July 2011
54 posts
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“The majority opinion by a 6th circuit panel Wednesday upholding Obama’s health...”
– Bingo.
June 2011
23 posts
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A Tale of Two Rehnquists
In her latest column, the peerless Linda Greenhouse describes a recent Supreme Court decision — in which Chief Justice Roberts joined 3 other dissenters (Scalia, Thomas, and Alito, JJ.) in opining that an interrogee’s age is irrelevant to determining whether he was in “custody” (and thus entitled to Miranda warnings). Greenhouse suspects that the implausibility of this...
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Sixth Circuit -- Joined by Judge Sutton(!) --...
This afternoon the Sixth Circuit — in a 2-1 decision — upheld the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act.
The big news is that the votes to uphold the law included Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton.
Sutton is not only a very conservative appointee of George W. Bush, but is also one of the major intellectual forces behind the modern federalism movement.
Indeed, as an attorney, Sutton...
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The Mother Of All Supreme Court Sessions
Monday at the Supreme Court was large.
** The Court granted certiorari in 11 cases, including major cases about the constitutionality of the FCC indecency rules and warrantless GPS tracking.
** Also among the grants was National Meat Association v. Harris, in which the Court also accepted an amicus brief from—get ready for it—the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.
** A tasty duel...
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Justice Prosser chucks Bluebook, uses chokehold... →
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D.C. Circuit Throws Away The Key
Today’s Washington Post reports on the D.C. Circuit’s practice of consistently ruling against Guantanamo Bay detainees:
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington has repeatedly overturned lower court decisions favoring the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, making it increasingly unlikely that many of the men will win their freedom through legal action. The appeals court has not...
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In The Belly of the Whale
Yesterday morning, Americans United for Separation of Church and State (my employer) filed a constitutional challenge to a school-voucher program created by Douglas County, CO and funded by the state.
Yesterday afternoon, I appeared on right-wing talk radio for a “spirited discussion” about the case.
You can listen here.
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Justice Sotomayor talks about her diabetes. →
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The President Has No Clothes.
I strongly support the Libyan intervention. And I think that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional. But the administration’s current legal justification — that we are not engaged in “hostilities” — is laughable. And it’s been rejected by the Attorney General, the head of the Office of Legal Counsel, and the Pentagon’s General Counsel. Rather disturbing...
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"Geneva, Lake Tahoe, Rome — and that's only the... →
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File under: Duh. →
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N.Y. Times chats about Supreme Court Justices'... →
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“The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday upheld the state’s strict threshold...”
– Madness.
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“Judge Torruella also asked if the Rodney King recording would be illegal under...”
– This remarkable response ought to spell the end of criminal prohibitions on recording police officers in public.
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For those (like me) who are obsessed with... →
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“Not since the bad old days of the 1980s has the D.C. government offered its...”
– Welcome back to DC, folks.
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Don Verrilli confirmed as Solicitor General. Good... →
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David Boies finally gets on the board, improves... →
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Edwards indictment presents rare case in which... →
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“Paul Ceglia alleges that he owns a substantial share of Facebook, Inc., and...”
– I suspect this was a fun brief (for Gibson Dunn) to write.
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Linda Greenhouse talks structural injunctions!... →
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“In the course of a new brief on the sudden and lively new constitutional...”
– Oops!
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“Wednesday’s hearing came in a challenge to the [healthcare] law filed by the...”
– Classy, folks, classy. 