For the first time under Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court has failed to issue opinions before Thanksgiving in any of the cases that were argued in recent months. The court operates under no deadlines, but usually produces an opinion or two by the middle of November, especially if Roberts or the equally speedy Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are writing for a unanimous court. The justices heard arguments a month earlier than usual in an important campaign finance case that could... Read Full Story
He's a right-leaning New Jersey native with a lifelong love of the Phillies. She's a liberal New Yorker who grew up near Yankee Stadium. They're eying each other warily these days from opposite ends of the Supreme Court bench. Justices Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor make no secret of their rooting interests in the World Series, though neither would say whether they have a wager on the outcome. Alito was unusually quiet when the court met Monday. Was he glum over the ninth-inning meltdown... Read Full Story
The U.S. Supreme Court is taking a close look at a question individual investors have long asked about their mutual funds, but the courts have largely ignored: Why am I getting charged twice as much as big institutional clients? Sure enough, the money-management services that different classes of fund clients get aren't the same. Institutions like pension funds and foundations may not need toll-free customer hotlines. They don't require as many of the prospectuses and other fund reports that... Read Full Story
Clarence Thomas, the justice long known as the silent member of the Supreme Court, criticized his colleagues Friday for badgering attorneys rather than letting them speak during oral arguments. Thomas — who hasn't asked a lawyer a question during arguments in nearly four years — said he and the other eight justices virtually always know where they stand on a case by reading legal briefs before oral arguments. "So why do you beat up on people if you already know? I don't know, because I don't... Read Full Story
Chief Justice John Roberts once famously and controversially described a judge's role as akin to an umpire who merely calls balls and strikes. On Wednesday, Roberts offered a new take on that argument in a Supreme Court case about whether lawyers who sued to force changes in Georgia's foster care program could receive extra pay for their efforts. A federal judge awarded the lawyers an extra $4.5 million on top of the $6 million they were due under a formula. U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob... Read Full Story
Hot-button issues including gun rights and counter-terrorism will be on the docket when the US Supreme Court, including newest member Sonia Sotomayor, begins a new term on Monday. The nation's highest court, whose decisions deeply affect US policy, will also go to work amid growing speculation over the possible departure of a judge. The nine justices have agreed to examine 55 cases this term. They will soon decide whether to add to that roster an appeal brought by Guantanamo Bay detainees... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. law that makes it a crime to sell videos of animals being tortured or killed may be too broad as it possibly covers documentary films and depictions of hunting or bullfights, Supreme Court justices said on Tuesday. A majority of the nine-member high court seemed sympathetic to the argument that the 1999 animal cruelty law infringed on free-speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Congress adopted the law in an attempt to... Read Full Story
The complexity of the law can have a dehumanizing effect on those who practice it, an American cardinal told a church service Sunday that included Vice President Joe Biden, six members of the Supreme Court and hundreds of members of the legal community. Five of the six Roman Catholics on the high court — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito — heard the homily by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo; the sixth, Justice Clarence Thomas... Read Full Story
"Hillary: The Movie" is returning to the Supreme Court for a limited engagement and with the chance to reshape campaign finance laws for next year's congressional elections. The justices were hearing arguments in the case Wednesday for the second time. It began as a dispute over whether a 90-minute movie attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential ambitions should be regulated as a campaign ad. But it took on greater significance after the justices decided to use the case to consider... Read Full Story
(Editor’s note: Brad Feld is a n early stage investor and co-founder of Foundry Group. This post originally appeared on his blog .)
I had an incredible experience this week. My friend Phil Weiser, who is now the Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the US Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (I prefer to call him America’s Top Cop on Agriculture) invited me, my partner Jason Mendelson, and my wife Amy Batchelor to attend the Supreme Court Oral Arguments for re Bilski .
For those... Read Full Story
