Tuesday round-up
on Sep 16, 2014 at 10:10 am
Briefly:
- In The National Law Journal (registration or subscription required), Tony Mauro reports on the amicus briefs filed in Elonis v. United States, in which the Justices will consider whether a Pennsylvania man’s Facebook posts violated a federal law prohibiting the transmission of threats across state lines. Mauro notes that, in the briefs, the Court “is getting an intense education in another genre: the rhythmic, slangy — sometimes violent — poetry of rap music.”
- In The New York Times, Adam Liptak previews next month’s argument in Warger v. Shauers, in which the Court will consider whether federal evidentiary rules allow a litigant moving for a new trial based on juror dishonesty during voir dire to introduce juror testimony about statements made during deliberations that tend to show the alleged dishonesty.
- At CitiesSpeak, Lisa Soronen compiles a list of eight petitions on the Court’s certiorari docket that either involve or could affect local governments.
- At The Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Kontorovich summarizes the amicus brief that he filed on behalf of law professors and a human rights group in Zivotofsky v. Kerry, in which the Court will consider the constitutionality of a federal statute that directs the Secretary of State, on request, to record the birthplace of an American citizen born in Jerusalem as “Israel” on a U.S. passport.
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke last week at the George Washington University Law School; video of that speech is now available on Fora.tv.
- In The Atlantic, Garrett Epps weighs in on Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, in which the Arizona legislature is challenging the constitutionality of a voter initiative that gives authority for drawing districts for the House of Representatives to a bipartisan commission. He argues that, with the Court having “refused to prevent gerrymanders,” “[t] o insist that the people of a state can’t do it either would be something else again.”
A friendly reminder: We rely on our readers to send us links for the round-up. If you have or know of a recent (published in the last two or three days) article, post, or op-ed relating to the Court that you’d like us to consider for inclusion in the round-up, please send it to roundup [at] scotusblog.com.
[Disclosure: John Elwood, a frequent contributor to this blog, is among the counsel to the petitioner in Elonis.]
