news aggregator

The Court is on winter recess until the Justices reconvene for the Conference of February 17.  Our “Petitions to watch” for that Conference is here. The February sitting begins February 21.

The Obama Administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to expand by a half-hour — to a total of six hours — the time allowed for oral arguments in late March on the constitutionality of the new federal health care law.   In a ten-page motion, U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., said the added [...]

Today is the due date for Dr. Cockburn's third attempt at a damages report on behalf of Oracle, and just to make sure Oracle knows what needs to be submitted, Judge Alsup has issue a reminder order. (709 [PDF; Text]) The judge wants to see not only the report but also all of the related reports and studies that support it. To recap what this third report is to address if Oracle wants to argue these points on damages:

With the Court still in its mid-term recess, today’s clippings focus on the activities of Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. The AP’s Mark Sherman (via the Traverse City (Mich.) Record-Eagle) reports that Justice Ginsburg has returned from her visit to Egypt and Tunisia, a trip that was sponsored by the State Department. Speaking [...]

The Supreme Court will conclude its oral arguments for the current Term with the major case on a state’s power to pass laws to control undocumented immigrants living in the state — Arizona v. United States (docket 11-182) — on April 25.   The Court on Friday released the April calendar, listing cases to be heard [...]

At its February 17, 2012 Conference, the Court will consider such issues as the burden of persuasion for warrantless searches of residences, the use of a defendant’s pre-arrest silence, grandparent visitation, whether human genes are patentable, and exhaustion under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This edition of “Petitions to watch” features petitions raising issues [...]

This is another post in an ongoing series analyzing statistical trends at the Court. For a more complete look at the statistics that we collect on the Court, you can find all of our up-to-date charts and graphs here. Pace of Opinions. The Court has released opinions at a blistering pace through the first half [...]

The petition of the day is:

The Ninth Circuit Court on Thursday barred the public release of a videotape recording of the historic trial two years ago on the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 — a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in the state.   The three-judge panel, in a unanimous ruling, found that the trial judge had promised both sides in the [...]

Although the Justices are in their mid-term recess, coverage of the Court continues to focus on last week’s decision in United States v. Jones. Writing for Fox News, Robert Samuel of NewsCore reports on the lack of consensus regarding whether the Court’s decision in Jones requires authorities to obtain warrants before attaching GPS devices to [...]

Just because the Oracle v. Google case has not been set for trial (and won't be until at least the time at which Oracle provides its third attempt at a damages report) does not mean the court can't move the case along, and that is what Judge Alsup has done with his latest order. In an attempt to narrow the issues to be argued at trial, Judge Alsup's latest order (708 [PDF; Text]) focuses on the copyright issues and directs the parties to provide opening briefs in which they identify each remaining claim of copyright liability and the affirmative defenses to each such claim. In addition, the parties are to identify those issues that should be resolved by the court and those underlying facts that first need to be decided by the jury. This order adds to a somewhat lengthy litany of filings due from each party under various orders in effect at this time. The timeline for those responses is:

The first ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court on California’s controversial ban on same-sex marriage — but not an ultimate ruling on the ban’s constitutionality — will be released Thursday morning, the Circuit Court announced Wednesday.  Coming out at 1 p.m. Washington time (10 a.m. in San Francisco), this will be a decision on whether the courts will [...]

The petition of the day is:

I'm seeing a couple of articles about an initial determination by the ITC against Barnes & Noble on its patent misuse defense, and there's quite a lot of spin on the ball, thanks to the usual suspects. They are reading a lot into a title of a sealed document. I see many misstatements. So I'll explain a little about the process, so you can understand it. For one thing, the title of the sealed ITC initial determination is called an *initial* determination for a reason. It means it isn't final. The final one comes later. Initial determinations can be reviewed by the full ITC if the defendant petitions for review and even one Commissioner says yes. Litigation isn't like football. It is rarely suddenly over. Most importantly, the materials and depositions Barnes & Noble is seeking in discovery from Nokia and MOSAID have not yet arrived, although the ITC did grant Barnes & Noble's motion to ask Finland and Canada to provide them, and that's still ongoing, so there is likely more to go, even at the ITC. So with those materials not yet in hand, Microsoft's statement today that this means the defense is meritless is... well... to put it kindly premature. I mean, if a determination is made without the complete record being available, what does it mean?

The Justices are now in their mid-term recess, setting us up for several weeks in which we will not get any new opinions or orders.  But before starting their break, the Justices gave us a parting gift:  three opinions in argued cases.  And the debate generated by one of those decisions in particular could well [...]

The Court’s recent opinion in United States v. Jones continued to provoke coverage and commentary yesterday.  At The Lakeland (Minn.) Times, Richard Moore breaks down the majority and concurring opinions.  And at The Hill’s Congress Blog, Christopher Wolf and Jules Polonetsky address Justice Alito’s suggestion that “in circumstances involving dramatic technological change, the best solution [...]

Judge Alsup has considered the joint submission by the parties on the subject of patent marking as well as their supplemental filings (706 [PDF; Text]), and he has come out firing at Google. In a strongly worded order (707 [PDF; Text]) the court has strongly criticized Google for failing to live up to its obligations under the joint stipulation entered by the parties with respect to evidence of patent marking, declaring it: [I]t is manifestly clear that Google failed to comply with its own stipulated procedure. Fortunately for Google, they will get another opportunity to comply.

The petition of the day is:

SCOTUSblog is now accepting applications from current law students interested in interning with us.  Details about the position’s qualifications and responsibilities, as well as how to apply, are below the jump. The principal focus of the internship (which is a paid one)  will be assisting Tom with the “Petition of the Day” and “Petitions to [...]

With the Court’s winter recess underway, commentators continue their discussion of last week’s decision in United States v. Jones, the GPS tracking case. At this blog, Tom Goldstein provides an extended analysis of why Jones is less of a pro-privacy case than many initially reported, and why the opinions “may be the result of extremely [...]