Every post published in February 2007, most recent first.
Attempting to draw the Supreme Court back into the legal side of the “war on terror,” two men being held captive by the U.S. military on Tuesday urged the Justices to restore the right to challenge their detention and criminal prosecution.
Beginning at 10 AM eastern, the Court is expected to release at least one opinion on the merits; we will bring you coverage as they are released. The Court will then hear one hour of oral argument in Hein v. Freedom From Religion (preview here).
The following argument recap is by Erik Zimmerman of the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. His preview of this case can be found here. On Monday, the Court heard argument in EC Term of Years Trust v. United States (No. 05-1541).
UPDATE to 11:45 a.m.: Today’s decision in Whorton v. Bockting (05-595) can be downloaded here; it was the only opinion released by the Court. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that its major ruling on the Confrontation Clause in Crawford v. Washington is not to be applied retroactively, to cases that were final before that ruling came down on March 8, 2004.
The Supreme Court will take up at its Friday Conference a plea by two Guantanamo Bay detainees to consider their appeal on an expedited basis, according to the Court’s electronic docket.
The transcript in Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. is now available here.
Federal taxpayers who contend that the government is using their money to promote religion probably can still gather outside the federal courts, and go in with lawsuits to challenge that spending.
The AP’s Mark Sherman reports here on the Court’s unanimous decision today in Worton v. Bockting, holding that a cross-examination rule is not retroactive; Jeannie Shawl of the Jurist has this post; the Volokh Conspiracy’s Orin Kerr has this post; at Sentencing Law & Policy, Doug Berman weighs in here.
The following argument preview is by Molly Cutler of the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. On February 27, 2007, the Court will hear Winkelman v. Parma City School District, which asks whether the non-lawyer parents of a disabled child can appear pro se in federal court either on their own behalf or on behalf of the child in a lawsuit under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Last week, this cert. petition (with appendix) was filed in the case of Zoltek Corp. v. U.S.; it has been docketed as 06-1155. Dean Monco of Wood Philips in Chicago is counsel of record; with him on the brief are Erik Jaffe of Erik Jaffe, P.C.; Garry Grossman of Schiff Hardin; and John Mortimer and Bert Bertoglio, also of Wood Philips.