State of the Term and This Thursday’s Conference
on Jun 13, 2005 at 11:57 am
The Court has now decided all but 17 cases from the Term. (We will be posting an updated version of the Term status document soon.) The next opinion day is next Monday, but past practice suggests that the Court will add at least one additional decision day next week. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear if that is going to happen.
Opinions from the October, November, and December sittings are completed. From January, only Rompilla (life without parole instruction) remains. It’s very difficult to predict who has the Rompilla opinion, but the best guess is Justice Souter.
From February, five remain: Kelo; Orff; Exxon/Ortega; Van Orden; and McCreary County.
From March, five remain: Castle Rock; Dodd; San Remo; Grokster; and Brand X.
From April, six remain: Mayle; Graham County; Halbert; Crosby; American Trucking; and Bell.
The Court has thus far granted cert in 26 cases, and needs eight more to fill its December calendar before the summer recess.
This Thursday’s conference is packed with likely grants:
04-1148, Rodriguez v. United States – Booker plain error
04-1264, Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna – arbitration
04-1329, Illinois Tool v. Independent Link – antitrust tying
04-1360, Hudson v. Michigan – knock and announce searches
It also includes other cases that will get a close look, including particularly No. 04-1244, Scheidler v. NOW (& 04-1352) – RICO and abortion protests.
Other notable cases on the conference are:
04-293, Honeywell v. Hamilton Sundstrand – prosecution history estoppel
04-1381, Sprint Communications Co. v. Smith – settlement class action
04-1416, City of Cleveland v. Beck – public employee comp time
