Merits Cases
Argument previews and analyses, opinion analyses, posts with links to argument transcripts and audio, and other news relating to cases granted for either the current term’s docket or next term’s docket
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This Week at the Court
The Supreme Court released orders from the March 22 conference on Monday; the justices did not add any new cases to their merits docket for next term.There is a possibility of opinions on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Monday, the justices heard oral argument in PDR Network, LLC v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic Inc. and The Dutra Group v. Batterton.
On Tuesday, the justices hear oral argument in Rucho v. Common Cause and Lamone v. Benisek.
On Wednesday, the justices hear oral argument in Kisor v. Wilkie.
On Friday, the justices meet for their March 29 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.
- Lamone v. Benisek
Recent Decisions
- Frank v. Gaos This class action settlement case is remanded for the courts below to address the plaintiffs’ standing in light of Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins.
- Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP A business engaged in no more than nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings is not a “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, except for the limited purpose of enforcing security interests under 15 U. S. C. §1692f(6).
- Air and Liquid Systems Corp. v. DeVries In the maritime tort context, a product manufacturer has a duty to warn when its product requires incorporation of a part, the manufacturer knows or has reason to know that the integrated product is likely to be dangerous for its intended uses, and the manufacturer has no reason to believe that the product’s users will realize that danger.
- Nielsen v. Preap The judgments of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit -- that respondents, who are deportable for certain specified crimes, are not subject to 8 U. S. C. §1226(c)(2)’s mandatory-detention requirement because they were not arrested by immigration officials as soon as they were released from jail -- are reversed, and the cases are remanded.
- Washington State Department of Licensing v. Cougar Den Inc. The Supreme Court of Washington’s judgment -- that the “right to travel” provision of the 1855 Treaty Between the United States and the Yakama Nation of Indians pre-empts the state’s fuel tax as applied to Cougar Den’s importation of fuel by public highway for sale within the reservation -- is affirmed.
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.
- 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.
- Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky Inc. (1) Whether a state may require health-care facilities to dispose of fetal remains in the same manner as other human remains, i.e., by burial or cremation; and (2) whether a state may prohibit abortions motivated solely by the race, sex or disability of the fetus and require abortion doctors to inform patients of the prohibition.
Conference of March 22, 2019
Recent Special Features
- Symposium on what’s next in June Medical Services, LLC v. Gee
- Symposium before the oral arguments in Rucho v. Common Cause and Lamone v. Benisek
- Symposium before the oral argument in Kisor v. Wilkie
- Symposium before the oral argument in The American Legion v. American Humanist Association
- Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court
- Retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy
Statistical Snapshot
see all »Cases argued 52 Cases decided 26 Summary reversals 4 Merits cases granted to date 74 Live Blog Archives
- Opinions | March 27, 2019
- Opinions | March 26, 2019
- Opinions | March 20, 2019
- Opinions | March 19, 2019
- Orders and opinions | March 4, 2019
- Opinions | February 27, 2019 (with Casetext’s Pablo Arredondo)
- Opinions | February 26, 2019 (with Casetext’s Jake Heller)
- Opinions | February 20, 2019
- Orders and opinions | January 22, 2019
- Opinions | January 15, 2019
- Opinions | January 8, 2019
- Day five of confirmation hearing | September 27, 2018
- Day four of confirmation hearing | September 7, 2018
- Day three of confirmation hearing | September 6, 2018
- Day two of confirmation hearing | September 5, 2018
- Day one of confirmation hearing | September 4, 2018
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On March 1, Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke with actress Eva Longoria Bastón about Sotomayor’s life, her new children’s book and more.
Awards
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.
