WHAT WE'RE READING

The morning read for Friday, Dec. 13

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read:

• US Supreme Court should avoid climate change cases, Biden administration says (Nate Raymond, Reuters)
• Supreme Court begins online lottery for seating, upending D.C. ritual (Justin Jouvenal, The Washington Post)
• Biden is on track to appoint more federal judges of color than any other president (Char Adams, NBC News)
• Don’t want to spend days waiting in line to attend a Supreme Court case? Now you may not have to. (Maureen Groppe, USA Today)
• Rule of 3 #1: All About United States v. Skrmetti (Adam Feldman, Legalytics)

ARGUMENT ANALYSIS

Justices inclined to respect corporate identity in trademark dispute

The justices showed little appetite for breaking new ground when they heard argument on Wednesday in Dewberry Group v. Dewberry Engineers, a long-running dispute between similarly named groups of real-estate companies. The question before them is whether to uphold the judgment of a lower court that awarded damages for profits earned not only by the entity named as a defendant in the lawsuit, but also by several other entities that were not parties to the litigation.

From the earliest moment of argument by Thomas Hungar, representing the Dewberry Group’s effort to limit the damage award, it seemed clear that none of the justices were interested in affirming the lower court’s decision. The question, rather, was how much they would say beyond a succinct expression of disagreement.

RELIST WATCH

Sacred sites, religious tax exemptions, and whether to reconsider Feres

The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.

It’s been a big few days for the Supreme Court working through its backlog of relisted cases. Last Friday, the court agreed to review two cases involving the constitutionality of a statute allowing federal courts to assert jurisdiction over the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. And the court granted review in a third case that will finally address what constitutes a “second or successive” habeas petition restricted under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.

The court also declined to take up a number of repeatedly relisted cases, in each case prompting opinions discussing the decision to deny and three dissents.

WHAT WE'RE READING

The morning read for Thursday, Dec. 12

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Thursday morning read:

• US Supreme Court dismisses Nvidia’s bid to avoid securities fraud suit (John Kruzel, Reuters)
• Supreme Court Allows Biden Plan to Address Toxic Coal Ash (Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
• William Hennessy, a veteran sketch artist who brought courtroom scenes to the nation, has died (John Fritze & Katelyn Polantz, CNN)
• Supreme Court allows investor lawsuit against chipmaker Nvidia (Justin Jouvenal, The Washington Post)
• Outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin pushes constitutional amendment for Supreme Court term limits (Alex Swoyer, The Washington Times)

EMERGENCY DOCKET

Supreme Court turns down Kentucky utility’s request to block EPA coal ash rule

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request from a Kentucky utility company to temporarily block an Environmental Protection Agency rule governing the disposal of coal ash while a challenge to it moves forward in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The denial came just under six months after the Supreme Court, in Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency, granted a plea from three states (as well as several companies and trade groups) to put on hold an EPA rule intended to reduce air pollution from power plants and other industrial facilities. Since then, however, the justices have turned down several other requests to temporarily block EPA rules while litigation continues in the lower courts.