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Monday round-up

Justice Clarence Thomas spoke on Thursday evening at the annual meeting of the Federalist Society, where – among other things – he indicated that he does not read this blog.  Tony Mauro reported on the Justice’s appearance for the Blog of Legal Times, while David Lat did the same for Above the Law.

On Friday the Court issued some orders from its Conference that day; the Court granted two new cases, including Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc., in which it will reconsider when investors can sue for losses resulting from securities fraud.  Lyle reported on the grants for this blog; commentary on the grant in Erica P. John Fund comes from Ken Jost at Jost on Justice and from Andrew Pincus and Archis Parasharami at Mayer Brown’s Class Defense blog.   

In an op-ed for The New York Times, Richard L. Hasen discusses changes to some states’ voting laws in the wake of last Term’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder, in which the Court struck down the provision of the Voting Rights Act used to determine which states must comply with the Act’s preclearance requirement.  Hasen urges federal judges to “hold that when a state passes a law that burdens voters, it must demonstrate, with credible evidence, that the burdens are justified by a good reason and that the laws are tailored to their intended purpose.”

At HuffPost Live, experts join Mike Sacks to discuss some of the big legal stories of the week, including the latest developments in the challenge to the University of Texas’s use of race in its undergraduate admissions process and the settlement of Mount Holly v. Mount Holly Garden Citizens in Action, which Lyle covered for this blog.

Briefly:

  • Michael Kirkland of UPI looks at the Court and death row inmates who claim that they are innocent, observing that the current divide on the Court over how to deal with such cases “probably will continue. How do you effectively punish the great mass of the guilty without damning the innocent few?”

Recommended Citation: Amy Howe, Monday round-up, SCOTUSblog (Nov. 18, 2013, 8:09 AM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2013/11/monday-round-up-195/