Friday round-up
On Thursday, a divided panel of the Second Circuit struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional, applying intermediate scrutiny to hold that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause. Coverage of both the decision and its relationship to the series of petitions for certiorari on same-sex marriage currently pending before the Court comes from this blog, Bloomberg, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, the Associated Press, Reuters, UPI, The Christian Science Monitor, Slate, JURIST, the Washington Times, NBC News, the Volokh Conspiracy, and the Constitutional Law Prof Blog. Commentary on the decision comes from ACSblog, the Daily Beast, and the Volokh Conspiracy.
Briefly:
- For this blog, Ronald Mann previews the upcoming oral argument in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., in which the Court will determine whether copyright law permits copyright holders to prevent the importation of lawful copies manufactured abroad.
- At the Originalism Blog, Michael Ramsey discusses the Court’s recent grant of certiorari in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., in which the Court will consider whether federal law preempts a state law requiring voters to prove their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote and before voting. Ramsey argues that the Court should find that the state law is preempted.
- Bloomberg Businessweek discusses the amicus brief filed by large U.S. corporations in support of the university in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the challenge to UT-Austin’s use of race in its undergraduate admissions process. The brief argues that “diversity in institutions of higher education” is “a critical means of obtaining a properly qualified group of employees.”
- In the wake of the Court’s decision last Term in Miller v. Alabama, holding that mandatory sentences of life without parole for juvenile homicide offenders are unconstitutional, the Pennsylvania legislature has passed a law that would create a sentencing scheme tied to the age of the juvenile offender. Douglas Berman has the details at Sentencing Law & Policy.
- On Thursday, the Court stayed the execution of Anthony Haynes, a Texas death row inmate. Reuters has coverage. The Court also declined to stay the execution of John Ferguson, a Florida death row inmate. This blog and the Crime & Consequences Blog have coverage.
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