June 13th Opinions and Order List
on Jun 13, 2005 at 10:04 am
Here’s today’s Order List. The Court denied certiorari or GVR’d-in-light-of-Raich all of the pending Commerce Clause cases. It granted certiorari in No. 04-1186, Wachovia Bank v. Schmidt (Justice Thomas not participating).
The Court issued opinions this morning in the following six argued cases. (Lyle has much more detail below.):
No. 03-9659, Miller-El v. Dretke, reversed and remanded 6-3, per Justice Souter. Justice Breyer filed a concurring opinion suggesting that the Court should prohibit peremptory challenges entirely. Justice Thomas dissented, joined by the Chief Justice and Justice Scalia.
No. 04-495, Wilkinson v. Austin, unanimously reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded, per Justice Kennedy.
No. 03-1237, Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd., unanimously vacated and remanded, per Justice Scalia.
No. 04-603, Grable & Sons Metal Products v. Darue Engineering, per Justice Souter, affirmed 9-0. Justice Thomas filed a concurrence in which he indicated an openness to voting to overrule statutory precedents such as Smith v. Kansas City Title & Trust Co., 255 U. S. 180 (1921), and Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Thompson, 478 U. S. 804 (1986), and to adopt instead the rule Justice Holmes set forth in American Well Works Co. v. Layne & Bowler Co., 241 U. S. 257 (1916), limiting § 1331 jurisdiction to cases in which federal law creates the cause of action pleaded on the face of the plaintiff’s complaint.
No. 04-637, Bradshaw v. Stumpf, vacated and remanded in part, per Justice O’Connor. Justice Souter filed a concurring opinion that Justice Ginsburg joined. Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion that Justice Scalia joined.
No. 04-6964, Johnson v. California, reversed & remanded 8-1, per Justice Stevens. Justice Breyer filed a one-sentence concurrence alluding to his Miller-El concurrence. Justice Thomas dissented.
The Court will next issue opinions next Monday, June 20th. Seventeen argued cases remain pending for decision.
