This post also appears on scotusblog.com Answering a question from a member of Congress, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said on Tuesday that the Obama administration would have no way to fix “the massive damage” if the Supreme Court were to strike down the current system of subsidies for those who need… Read More
Feb 24 2015
Faith and a workplace dress code: A preview
A version of this post also appears on scotusblog.com Can a retail store’s dress code for its sales clerks get the management into legal trouble? Potentially, it can, if the code conflicts with the religious scruples of a worker seeking a job — at least if the store can find a way to respect those… Read More
Feb 5 2015
Bobby Chen seeks a second chance
With one of the highest profile Supreme Court lawyers now at his side, and with abundant apologies, Bobby Chen, a New York man who succeeded in the rarest of opportunities for a non-lawyer, is trying to get his case reinstated before the Court. Beating the odds, he had succeeded in getting the Justices to grant review… Read More
Jan 29 2015
Louisiana inmate in key case about to be free (UPDATED)
UPDATED: George Toca has now been released, his lawyers said in a public statement. ——— A Louisiana prison inmate whose life sentence is under review by the Supreme Court was on the verge of being released on Thursday, according to news accounts in New Orleans. George Toca, convicted of second-degree murder nearly thirty years ago when… Read More
Jan 28 2015
Oklahoma executions put off
This post appeared originally on scotusblog.com Without a noted dissent, the Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon delayed the scheduled execution of three Oklahoma death-row inmates, whose case the Justices will hear in late April. The executions were put on hold, but only so far as the state would use a specific drug in the procedure —… Read More
Jan 27 2015
Breyer turns down generic firms’ plea
Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer on Tuesday refused to order a quick release of the Court’s new ruling in the Copaxone drug patent case, but he left open the option for the generic companies to ask another Justice to take the step. Breye…
Jan 26 2015
New dispute over Copaxone patent (FURTHER UPDATED)
FURTHER UPDATE Monday 4:52 p.m. The generic companies have now filed their reply brief, arguing that Teva has not actually taken any significant step — and may not be able to do so — in the trial court, so the Supreme Court should go ahea…
Jan 26 2015
Oklahoma takes next step on executions (UPDATED)
The state of Oklahoma will ask the Supreme Court on Monday to delay three executions by lethal drugs while the Justices weigh a new test case, but it will also seek the option of resuming executions if the officials put together a new drug protocol, l…
Jan 23 2015
Court to rule on lethal-injection protocol
The Supreme Court agreed on Friday afternoon to hear the appeal of three Oklahoma death-row inmates who are challenging the three-drug protocol the state now uses for executions. The Court on January 15 had refused, by a five-to-four vote, to grant d…
Jan 21 2015
Argument analysis: Scalia versus Scalia on housing law?
Analysis
An observer who left the Supreme Court chamber halfway through Wednesday’s argument in a major civil rights case could easily have concluded that Justice Antonin Scalia is ready to give the law in that case a much broader scope to protec…
