8+ hour, 16+ min ago (903+ words) In'Urias-Orellana v. Bondi, the Supreme Court on Monday considered whether federal courts of appeals should make their own determination on whether an asylum seeker experienced persecution, or leave it to [] The post Court debates asylum determinations appeared first on SCOTUSblog. In Urias-Orellana v. Bondi, the Supreme Court on Monday considered whether federal courts of appeals should make their own determination on whether an asylum seeker experienced persecution, or leave it to the Board of Immigration Appeals, in a case that will clarify the circuit courts" roles in the immigration system. The dispute began soon after Douglas Humberto Urias-Orellana, Sayra Iliana Gamez-Mejia, and their child arrived in the United States in 2021 and requested asylum, citing repeated threats of violence from a hit man, or sicario, working for a drug lord in their home country of El Salvador. Urias-Orellana contended that after his half-brother,…...

8+ hour, 31+ min ago (799+ words) A federal judge in Trenton, New Jersey, declined to block the subpoena. U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp ruled that the dispute was not yet "ripe" " that is, ready for the federal court to take up. Only a state court, Shipp said, has the power to enforce or block a subpoena, and no state court had done so yet. When Platkin attempted to enforce the subpoena, a state court granted his request and directed First Choice to "respond fully" to the state's demands for information " which, the state court later made clear, would also allow First Choice to object to those demands. Back in federal court, Shipp once again ruled that the dispute was not yet ripe. Although the state court had granted Platkin's request to enforce the subpoena, Shipp wrote, it had not yet determined whether First Choice would face sanctions…...

14+ hour, 16+ min ago (280+ words) On this day in 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. to the Supreme Court. Holmes went on to serve as an associate justice for nearly 30 years, retiring in 1932 at age 90. Holmes still holds the record for being the oldest person to serve on the Supreme Court. In yesterday's SCOTUStoday, we reviewed several significant matters related to the Trump administration that the court resolved in the past three months on the interim docket. Here is the second part of our overview of such cases. Sex markers on passports The apparent 6-3 majority held that "[d]isplaying passport holders' sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth." Jackson again wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Kagan and Sotomayor, in which she contended that the "documented real-world harms to these plaintiffs obviously outweigh the Government's…...

1+ day, 8+ hour ago (458+ words) On Wednesday, Dec. 3, in'Olivier v. City of Brandon, Mississippi, the Supreme Court will consider whether individuals can challenge a law as unconstitutional and seek to protect themselves from its future enforcement if they've previously been punished for violating the law.' This mission brought Olivier and others to an amphitheater in Brandon, Mississippi, several times in 2018 and 2019. In late 2019, however, after city leaders determined that demonstrations outside the venue were creating "hardships" for law enforcement officers, Brandon enacted an ordinance that requires protesters and other demonstrators to stand within a designated protest area. In June 2021, Olivier entered a no contest plea " that is, he did not admit guilt, but he did not dispute the charges and accepted the punishment. "He was found guilty and received a fine, a suspended sentence of ten days' imprisonment, and a year's unsupervised probation," according to the…...

1+ day, 13+ hour ago (80+ words) We will be live blogging as the court hears oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter. Note: A login is not required to participate in the chat. The post Oral argument live blog for Monday, December 8 appeared first on SCOTUSblog. We will be live blogging as the court hears oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter. Note: A login is not required to participate in the chat. The post Oral argument live blog for Monday, December 8 appeared first on SCOTUSblog....

4+ day, 13+ hour ago (426+ words) This was all brought to light last week at a Supreme Court Historical Society event to mark the publication of "The Emerald Bench: The History of the Irish American Justices on the Supreme Court." And to top things off, the author was introduced by Kavanaugh. (Fun fact: Kavanaugh is the only one of the four "Irish justices" with Irish heritage on both sides, that of his father, Everett Kavanaugh Jr., and his mother, Martha Kavanaugh, n'e Murphy.)" Kavanaugh also touted his links to three other Irish-American justices featured in the book, including retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, "a great Irish-American" for whom he clerked and whom he succeeded in 2018. And he occupies chambers used by two other prominent Irish-American justices, Justice Frank Murphy during his 1940-49 tenure and Justice William Brennan Jr., who served from 1956 to 1990. The author highlighted five justices from…...

4+ day, 13+ hour ago (169+ words) ScotusCrim is a recurring series by Rory Little focusing on intersections between the Supreme Court and criminal law. The four criminal law-ish cases set for argument between Dec. 1 and 10 The day after'First Choice'is argued, the court will hear argument in another case involving access to federal courts, for a person alleging a religious freedom claim. As in'First Choice, the'solicitor general has entered the case'as an amicus supporting the plaintiff.' Heck'was written by Justice Antonin Scalia for a unanimous court invoking principles of federalism (respect for state court judgments) and criminal law finality. It will be extremely interesting to see how these principles and that author are treated by the entirely new (other than Justice Clarence Thomas) set of justices now on the court. Hamm v. Smith:'Capital punishment'and how to evaluate whether a person scheduled for execution is mentally disabled Cases:…...

1+ week, 13+ hour ago (541+ words) Ronald Mann is a professor of law at Columbia, where he teaches courses in commercial finance, payment systems and deals. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1985, and after clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (Judge Joseph Sneed) and the Supreme Court (Justice Lewis Powell), he worked in the U.S. solicitor general's office under Kenneth Starr and Drew Days. He has written extensively about secured credit, credit cards and other electronic payments systems, the role of patents in financing innovation and related topics. For SCOTUSblog, he covers the court's cases in the areas of commercial law and intellectual property. The court will hear its big copyright case for the year during the first week of the December session, when on Monday, Dec. 1, it reviews a billion-dollar ruling against Cox Communications based on its failure to eradicate copyright…...

1+ week, 14+ hour ago (165+ words) On Nov. 25, 2020, in a late-night order issued hours before Thanksgiving began that year, the court blocked enforcement of New York's attendance restrictions for houses of worship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reminder: Tomorrow, we'll be sending an abridged version of the newsletter, and then we won't send SCOTUStoday on Thursday or Friday. The Supreme Court, as you might imagine, has never had cause to directly weigh in on Thanksgiving celebrations. It's never settled when the feast should be served (noon, obviously), which side dish is best (mashed potatoes!), or how many different types of pies should be on hand (as many as possible). "To put it plainly, courts "call balls and strikes'; they don't get a turn at bat." " Clark v. Sweeney Court Does Not Act on Birthright Citizenship " for Now Challengers Urge Justices to Strike Texas' New Congressional Map as Racially…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (283+ words) As SCOTUSblog'reported'earlier, the justices did not act on the Trump administration's petitions for review asking the court to weigh in on the legality of President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship. The court could consider those petitions again as soon as Dec. 5. The Supreme Court'reversed'the 4th Circuit's decision and sent Sweeney's case back to the lower court for it to take another look in light of the court's opinion.' Additionally, the Supreme Court, once again, rejected a bid for review of a case asking the justices to overturn the Feres doctrine, which prohibits lawsuits by military personnel for injuries suffered as part of their military service. The'petition for review'was filed by the family of an Air Force staff sergeant who was killed while driving home to have lunch with his family.' Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a statement regarding the court's…...