Stevens Rejects Former IL Gov’s Bail Appeal

A long-shot bid by former Illinois Gov. George Ryan to remain free on bail pending his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of his political corruption conviction has been rejected. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens today rejected the emergency bail application that Ryan made to him last week, according…

Nov 6, 2007 6:07 PM CST

Bad Advice a Matter of Degree in Death Penalty Case

The state of Idaho is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to require a death-row inmate to show gross negligence by his lawyer in order to get his conviction overturned because of bad plea bargain advice. The state claims a high standard is needed to prevent courts from relying on “impermissible…

Nov 6, 2007 4:25 PM CST

Justices Ponder ‘Incoherent’ Commerce Clause in Bond Tax Case

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. commented during oral arguments yesterday in a bond taxation case that the U.S. Supreme Court’s commerce clause jurisprudence is “utterly incoherent.” The appeal asks whether Kentucky is violating the Constitution’s dormant commerce clause when it exempts the interest on in-state municipal bonds from taxation while…

Nov 6, 2007 1:43 PM CST

Habeas Appeal Barred by Botched State Deadline

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a filing deadline for habeas petitions is not tolled while the inmate pursued a challenge in the state courts that was later dismissed because it was filed too late. The court ruled in the case of inmate Daniel Siebert, convicted of killing Linda…

Nov 5, 2007 6:08 PM CST

Bad Plea Bargain Claim Gets Cert

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to accept a case that claims a lawyer’s advice to his client to turn down a plea bargain amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel. The plea deal would have would have spared Idaho inmate Maxwell Hoffman the death penalty for the murder of a…

Nov 5, 2007 5:36 PM CST

Plan Would Give Gitmo Detainees More Legal Rights

The Bush administration is considering moving many terrorism detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States and granting them more legal rights. The detainees would have the right to a lawyer and a hearing before a federal judge on a specially created court, under one option being debated, the New…

Nov 5, 2007 1:52 PM CST

Abortion Law Back Before 4th Circuit

A federal appeals court heard arguments yesterday on whether Virginia’s ban on so-called partial-birth abortions is unconstitutional. At issue is whether the state law is more restrictive than the federal law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court this spring in Gonzales v. Carhart, the Washington Post reports. After the decision,…

Nov 2, 2007 5:50 PM CDT

Justice Alito Becomes More Vocal

The U.S. Supreme Court’s newest justice may have trouble with the microphone before him on the bench, but now the rookie is asking more questions and displaying practical knowledge from years on a federal appeals court. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. was “an unassuming, button-down justice who asked few questions…

Nov 2, 2007 11:18 AM CDT

CA Judge: New Execution Regs Invalid

An effort to enact a new execution protocol in California that would put an end to a death penalty moratorium declared last year by a federal judge has suffered a setback. The protocol is invalid, a state judge has decided, because it was not created in compliance with the required…

Nov 2, 2007 12:39 AM CDT

District of Columbia v. Heller

Nov 1, 2007 10:44 PM CDT

Taking On the Job

The court weighs worker rights in age bias, benefits suits

Nov 1, 2007 9:02 PM CDT

A Shot at the Second Amendment

If the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a right to bear arms, the decision may be in spite of the powerful NRA gun lobby—not because of it

Nov 1, 2007 8:36 PM CDT

Justice Stevens Considers Ryan Sentence

Prosecutors have been asked to prepare a response to a long-shot emergency bail application to an individual U.S. Supreme Court justice, made in an effort to delay the start of a prison sentence for former Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan Sr. in a political corruption case. After receiving yesterday’s filing,…

Nov 1, 2007 8:12 PM CDT

Friends of the Court Are Friends of Mine

With fewer cases, more competition, firms use amicus briefs to grab attention

Nov 1, 2007 8:10 PM CDT

Supreme Court Debate Over Retroactivity Leaves Lawyers Silent

Justices debated how far states can go in making U.S. Supreme Court decisions retroactive during oral arguments yesterday (PDF) in the case of a man challenging his conviction because out-of-court statements were used to convict him. The petitioner wants the court’s 2004 confrontation clause ruling in Crawford v. Washington to…

Nov 1, 2007 2:04 PM CDT