Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle

Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle

Argument preview: Justices to hear oral argument on additional time for sex offenders who violate terms of supervised release – Amy Howe

Argument analysis: Meandering argument suggests justices likely to narrow bankrupts’ power to rescind licenses in bankruptcy – Ronald Mann

Opinion analysis: A win for one taxpayer, but not many more – Daniel Hemel

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Conference of February 15, 2019

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Orders

RETURN MAIL INC. V. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE (17-1594)

MISSION PRODUCT HOLDINGS INC. V. TEMPNOLOGY INC. (17-1657)

Opinions

Conference

Orders

MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORP. V. HALLECK (17-1702)

UNITED STATES V. HAYMOND (17-1672)

MONT V. UNITED STATES (17-8995)

THE AMERICAN LEGION V. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (17-1717)

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
15-108	P.R.	Jan 13, 2016 Tr.Aud.	Jun 9, 2016	6-2	Kagan	OT 2015

Holding: The Double Jeopardy Clause bars Puerto Rico and the United States from successively prosecuting a single person for the same conduct under equivalent criminal laws.

Judgment: Affirmed, 6-2, in an opinion by Justice Kagan on June 9, 2016. Justice Ginsburg filed a concurring opinion, in which Justice Thomas joined. Justice Thomas filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. Justice Breyer filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Sotomayor joined.

Opinion analysis: Setback for Puerto Rico's independent powers (UPDATED) (Lyle Denniston)
Argument analysis: Puerto Rico -- special no more? (Lyle Denniston)
Court will question its power to decide Puerto Rico case (Lyle Denniston)
Argument preview: A lofty issue for Puerto Rico (Lyle Denniston)
U.S. opposes new role for Puerto Rico (Lyle Denniston)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Jun 5 2015	Application (14A1236) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from June 18, 2015 to July 20, 2015, submitted to Justice Breyer.
Jun 5 2015	Application (14A1236) granted by Justice Breyer extending the time to file until July 20, 2015.
Jul 17 2015	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 24, 2015)
Aug 24 2015	Brief of respondents Luis M. Sanchez Valle, et al. in opposition filed.
Sep 8 2015	Reply of petitioner Commonwealth of Puerto Rico filed.
Sep 9 2015	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of September 28, 2015.
Oct 1 2015	Petition GRANTED.
Oct 19 2015	Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs in support of either party or of neither party received from counsel for the petitioner.
Oct 20 2015	Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs in support of either party or of neither party received from counsel for the respondents.
Nov 16 2015	Joint appendix filed. (Corrected Joint Appendix filed and distributed on 1/31/16.) (Statement of costs filed)
Nov 16 2015	Brief of petitioner Commonwealth of Puerto Rico filed.
Nov 24 2015	SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Dec 4 2015	Record requested from the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.
Dec 15 2015	CIRCULATED.
Dec 15 2015	Record received from the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. 1 Box.
Dec 16 2015	Brief of respondents Luis M. Sanchez Valle, and James Gomez Vazquez filed. (Distributed)
Dec 22 2015	Brief amici curiae of Professors Christina Duffy Ponsa and Sam Erman filed. (Distributed)
Dec 22 2015	Brief amicus curiae of Virgin Islands Bar Association filed.
Dec 23 2015	Brief amici curiae of Current and Former Senior Puerto Rico Officials filed. (Distributed)
Dec 23 2015	Brief amicus curiae of United States filed. (Distributed)
Dec 23 2015	Brief amici curiae of Colegio de Abogados y Abogadas de Puerto Rico, and The Puerto Rican Bar Association filed. (Distributed)
Dec 23 2015	Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument filed.
Dec 23 2015	Brief amicus curiae of Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers - Miami Chapter filed. (Distributed)
Jan 5 2016	Reply of petitioner Commonwealth of Puerto Rico filed. (Distributed)
Jan 8 2016	Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument GRANTED.
Jan 8 2016	Letter from Clerk of Court advising that counsel should be prepared to discuss at oral argument whether this Court has jurisdiction to review the ruling of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico under 28 U.S.C. Sec.1258.
Jan 11 2016	Supplemental brief of petitioner Commonwealth of Puerto Rico filed. (Distributed)
Jan 12 2016	Letter from counsel for the respondent received.
Jan 13 2016	Argued. For petitioner: Christopher Landau, Washington, D. C. For respondents: Adam G. Unikowsky, Washington, D. C.; and Nicole A. Saharsky, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae).
Jun 9 2016	Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Kagan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Ginsburg, and Alito, JJ., joined. Ginsburg, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which Thomas, J., joined. Thomas, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. Breyer, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Sotomayor, J., joined.
Jul 12 2016	MANDATE ISSUED
Jul 12 2016	JUDGMENT ISSUED
Jul 28 2016	Record from the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico has been returned.

