Wednesday round-up
on May 18, 2016 at 9:10 am
More coverage of Monday’s ruling in Zubik v. Burwell, the challenge to the Obama administration’s birth-control mandate and the accommodation offered to religious non-profits, comes from NPR’s Nina Totenberg and Tierney Sneed at Talking Points Memo. Commentary comes from The Citizen’s Guide to the Supreme Court (in a podcast), Margaret Drew at the Human Rights at Home Blog, Ilya Shapiro at Cato at Liberty, and Marty Lederman at Balkinization.
Coverage relating to Monday’s decision in Spokeo v. Robins, in which the Court sent a Virginia man’s lawsuit against the search engine Spokeo back to the Ninth Circuit, comes from Lawrence Hurley of Reuters. Commentary comes from Mike Dorf at Verdict, Paul Bland at Public Justice, Lisa Soronen at Appellate Practice Blog, and Sharon Rosenberg at Thompson Coburn.
And at his eponymous blog, Dorf considers whether Spokeo, Zubik, and other recent cases reflect the application of a famous maxim of judicial restraint from the late Judge Henry Friendly, for whom Chief Justice John Roberts clerked.
Coverage relating to the nomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia comes from Mark Walsh of Education Week, who looks at Garland’s clerkship with Justice William Brennan and the education cases at the Court that Term, while Nicholas Fandos of The New York Times reports that “George Mason University moved on Tuesday to finalize the renaming of its law school in” Scalia’s honor. In The National Law Journal (subscription or registration required), Marcia Coyle reports on comments yesterday by retired Justice John Paul Stevens, who characterized the Senate’s failure to act promptly on Garland’s nomination as “unfortunate.” In analysis for The New York Times, Adam Liptak reports that the “Supreme Court has gone into hibernation, withdrawing from the central role it has played in American life throughout Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s decade on the court.” The editorial board of The Times also weighs in, arguing that “[e]very day that passes without a ninth justice undermines the Supreme Court’s ability to function.” Seung Min Kim and Burgess Everett of Politico report that “Senate Democrats are quickly running out of maneuvers to keep Garland front and center and in the headlines, as the prospects of securing a confirmation hearing — much less getting Garland installed at the nation’s most powerful court — grow dimmer by the day.” In The Guardian, David Smith discusses the effect of Scalia’s death on the Court. And Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed interviewed President Barack Obama about the nomination battle, with Obama telling Geidner that the Senate should vote on Garland’s nomination because of concerns over whom a President Donald Trump might nominate.
Briefly:
- At ImmigrationProf Blog, Timothy Dugdale discusses two cert. petitions involving the plenary power doctrine.
- At Cato at Liberty, Thaya Knight and Ilya Shapiro discuss the amicus brief that Cato filed recently in next Term’s insider trading case, Salman v. United States.
Remember, we rely exclusively on our readers to send us links for our 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: Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is among the counsel on an amicus brief in support of the respondents in Zubik. However, I am not affiliated with the firm.]
