SCOTUS for law students: Supreme Court mysteries and the justices’ papers...
In the month of June, when the Supreme Court issues dozens of decisions to conclude its term, who would not want to be a fly on the wall inside the conference of the justices trying to understand what...
View ArticleSCOTUS for law students: Remembering recent confirmation hearings
Supreme Court confirmation hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee are not usually a place one looks for legacies. Yet a number of hearings have left their mark on the Supreme Court nomination...
View ArticleSCOTUS for law students: Justice William Brennan and Supreme Court avoidance
Even before Justice Brett Kavanaugh replaced Justice Anthony Kennedy this fall, some commentators were suggesting that liberals might want to avoid appealing cases to the increasingly conservative...
View ArticleSCOTUS for law students: President George H.W. Bush’s Supreme Court legacy
Shortly before his death in 1826, President John Adams was quoted as saying, “My gift of John Marshall to the people of the United States was the proudest act of my life.” Adams was one of the earliest...
View ArticleSCOTUS for law students: Keeping the Supreme Court open
Suppose the federal courts run out of money in the current federal government shutdown? What happens to the Supreme Court? The answer is that the Supreme Court will continue to perform its essential...
View ArticleSCOTUS for law students: Battling over mootness
Mootness is not often the stuff of headlines. But a current dispute over Second Amendment rights and a New York City gun regulation has put mootness in the spotlight. Last January, the Supreme Court...
View ArticleSCOTUS for law students: Supreme Court precedent
When the Supreme Court brought down the curtain on its 2018 term last June, an important, heated debate divided the justices over when to overrule constitutional precedent and when to follow it. As the...
View ArticleSCOTUS for law students: The Supreme Court and the death penalty
Death penalty cases have long been among the most difficult and divisive for the Supreme Court. With the possibility that federal executions may resume this year for the first time since 2003, the...
View ArticleSCOTUS for law students: COVID-19 and Supreme Court emergencies
Live teleconference oral arguments have been the most visible sign of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Supreme Court, and they have prompted copious coverage and commentary. However, the...
View ArticleSCOTUS for law students: Still deciding in July
By law, the Supreme Court term begins on the first Monday in October. By custom, the justices finish their work in late June (although the term does not technically end until the next term begins). So...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....