Featured Posts

Argument preview: Justices to hear oral argument on additional time for sex offenders who violate terms of supervised release – Amy Howe

Argument analysis: Meandering argument suggests justices likely to narrow bankrupts’ power to rescind licenses in bankruptcy – Ronald Mann

Opinion analysis: A win for one taxpayer, but not many more – Daniel Hemel
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This Week at the Court
The Supreme Court released orders from the February 15 conference on Tuesday; the justices added County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund to next term's merits docket and summarily reversed in Moore v. Texas.
On Wednesday the justices released their opinions in Dawson v. Steager and Timbs v. Indiana.
On Tuesday, the justices heard oral argument in Return Mail Inc. v. United States Postal Service.
On Wednesday, the justices heard oral argument in Mission Product Holdings Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC.
On Friday, the justices will meet for their February 22 conference.
Major Cases
- Lamone v. Benisek
  In case in which the plaintiffs allege that a Maryland congressional district was gerrymandered to retaliate against them for their political views: (1) whether the various legal claims articulated by the three-judge district court are unmanageable; (2) whether the three-judge district court erred when, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, it resolved disputes of material fact as to multiple elements of plaintiffs’ claims, failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and treated as “undisputed” evidence that is the subject of still-unresolved hearsay and other evidentiary objections; and (3) whether the three-judge district court abused its discretion in entering an injunction despite the plaintiffs’ years-long delay in seeking injunctive relief, rendering the remedy applicable to at most one election before the next decennial census necessitates another redistricting.
- Kisor v. Wilkie
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., which direct courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of its own ambiguous regulation.
- Rucho v. Common Cause
  (1) Whether plaintiffs have standing to press their partisan gerrymandering claims; (2) whether plaintiffs’ partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable; and (3) whether North Carolina’s 2016 congressional map is, in fact, an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
- New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, New York
  Whether New York City’s ban on transporting a licensed, locked and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside city limits is consistent with the Second Amendment, the commerce clause and the constitutional right to travel.
- The American Legion v. American Humanist Association
  (1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.
- Gamble v. United States
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule the “separate sovereigns” exception to the double jeopardy clause.
see all this term’s cases »
Recent Decisions
- Dawson v. Steager By taxing the federal pension benefits of U.S. Marshals Service retiree James Dawson, while exempting from taxation the pension benefits of certain state and local law enforcement officers, West Virginia unlawfully discriminates against Dawson as 4 U.S.C. §111 forbids.
- Timbs v. Indiana The Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause is an incorporated protection applicable to the states under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause.
- Moore v. Texas The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ redetermination that Bobby James Moore does not have an intellectual disability and is thus eligible for the death penalty is inconsistent with the Supreme Court's 2017 decision in Moore v. Texas.
see all this term’s cases »
Current Relists
- Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda Whether the prohibition in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1), against employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” encompasses discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation.
- Baxter v. United States (1) Whether a conviction for robbery under Florida law qualifies as a “violent felony” within the Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause simply because it requires overcoming victim resistance, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has held, or whether such a conviction fails to qualify as an ACCA “violent felony” because Florida caselaw confirms that overcoming victim resistance does not invariably requires the use of “violent force” as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has held; and (2) whether a conviction for any state robbery offense that includes “as an element” the common law requirement of overcoming “victim resistance” is categorically a “violent felony” within the ACCA’s elements clause if the offense has been specifically interpreted by state appellate courts to require only slight force to overcome resistance.
- Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia Whether discrimination against an employee because of sexual orientation constitutes prohibited employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” within the meaning of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2.
More Petitions »
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Cases argued 45

Cases decided 13

Summary reversals 3

Merits cases granted to date 74

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Justice Sotomayor at the Library of Congress

On February 14, Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared at the Library of Congress with Chief Judge Robert Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit and Professor Eloise Pasachoff of the Georgetown University Law Center for the Supreme Court Fellows Annual Lecture.

Peabody Award
Awarded the Peabody Award for excellence in electronic media.
Sigma Delta Chi
Awarded the Sigma Delta Chi deadline reporting award for online coverage of the Affordable Care Act decision.
National Press Club Award
Awarded the National Press Club's Breaking News Award for coverage of the Affordable Care Act decision.
Silver Gavel Award
Awarded the Silver Gavel Award by the American Bar Association for fostering the American public’s understanding of the law and the legal system.
American Gavel Award
Awarded the American Gavel Award for Distinguished Reporting About the Judiciary to recognize the highest standards of reporting about courts and the justice system.
Webby Award
Awarded the Webby Award for excellence on the internet.

15
Conference

19
Orders
RETURN MAIL INC. V. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE (17-1594)

20
MISSION PRODUCT HOLDINGS INC. V. TEMPNOLOGY INC. (17-1657)
Opinions

22
Conference

25
Orders
MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORP. V. HALLECK (17-1702)

26
UNITED STATES V. HAYMOND (17-1672)
MONT V. UNITED STATES (17-8995)

27
THE AMERICAN LEGION V. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (17-1717)

Cases argued	45
Cases decided	13
Summary reversals	3
Merits cases granted to date	74