Every post published in January 2006, most recent first.
1. When did the Senate’s confirmation of a nominee to be Supreme Court Justice decrease the number of Justices on the Court? (Partial) Answer: Today, Tuesday, January 31, 2006. Justice O’Connor’s resignation becomes effective upon the Senate’s confirmation of Justice Alito.
The Senate at midday Tuesday approved the nomination of Samuel A. Alito, Jr., to be a Justice of the Supreme Court. The vote was 58-42, with all but one of the Senate’s 55 Republicans voting for him. Only four of the Senate’s 44 Democrtats voted for him.
(9 P.M. UPDATE: Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., made his first public appearance in robes as a member of the Supreme Court Tuesday evening, showing up to observe the State of the Union message of President Bush.
The Ninth Circuit Court, the first lower court to apply the Supreme Court’s new abortion ruling, on Tuesday struck down the federal ban on so-called “partial-birth: abortions.
The D.C. Circuit Court has told lawyers in two packets of cases involving war-on-terrorism detainees to file new written arguments on the effect on pending cases of the new Detainee Treatment Act of 2005.
The Senate voted overwelmingly on Monday to cut off debate on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. Tne vote was 72 to 25, 12 more than the minimum 60 needed to approve the debate-stopping “cloture” motion offered by Senate Republican leaders last week.
Here is Concurring Opinions with a post on Justice Scalia and the CLE event he attended during the Roberts’ swearing in. Here is the Bankruptcy Litigation Blog with a post on the Anna Nicole Smith case.
Lawyers for foreign nationals captured during the war on terrorism have mounted a broad challenge to the Bush Administration’s unusual argument that a federal appeals court has lost the power to hear their cases but still may go ahead with a strictly limited review of the detainees’ legal claims.
The Senate’s Republican leader moved on Thursday afternoon to try to force a final vote on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., to begin at 11 a.m. next Tuesday.
MORNING UPDATE: News organizations reported that Indiana carried out the execution of Marvin Bieghler after about a 30-minute delay awaiting word from the Supreme Court on the state’s request to allow the execution.. He reportedly was pronounced dead at 2:17 a.m. LATEST UPDATE: 00:45 a.m.