Thursday round-up
Yesterday the Court heard oral arguments in Glossip v. Gross, the challenge to Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol.
April 2015 Archive
Every post published in April 2015, most recent first.
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Symposium: When strict scrutiny ceased to be strict
The result in the Williams-Yulee case was a difficult one to predict except that it was entirely predictable that the result would be by a deeply divided Court.
Argument analysis: The easy way or the hard way to decide an untimely immigration appeal?
After Tuesday’s marathon session in the marriage cases and Wednesday’s first (and tense) argument in Glossip, one can understand if the Justices’ attention was focused elsewhere when WilmerHale partner Mark Fleming stepped to the podium representing the petitioner in Mata v. Lynch.
Symposium: A rare case indeed
Yesterday’s decision in Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar was the self-described “rare” case in which a campaign finance speech restriction survived strict scrutiny.
Symposium: The Justices’ premises about judicial elections
In itself, the Supreme Court’s decision in Williams-Yulee v. The Florida Bar probably will have limited effects. The Court’s acceptance of state rules that prohibit personal solicitation of campaign contributions by candidates for judgeships is unlikely to enhance public confidence in the impartiality of judges much, if at all.
Symposium: The distinctive character of judging
From the earliest days of the Republic, Americans have displayed an ambivalent attitude toward judges. On one hand, we regard the judicial branch as performing a function distinct from the political branches, calling for the exercise of judgment removed both from popular opinion and from the political-moral views of the individual judge.
Symposium: Much ado about nothing?
The Supreme Court’s decision in Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar to uphold the state’s solicitation law comes as a surprise. Based on the Court’s recent rulings in several campaign finance cases, many scholars anticipated that the Court would find Florida’s solicitation law to be unconstitutional.
Justices debate lethal injection and the death penalty: In Plain English
First, there was hanging. Then there was the electric chair, or in some places the gas chamber and the firing squad. More recently, many states and the federal government have relied on lethal injection – administering a fatal dose of drugs – to carry out executions.
Wednesday round-up
Yesterday’s oral arguments in the challenges to state bans on same-sex marriage continue to spawn coverage and commentary. Andrew Hamm rounded up initial coverage and commentary in a post last night for this blog.
Opinion analysis: A modest restraint on campaign fund-raising
Analysis In a quite modest retreat from the Supreme Court’s full support for the free and massive flow of money into American politics, the Justices split five to four on Wednesday in allowing states to bar candidates for judgeships from personally asking for campaign donations.