Lyle Denniston

Apr 19 2022

A new look at Miranda rights

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will explore an issue that has lingered unanswered for decades: should it hold police accountable for failure to give “Miranda warnings” to suspects they want to question?  That’s the topic of the only hearing tomorrow. The “live” audio (no video) will be broadcast on the Quick Links on the Supreme… Read More

Apr 18 2022

Closed cases, errors and corrections

The Supreme Court continues its hearings on Tuesday with two cases that grew out of legal mistakes, requiring the Justices to consider how to remedy those missteps.  One involves an error by a federal agency on veterans’ benefits, the other by a federal court in a criminal case. Correction of legal errors, although generally desirable,… Read More

Apr 17 2022

Two tests of the Constitution

The Supreme Court returns to the bench tomorrow, to begin the final round of hearings in its current term.  Both cases on Monday have deep historic roots – the first in an 1819 ruling by the Court on state-federal relations, the second in the original Constitution and its clause dealing with the plight of people… Read More

Apr 7 2022

Now, it’s Justice-designate Jackson

At mid-afternoon Thursday, Ketanji Brown Jackson, a 51-year-old federal circuit judge, became “Justice-designate” Jackson when the Senate voted 53-47 to confirm her for the seat.  She will actually become a Justice, however, only this summer, perhaps in early July, because there will be no vacant seat for her to fill until then. She was chosen… Read More

Apr 6 2022

“War crimes” — What are they?

Daniel Thurer, a Swiss jurist and scholar of international law at the University of Zurich, wrote in a 2011 book: “Wars have always been fought in accordance with certain norms.  It is one of the astonishing facts of history that, to a great extent, wars were not chaotic affairs – despite outward appearances to the… Read More

Mar 29 2022

California versus the Supreme Court?

On Wednesday, for the fourth time in two weeks, the Supreme Court again explores the dispute-settling mechanism of arbitration. In any group of cases about that, it is likely that California will be involved in at least one of them. The state has a history of acting on its firm belief that, if there is… Read More

Mar 28 2022

What does the Eleventh Amendment mean?

The Supreme Court turns on Tuesday to the meaning of a constitutional amendment added 227 years ago, the Eleventh Amendment.  Ratified in 1795, it was the first change in the Constitution after the Bill of Rights, and marked the first time that a Supreme Court decision was overturned by a constitutional amendment.  It comes up… Read More

Mar 27 2022

The Court, words and meanings

The Supreme Court continues its current round of hearings on Monday with a pair of cases on down-to-earth issues of how law affects workers who toil at blue-collar jobs. Both cases turn on seemingly mundane questions of law: is a railroad train being used when a worker is injured on it while it is temporarily… Read More

Mar 22 2022

The Court, law and lawyers’ zeal

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court returns to the never-ending project – of judges, legislators, lawyers and legal scholars – to make lawsuits less expensive, fairer and, candidly, less subject to manipulation by crafty lawyers. This case, the only one set for hearing tomorrow, projects that endeavor onto the international stage, involving both U.S. federal courts… Read More

Mar 21 2022

Supreme Court: A focus on family feuds

The one case on the Supreme Court’s hearing calendar for Tuesday involves the meaning of a four-decades-old international treaty that seeks to sort out in which country a child will live, when the parents feud over that issue. That treaty has grown more important as globalization has led to more marriages of spouses from different… Read More

Lyle Denniston continues to write about the U.S. Supreme Court, although he “retired” at the end of 2019 following more than six decades on that news beat. He was there for three revolutions – civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights – and the start of a fourth, on transgender rights. His career of following the law began at the Otoe County Courthouse in his hometown, Nebraska City, Nebraska, in the fall of 1948. His online, eight-week, college-level course – “The Supreme Court and American Politics” – is available from the University of Baltimore Law School, and it is free.

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