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Friday round-up

Briefly:

  • Congratulations to Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler, the recipient of the 2014 Service to America Award for career achievement. Lillian Cunningham of The Washington Post covers the awards.
  • In The National Law Journal (subscription or registration required), Tony Mauro reports on a recent speech in Nebraska by Chief Justice John Roberts, who (among other things) encouraged lawyers to reduce the length of their Supreme Court briefs.
  • In the Supreme Court Brief (subscription required), Mauro also reports on an event – attended by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor – celebrating the publication of a new book by Judge Robert Katzmann of the Second Circuit. Mauro describes the book “as a counter-punch to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s views on how to interpret statutes.”
  • At ACSblog, Brandon Garrett urges the Court to grant review (again) in the case of Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti tomake clearer than it did already in Panetti’s case years ago that the Eighth Amendment forbids the state to execute individuals who are medically diagnosed as psychotic.”
  • At Bloomberg News, Greg Stohr reports on Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, a petition scheduled for review at the Justices’ Conference on Monday. At issue in the case is whether it is enough for plaintiffs bringing lawsuits under the Fair Housing Act to allege that policies or laws have a discriminatory impact – a question that the Court has already agreed to review twice.
  • At FiveThirtyEight, Harry Enten pushes back against Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s assertion (which I covered in yesterday’s round-up) that – if she were to retire – the president would not be able to appoint someone like her; based on a model that he created, he asserts that “a nominee like her would be a heavy favorite to make it through the Senate.”
  • In the New Republic, Yishai Schwartz compares the approaches of the Seventh and Tenth Circuits, both of whom struck down state bans on same-sex marriage but for different reasons, and urges the Court to follow the Tenth Circuit.  Such an approach “would be both a more profound embrace of gay couples, and a more universal expression of social values.”
  • At Reason’s Hit and Run Blog, Damon Root argues that the Court should grant cert. in Heffner v. Murphy, a case scheduled for the September 29 Conference in which it has been asked to consider a challenge to a Pennsylvania law regulating funeral homes.

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Recommended Citation: Amy Howe, Friday round-up, SCOTUSblog (Sep. 26, 2014, 8:41 AM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2014/09/friday-round-up-239/