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U.S.: Wait on health care review

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - Mar. 15 (Opinion) - The Obama Administration urges the Court to turn down Virginia’s request to take up swiftly, before an appeals court rules on it, the constitutionality of the new health care law.

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McDonald v. City of Chicago : Much ado about not much?

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Jon Lowry - Jun. 29 (Opinion) - The Supreme Court’s decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago to incorporate the Second Amendment may be a headline-grabber, but it is hardly surprising. Virtually every commentator predicted that the same five Justices of the Supreme Court who ruled two years ago that the District of Columbia’s handgun ban was unconstitutional would hold that similar bans are not permitted when enacted by Chicago, or any other state or city. Now all Americans can – as National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre put it – “experience” the Second Amendment.

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“Honest services” law pared down

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - Jun. 24 (News Analysis) - Three separate rulings, threatening (though not quite nullifying) convictions or prosecutions in three different criminal corruption cases, put an exclamation point on the defeat for government prosecutors in their efforts to salvage wide discretion in employing the so-called “honest services fraud” law, enacted in 1988 in an attempt to overturn a 1987 Supreme Court ruling. The lead ruling — producing 105 pages of often deeply conflicting views — came in the case of a former Enron Corp. official convicted in one of the government’s biggest corruption cases ever. That case, Skilling v. U.S. (08-1394), involved former Enron CEO Jeffrey K. Skilling. Based largely on the Skilling decision, the Court also questioned convictions in the case of Black v. U.S. (09-876). It also summarily disposed of a third case, Weyhrauch v. U.S. (09-1196). Each case must now return to a lower court for another look. (It was in Skilling’s case, alone, that the Court raised significantly the barrier to contesting guilty verdicts based on unfavorable publicity surrounding a high-profile criminal trial.)

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Analysis: Partial U.S. victory on terrorism

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - Jun. 21 (Opinion) - it does not violate the Constitution for the government to block speech and other forms of advocacy supporting a foreign organization that has been officially labeled as terrorist, even if the aim is to support such a group’s peaceful or humanitarian actions. But the Court added a significant qualifier: such activity may be banned only if it is coordinated with or controlled by the overseas terrorist group. That limitation, however, may be fairly difficult for lower courts to apply case by case; the Court provided little specific guidance.

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The times, they are a-changin’

Mon, 10 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - May. 10 (Opinion) - For the time being, Kagan can anticipate that, on many of the heavy controversies that come before the Court, she may not have much opportunity to exert significant influence. The more committed of the Court’s conservative Justices have been having increasing success in drawing swing Justice Anthony M. Kennedy to join them in major cases, and that makes a five-Justice majority that simply may not need Kagan’s vote, even if it were available. Although known for her skills at persuasion, Kagan is but a fifty-year-old with no prior experience in shaping judicial majorities.

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Analysis: Two precedents in jeopardy

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - Sep. 10 (News Analysis) - If supporters of federal curbs on political campaign spending by corporations were counting on Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., to hesitate to strike down such restrictions, they could take no comfort from the Supreme Court’s 93-minute hearing Wednesday on that historic question. Despite the best efforts of four other Justices to argue for ruling only very narrowly, the strongest impression was that they had not convinced the two members of the Court thought to be still open to that approach. At least the immediate prospect was for a sweeping declaration of independence in politics for companies and advocacy groups formed as corporations.

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Analysis: Two precedents in jeopardy

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - Sep. 09 (News Analysis) - If supporters of federal curbs on political campaign spending by corporations were counting on Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., to hesitate to strike down such restrictions, they could take no comfort from the Supreme Court’s 93-minute hearing Wednesday on that historic question. Despite the best efforts of four other Justices to argue for ruling only very narrowly, the strongest impression was that they had not convinced the two members of the Court thought to be still open to that approach. At least the immediate prospect was for a sweeping declaration of independence in politics for companies and advocacy groups formed as corporations.

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Ginsburg temporarily blocks Chrysler deal

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - Jun. 09 (News Report) - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg put a temporary hold Monday on the deal to sell Chrysler to save it from collapse. Her order, however, simply gives her or the full Court more time to ponder whether to postpone the sale further, or allow it to go forward. The order can be found here.

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Analysis: Guns, “chukas,” and the states

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - Apr. 23 (News Analysis) - “Second Amendment law,” a federal appeals court remarked earlier this week, “remains in its infancy.” But, only about a year after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on gun rights in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Justices could soon be faced with one of the most significant issues left undecided by Heller.

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A constitutional right to a gun

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - Jun. 26 (News Analysis) - Answering a 127-year old constitutional question, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to have a gun, at least in one's home. The Court, splitting 5-4, struck down a District of Columbia ban on handgun possession. Although times have changed since 1791, Justice Antonin Scalia said for the majority, "it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct."

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Potential new obstacle to Hamdan trial

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - Dec. 18 (News Report) - Military Commission Judge Keith J. Allred, a Navy captain, ruled that Salim Ahmed Hamdan is entitled to a hearing on whether he is to be classified as a prisoner of war. If, in fact, the judge were to conclude after the hearing that Hamdan is a POW, under the terms of the Third Geneva Convention, it almost certainly would mean that he could not be tried by a U.S. military commission.

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