April argument calendar, day by day
on Feb 7, 2011 at 11:20 am
The Supreme Court on Monday released the calendar of oral arguments for the session beginning Monday, April 18 — the last scheduled hearings for the current Term. The Court will hear two arguments a day on only two of the six dates in the sitting, with a single argument on each of the other days. The hearings begin at 10 a.m.
Following the jump are the day-by-day arguments, with a summary of the issues involved in each case.
Monday, April 18:
Tapia v. U.S. (10-5400) — authority of federal judge to impose a longer prison sentence to assure that the convicted individual has a chance for rehabilitation
Microsoft v. i4i Partnership (10-290) – proof required to challenge the validity of a patent (Chief Justice Roberts is recused)
Tuesday, April 19:
American Electric Power v. Connecticut (10-174) — right to sue over global warming by greenhouse gas emissions from electric power generating plants, based on a theory of nuisance (Justice Kagan is recused)
Wednesday, April 20:
U.S. v. Jicarilla Apache Nation (10-382) — right of Indian tribe to access government attorney-client communications for use in lawsuit over management of a trust for Indian property (Justice Kagan is recused)
Monday, April 25:
Erica P. John Fund v. Halliburton (09-1403) – proof needed for securities fraud lawsuit to proceed as a class action on the “fraud-on-the-market” theory
McNeill v. U.S. (10-5238) — right to benefit from change in state law defining serious drug crime for purposes of enhanced federal career criminal sentence
Tuesday, April 26:
Sorrell v. IMS Health (10-779) — state power to bar commercial access to and use of private information on doctors’ drug  prescriptions
Wednesday, April 27:
Nevada Commission on Ethics v. Carrigan (10-568) — constitutionality of state restrictions on elected officials’ right to vote on policy issues that may affect their close associates
The state of Virginia is expected to ask the Court shortly to take on promptly the constitutionality of the new federal health care reform law, instead of waiting for rulings by the federal appeals courts. The state is expected to ask that the case be expedited.  If the Court were to accept the case for review, the case would have to be quite significantly expedited for hearing during the current Term, which is expected to end in late June.  The Court conceivably could schedule an argument in the case in the April sitting, although at present that seems somewhat unlikely.
The Court’s release Monday of the April argument calendar means that the following cases, also granted review during January, will go over for argument and decision in the Term that is to begin on Monday, October 3:
Two cases that are to be argued separately but in tandem: Lafler v. Cooper (10-209) and Missouri v. Frye (10-444) — both raising a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel by a defense lawyer for advice to reject a plea offer and either plead guilty or go to trial. In each case, the Court added a new question for counsel to discuss on the scope of any remedy.
Three cases that have been consolidated for one-hour of oral argument: Maxwell-Jolly v. Independent Living Center (09-958), Maxwell-Jolly v. California Pharmacists (09-1158), and Maxwell-Jolly v. Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital (10-283). In each case, the Court granted review only of the first question presented: the right of patients and care providers to sue to challenge state cuts in Medicaid benefits.
Reynolds v. U.S. (10-6549) — the right to sue to challenge the federal sex offender registration law and its retroactive effect; grant limited to Question # 1
Howes v. Fields (10-680) — scope of right to Miranda warnings for jail or prison inmate being questioned about a different crime
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