Wilson v. Sellers

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Wilson v. Sellers

Court will review census citizenship dispute this term – Amy Howe

Argument preview: Justices to examine rejection of contracts in bankruptcy – Ronald Mann

Argument preview: Justices to consider ability of government to challenge patents in administrative process – Ronald Mann

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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
16-6855	11th Cir.	Oct 30, 2017 Tr.Aud.	Apr 17, 2018	6-3	Breyer	OT 2017

Holding: A federal habeas court reviewing an unexplained state-court decision on the merits should “look through” that decision to the last related state-court decision that provides a relevant rationale and presume that the unexplained decision adopted the same reasoning; the state may rebut the presumption by showing that the unexplained decision most likely relied on different grounds than the reasoned decision below.

Judgment: Reversed and remanded, 6-3, in an opinion by Justice Breyer on April 17, 2018. Justice Gorsuch filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Thomas and Alito joined.

OT2017 #22: “Cf. Everything” (First Mondays)
Opinion analysis: Justices reaffirm “look-through” presumption in federal habeas review of state-court decisions (Steve Vladeck)
OT2017 #5: “Oglethorpe’s Second Cousin” (First Mondays)
Argument analysis: A quixotic search for the general meaning of state-court summary affirmances (Steve Vladeck)
OT2017 #4: "Wind, Diabetes & Voluntary Retirement" (First Mondays)
Argument preview: To which state-court adjudications must federal habeas courts defer? (Steve Vladeck)
Three new cases, a Breyer dissent and a summary affirmance (Amy Howe)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Nov 10 2016	Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due December 15, 2016)
Dec 19 2016	Order extending time to file response to petition to and including January 5, 2017.
Jan 05 2017	Brief amicus curiae of Adam K. Mortara, in support of respondent filed.
Jan 05 2017	Brief of respondent Eric Sellers, Warden filed.
Jan 19 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of February 17, 2017.
Feb 21 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of February 24, 2017.
Feb 27 2017	Motion to proceed in forma pauperis and petition for a writ of certiorari GRANTED. Adam K. Mortara, Esquire, of Chicago, Illinois, is invited to brief and argue, as amicus curiae, in support of the judgment below.
Mar 15 2017	Letter from respondent regarding position in case. (Distributed)
Mar 27 2017	In light of the letter filed by respondent on March 15, 2017, the order inviting Adam K. Mortara, Esquire to brief and argue, as amicus curiae, in support of the judgment below is withdrawn.
Apr 04 2017	The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including May 30, 2017.
May 19 2017	The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is further extended to and including June 5, 2017.
Jun 05 2017	Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed)
Jun 05 2017	Brief of petitioner Marion Wilson filed.
Jun 12 2017	Brief amici curiae of Retired State Supreme Court Justices filed.
Jun 14 2017	The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including August 21, 2017.
Aug 21 2017	Brief of respondent Eric Sellers, Warden filed.
Aug 28 2017	Brief amici curiae of Arkansas, et al. filed.
Aug 31 2017	SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, October 30, 2017
Sep 07 2017	CIRCULATED
Sep 12 2017	Record requested from the U.S.C.A.11th Circuit.
Sep 20 2017	Reply of petitioner Marion Wilson filed. (Distributed)
Oct 30 2017	Argued. For petitioner: Mark E. Olive, Tallahassee, Fla. For respondent: Sarah Hawkins Warren, Solicitor General of Georgia, Atlanta, Ga.
Nov 15 2017	Motion to appoint counsel filed by petitioner Marion Wilson.
Nov 20 2017	Motion DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/8/2017.
Dec 11 2017	Motion to appoint counsel filed by petitioner GRANTED. , and Mark E. Olive, Esquire, of Tallahassee, Florida, is appointed to serve as counsel for the petitioner in this case.
Jan 19 2018	Letter filed by respondent Warden Sellers. (Distributed)
Apr 17 2018	Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Breyer, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined. Gorsuch, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Thomas and Alito, JJ., joined.
May 21 2018	JUDGMENT ISSUED.

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Court will review census citizenship dispute this term – Amy Howe

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This Week at the Court
The Supreme Court will release orders from the February 15 conference on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. There is a possibility of opinions on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
On Tuesday, the justices hear oral argument in Return Mail Inc. v. United States Postal Service.
On Wednesday, the justices hear 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
- Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. The sale of an invention to a third party who is obligated to keep the invention confidential may place the invention “on sale” for purposes of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which bars a person from receiving a patent on an invention that was “in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention,” 35 U. S. C. §102(a)(1).
- New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira A court should determine whether the Federal Arbitration Act’s Section 1 exclusion for disputes involving the “contracts of employment” of certain transportation workers applies before ordering arbitration; here, truck driver Dominic Oliveira’s independent contractor operating agreement with New Prime Inc. falls within that exception.
- Stokeling v. United States The Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause encompasses a robbery offense that, like Florida’s law, requires the criminal to overcome the victim’s resistance.
- Culbertson v. Berryhill The Social Security Act’s fee cap of 25 percent of past-due benefits imposed on attorneys who successfully represent Title II benefit claimants in court proceedings applies only to fees for court representation and not to aggregate fees for both court and agency representation.
- Henry Schein Inc. v. Archer and White Sales Inc. The “wholly groundless” exception to the general rule that courts must enforce contracts that delegate threshold arbitrability questions to an arbitrator, not a court, is inconsistent with the Federal Arbitration Act and Supreme Court precedent.
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 43

Cases decided 10

Summary reversals 2

Merits cases granted to date 73

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Chief Justice Roberts at Belmont University

On February 6, Chief Justice John Roberts spoke at Belmont University College of Law with Alberto Gonzales, dean of the law school and former U.S. attorney general.

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.
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Awarded the Silver Gavel Award by the American Bar Association for fostering the American public’s understanding of the law and the legal system.
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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	43
Cases decided	10
Summary reversals	2
Merits cases granted to date	73