U.S. Supreme Court

New Rules for Dealing With Federal Judges Who Have Issues

Updated: New rules adopted today by the Judicial Conference of the United States for the first time provide uniform national standards for dealing with federal judges whose health or behavior may interfere with their ability to perform their jobs. The rules (PDF)—which, unlike prior standards, are binding—“cover such topics as…

Mar 11, 2008 7:34 PM CDT

Calif. Court Reconsiders But Doesn’t Change Ford Punitives Verdict

A California appeals court is standing its ground and refusing to change an earlier ruling requiring Ford Motor Co. to pay $82.6 million in a rollover case. The U.S. Supreme Court had asked the California court to reconsider in light of its ruling in Philip Morris USA v. Williams, the…

Mar 11, 2008 5:49 PM CDT

Why Words Can Be Like Ugly Cravats: Justices Dish on Legal Writing

Eight U.S. Supreme Court justices come clean about their legal-writing pet peeves and their opinion-writing philosophies in “raw and unvarnished” videos posted to a linguist’s Web site. Lawyers who specialize in Supreme Court advocacy are scouring the videos, posted at LawProse.org, to divine the justices’ likes and dislikes, Legal Times…

Mar 10, 2008 3:30 PM CDT

Scalia on Bush v. Gore: ‘Get Over It’

Justice Antonin Scalia doesn’t shy away from controversial subjects, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2000 decision in Bush v. Gore that ended the recount of ballots in Florida and handed the election to George W. Bush. A Princeton student submitted a written question about the case following Scalia’s speech Friday…

Mar 10, 2008 11:02 AM CDT

Scalia Returns to Originalist Themes and the Topic of Torture

Justice Antonin Scalia revisited the subject of torture Tuesday evening in a speech to Missouri college students, after his previous comments on the subject provoked a liberal outcry. Scalia said the use of aggressive interrogation techniques and domestic wiretapping are not expressly banned by the Constitution, the Columbia Tribune reports.…

Mar 6, 2008 12:47 PM CST

Shhh: Chief Justice Drops in on High School Class

High school students in Bethesda had a high-profile visitor yesterday—Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.—in an event that was supposed to have been hush-hush. The school’s website described his speech this way: “3rd period assembly—discussion of Supreme Court,” the Washington Post reports. In keeping with the low-key spirit, Roberts played…

Mar 6, 2008 12:23 PM CST

Stories in Need of Revision: O’Connor’s First Job Offer, Women Triumphing Over Bias

Legal journalist Jan Crawford Greenburg of ABC News recalls a conversation with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in a blog column about how far women have come—and the biases they still face. Today many women have an abundance of choices. They can have children, and they can decide to work or…

Mar 5, 2008 7:18 PM CST

Pfizer Stock and the Chief Justice’s Recusal Policy Led to 4-4 Drug Case Split

Chief Justice John G. Roberts owns Pfizer stock valued between $5,001 and $50,000, according to his financial statements, and that’s apparently the reason he did not take part in yesterday’s split decision that allowed a lawsuit to proceed against the company. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 4-4 vote had the effect…

Mar 4, 2008 12:10 PM CST

‘Fleeting Expletives’ Evade High Court Review, So Far

The U.S. Supreme Court took no action today on a request to revive the government’s ability to penalize broadcasters that air so-called fleeting expletives—the unscripted use of the F word by celebrities or other guests appearing on the air. The court considered whether to accept the case at its conference…

Mar 3, 2008 5:33 PM CST

Supreme Court Refuses Appeal in Adelphia Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the accounting fraud appeal of Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and his son, Timothy, the company’s former chief financial officer. The men had contended the government failed to prove they violated the generally accepted accounting principles in prosecuting and convicting them for…

Mar 3, 2008 5:02 PM CST

High Court Rules for Taxpayer, Ditches 9th Circuit ‘Contemporanous Intent’ Rule

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a convicted taxpayer who claimed he owed no taxes on a distribution from his corporation because it had no earnings and no profits, SCOTUSblog reports. The court said taxpayer Michael Boulware should have been allowed to argue that the money should…

Mar 3, 2008 4:28 PM CST

Court Splits in Diabetes Drug Case, Allowing Lawsuit to Proceed

The U.S. Supreme Court’s divided ruling in a diabetes drug case today has the effect of allowing a lawsuit to proceed, SCOTUSblog reports. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. did not participate in the case, which was argued last Monday. The lawsuit contends a pharmaceutical company withheld information about liver…

Mar 3, 2008 3:37 PM CST

Breyer, Known for Zany Hypotheticals, Considers Hungry Racoons and Pet Oysters

Justice Antonin Scalia is known for his sarcasm during oral arguments and Ruth Bader Ginsburg for her attention to details. But no U.S. Supreme Court justice can compete with Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s unusual questions on everything from hungry raccoons to mutated ”tomato children.” “The 69-year-old Breyer is the court’s…

Mar 3, 2008 3:15 PM CST

Iraq Is New Front in Detainee Battle

Clash over habeas corpus rights moves from Guantanamo to Baghdad

Mar 1, 2008 7:53 PM CST

ABA Files Amicus Brief Supporting Habeas Corpus in Iraq

Weighing in on an issue that has created concern among lawyers, journalists and human rights advocates, among others, the American Bar Association has filed a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of U.S. citizens arrested by the American military and held in Iraq without U.S. court proceedings. At issue…

Mar 1, 2008 2:43 AM CST