Every post published in December 2011, most recent first.
The Montana Supreme Court on Friday put to work its own view of what the Supreme Court had decided in the controversial ruling allowing massive corporate spending in political campaigns, and came out differently: the state court upheld a 99-year-old state ban on the use of corporations’ own money to support or oppose any candidate in state elections.
Reacting to critics of the Supreme Court who have raised their voices lately about the Justices’ ethical values, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., used his year-end report on Saturday to seek to reassure the nation that he and his eight colleagues are sensitive to the issue, and are entitled to the public’s confidence in their integrity.
This is the final post in a ten-part series that the blog has been publishing in recent weeks, explaining more fully the new federal health care law, and the Supreme Court’s review of the constitutionality of key parts of the law.
The Supreme Court on Friday added ten minutes to the oral argument time for the January 9 hearing on the Texas redistricting cases, allotting the extra time to the U.S. Solicitor General’s office.
Ezell Gilbert of Tampa, Fla., had a brief span of freedom after serving more than 14 years of a 24-year-plus prison term that the federal courts now agree was too long — by maybe as much as eight to 13 years.
The Obama Administration on Wednesday afternoon urged the Supreme Court not to allow Texas to use the election district maps drawn up by its state legislature, arguing that if time is too short to draw up new maps, the “interim” redistricting plans of a federal court should be used for the 2012 elections even though those are flawed in some respects.
This is one of a continuing series of articles the blog has been publishing in recent weeks, explaining more fully the new federal health care law, and the Supreme Court’s review of the constitutionality of key parts of the law.
At its January 6, 2012 Conference, the Court will consider such issues as dog sniffs and the Fourth Amendment, res judicata and “virtual representation,” and the “single-entity” exemption to the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act.
The Court continues on holiday this week. However, some posts will appear on the blog during this week, including the final posts in the special series on the Affordable Care Act. Regular coverage on the blog will resume on Tuesday, January 3.
Today’s clippings focus on the ripple effects of the Court’s decision to grant cert. in Arizona v. United States, as well as the continuing responses to Newt Gingrich’s recent criticisms of the Court and the federal judiciary.