Every post published in July 2009, most recent first.
If you are a recent college graduate looking for substantial involvement with Supreme Court, appellate, and litigation practices, Akin Gump is currently accepting applications for the position of Appellate Practice Coordinator/ Assistant to Tom Goldstein in the Washington, DC office.
On Thursday, the Court issued an order in Kucana v. Holder (08-911) inviting Amanda Leiter, a professor at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law and former clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens, to argue in support of the judgment below.
Amicus briefs on the reargument of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (08-205) were due to be filed today. Electronic copies of these briefs can be found on the FEC’s web site here and on the Citizens United SCOTUSWiki page, organized by supported party.
Below, Jonathan Vukicevich previews Smith v. Spisak, one of the three cases to be heard by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, October 13. Jon is a rising third year at Washington College of Law and a summer associate at Akin Gump.
UPDATE 3:05 p.m. Judge Huvelle has now issued an order carrying out her ruling from the bench Thursday morning. It can be found here. —————— A federal judge, ruling for the first time that the U.S. government must release a detainee who once faced terrorism charges, on Thursday told officials to free a young Guantanamo prisoner by Aug. 21 or 22 so that he can return to his home country, Afghanistan.
In a rare move, the Fifth Circuit Court on Thursday sent to the Supreme Court, with a plea for an answer, a legal question on the time allowed for federal prosecution of an old kidnapping case.
The chance that the Supreme Court might feel a need to resolve the most important question left open by last year’s ruling on gun rights under the Second Amendment may now have diminished.
Analysis As Justice Antonin Scalia was preparing the Supreme Court’s opinion last year declaring a personal constitutional right to have a gun for self-defense, he may have needed to put in a cautionary word to hold his five-Justice majority — an indication to make the decision seem somewhat less sweeping.
Averting for now a possible constitutional showdown, the Obama Administration urged a federal judge on Wednesday to order the release — within a few weeks — of a young Afghan detainee at Guantanamo Bay, with a transfer to the Afghan government.
By a vote of 13-6, the Judiciary Committee voted to send the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the full Senate. In the two-hour commitee session, Senators reiterated their points from the four days of hearings and also looked to future of Supreme Court nominations.