aligncenter" width="570"]Chief Justice Roberts announcing opinion in Facebook threat posting case. (Art Lien) Chief Justice Roberts announcing opinion in Facebook threat posting case. (Art Lien)[/caption] Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., has his reading glasses and is reviewing papers as Ginsburg speaks, always a sign that he may have an opinion to offer today.

By on May 18, 2015 at 2:01 pm
[caption id="attachment_228278" align="aligncenter" width="570"]Solicitor General introduces the new US Attorney General, Loretta Lynch. Solicitor General introduces the new US Attorney General, Loretta Lynch.[/caption] The Court is back in session today after its last extended (two-week) recess of the Term. So from now until the end (whenever that is), there will almost certainly be orders and opinions every Monday. (Except for next week, which is Memorial Day, so the Court will convene on Tuesday.) And if past practice is a guide, by mid-June the Court will add more opinion days in addition to Mondays. This is also a time of year when some of the Justices are out of town on opinion days, attending circuit conferences, commencement ceremonies, and the like. Justices Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor are absent today. With arguments completed last month, there are thirty-four pending cases going into today. The Court will make a significant dent in that number before the day is out. But first, there is some ceremonial business.

By on Apr 28, 2015 at 7:17 pm
It is going to be a long morning of argument at the Supreme Court on the same-sex marriage cases, but no one who has found a way into the Courtroom is inclined to complain. The cases that collectively will go by the name Obergefell v. Hodges, from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, include more than twenty plaintiffs made up of couples, two widowers, a few children, and one undertaker. Just a week or so before the arguments, a few of the plaintiffs were unsure whether they would get seats. So today, we’re not sure if they all made it in, but we can presume that at least some did.

By on Apr 22, 2015 at 8:41 pm
Oral arguments are winding down for the Term, with the major cases on same-sex marriage and death penalty protocols to close out the season next week. Today, though, in Horne v. Department of Agriculture, about the government’s regulation of the raisin market, we’ll get a New Deal history lesson, go harvesting for Maryland oysters, check in on drought conditions in California, and have a brief reference to that 1980s commercial and pop culture hit, the California Raisins. All that flowed naturally in a sometimes fun hour about whether a federal agricultural “marketing order” for raisins that requires the transfer of a portion of a raisin crop to the government amounts to a taking that requires just compensation.

By on Mar 4, 2015 at 5:48 pm
If there was any doubt that Wednesday was a big day at the Supreme Court, a reminder came as a group of reporters waited in line in a hallway to pass through security to enter the courtroom. Around 9:30 a.m., just a half-hour before the arguments in King v. Burwell were to begin, Supreme Court police officers asked us to make an opening. One of the named parties, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and her entourage of a few aides and security personnel passed through.

By on Jan 21, 2015 at 12:36 pm

UPDATE (4:00 p.m.):  Kathleen L. Arberg, the Court’s public information officer, said eight individuals were arrested in Wednesday’s disturbance. Seven have been charged with violating a federal law against making “a harangue or oration, or utter[ing] loud, threatening, or abusive language in the Supreme Court Building,” as well as with violating two Court regulations.

Arberg said those seven, along with the eighth individual, were also charged with “conspiracy-related offenses” under District of Columbia law.

The eight individuals, whose identities were not released by the Court, were taken to a U.S. Capitol Police facility for processing; they were to then be taken to Washington’s city police department, known as the Metropolitan Police Department.

The group 99Rise, which was behind last year's outburst by a protestor (and the later release of secretly recorded video from inside the courtroom), claimed responsibility for Wednesday's protest.