Tuesday round-up
on Oct 22, 2013 at 6:04 pm
Yesterday the Court granted two new cases: Hall v. Florida, a case involving Florida’s scheme for identifying intellectually disabled defendants in capital cases, and Robers v. United States, a case involving restitution as a penalty for bank loan fraud. The Court also called for the views of the Solicitor General in one case, Arab Bank v. Linde. Lyle covered yesterday’s orders for this blog. Other coverage of, and commentary on, the grant in Hall comes from Richard Wolf of USA Today, Kent Scheidegger of Crime and Consequences – who suggests that the case may entice the Court to “micromanage” the states’ procedures for determining retardation — and Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic, who predicts that the Court’s decision in the case will hinge on Justice Kennedy.
Yesterday Hobby Lobby Stores, the respondent in a case asking the Court to consider whether for-profit corporations owned by families who object on religious grounds to the use of birth control must comply with the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employers provide employees with insurance that includes access to contraceptives, filed a brief in which it agreed with the United States that the Court should review its case. Lyle reported on that filing, as well as the federal government’s filings in other challenges to the birth control mandate. At the Constitutional Accountability Center’s Text and History Blog, David Gans summarizes the argument – made in a CAC amicus brief – that the Court should not recognize constitutional protection for a corporation’s free exercise of religion.
Briefly:
- The editorial board of The Washington Post urges the Court to side with the Environmental Protection Agency in its review of the greenhouse gas cases.
- The Center for Public Integrity has a report on Shaun McCutcheon, whose case, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, was argued earlier this month.
