Law

Sitting by designation on the First Circuit, retired Justice David Souter wrote for a panel that recently upheld the constitutionality of revisions to a Massachusetts curriculum guide on the Armenian genocide, Constitutional Law Prof Blog reports.  The court concluded that “the revisions to the Guide after its submission to legislative officials, even if made in [...]

The “Notable Petitions” feature lists petitions that are likely to appear on our “Petitions to Watch” list when they are scheduled for consideration by the Justices.  ”Notable Petitions” are those that Tom has identified as raising one or more questions that has a reasonable chance of being granted in an appropriate case.  We generally do [...]

At the American Constitution Society, Rick Hasen analyzes the significance of the Ninth Circuit’s decision to issue a stay of Judge Walker’s decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, concluding that “both opponents and proponents of gay marriage should read very little into” the order. He suggests that the stay may in fact help proponents of same-sex [...]

The government’s headline-making prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui — the only person so far convicted of any crime related to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 — will not be tested in the Supreme Court, at least for some time.  The time to file an appeal ran out on July 30, and his court-appointed lawyers [...]

In the decorous competition among lower court judges to supply clerks to serve Supreme Court Justices, D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick B. Garland has emerged as a champion for the Justices’ coming Term.  In the new listing of clerks, it turns out that six of the 39 former lower court clerks who will be working at [...]

In brief, here are today’s stories on the Supreme Court: At Balkinization, Jason Mazzone summarizes his research on Supreme Court review of state court decisions. He concludes that “compared to its predecessors, the Roberts Court is reviewing fewer cases from the state courts but reversing a higher percentage of them. In other words, the Roberts [...]

The chickens have flown home and are circling SCO, looking for a place to roost, with SCO doing its dance to postpone the inevitable. Judge Ted Stewart, who presided over the SCO v. Novell second trial has denied SCO's motion to stay taxation of costs, a motion which Novell opposed. "Motion to stay taxation of costs" is legalese for "SCO doesn't want to have to pay what they owe Novell for dragging them through another pointless trial that found exactly what the first trial found, so it would like to figure out what the costs are later, much, much later." SCO asked for a postponement until all their appeals were decided. But the judge wasn't buying it. Note they don't have to pay within ten days. They have to tell the court within ten days if there are any items on Novell's bill it thinks it should not have to pay at all.

The Ninth Circuit Court on Tuesday morning ordered an expedited review of a second appeal on California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage — a plea by local officials in Imperial County,  Calif., to enter the case in order to defend the ballot measure’s constitutionality.  The motions panel of the Circuit Court, in a two-page [...]

As Lyle Denniston explains on this blog, late yesterday the Ninth Circuit delayed the granting of same-sex marriage licenses in California at least until December and ordered the proponents of Proposition 8 to brief the issue of their standing to challenge U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker’s August 4 decision striking down the law. Prior [...]

UPDATE 8:55 p.m.  The lawyers who won the challenge to Proposition 8 in District Court do not plan to ask the Supreme Court to lift the stay issued by the Ninth Circuit. One of those attorneys, Theodore Boutrous, said in a statement: ”We are gratified that the Ninth Circuit has recognized the importance and pressing nature [...]

Oracle, as well as Novell, have both filed a Reservation of Rights objecting to SCO's Motion in bankruptcy court to sell off all the assets, all but the litigation and whatever is on the list of excluded assets. If you recall, Oracle made an appearance in connection with an earlier SCO sales scheme, and now it says SCO needs to tell it more detailed information about the new plan and amend it, if any Oracle contracts are involved. "At this time, Oracle does not consent to any proposed assignment or transfer of use via the Sale Motion or otherwise, as proposed transfers must be in compliance with the license terms," Oracle tells the court. It has copyrights and patents on this software, it points out. Not that it needs to mention that this week. We are aware.

Backers of California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage in that state on Monday questioned whether a federal judge lacked the authority even to rule in the federal constitutional case, so his ruling striking down the ban must be wiped out.   The argument was made as attorneys completed the briefing before the Ninth Circuit Court [...]

The Supreme Court on Monday put an end to a running battle between a California lawyer — a prominent figure in the movement to challenge the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s Presidency — and a federal judge in Georgia.  The full Court refused, without comment, to block a $20,000 penalty that District Judge Clay D. Land [...]

On Friday, the California Attorney General notified the Ninth Circuit that the state would not appeal Judge Walker’s decision in the Proposition 8 case, as Lyle Denniston of this blog reports. The state’s refusal to defend the law has led to the question whether Proposition 8’s supporters even have standing to appeal Judge Vaughn Walker’s [...]

Last week, we updated our sister site, SCOTUSwiki, to include a number of new filings in OT10 merits cases.  New petitioners’ briefs have been added to the case pages for Mayo Foundation v. United States, Cullen v. Pinholster,  and Wall v. Kholi, and we have added new respondents’ briefs to the case pages for Connick [...]

Here's the Oracle complaint [PDF] against Google, as text. More accurately, it's Oracle America v. Google. That is what Oracle has named Sun Microsystems now that it's a subsidiary, Oracle America, the company formerly known as Sun. So it's Sun that is being made to be the plaintiff. It's Sun's patents and copyrights, so that makes sense, but it gives me an icky feeling. All the Sun people who'd never do this in a million years either wouldn't go to work for Oracle or left promptly, so here we are, Oracle America. Doing documents as text is very helpful, because it forces me to notice such details. Here is what else I'm noticing so far.

The Court is in recess for the summer; it is expected to return on October 4 for the first oral argument of October Term 2010. The schedule of merits briefs due this week follows the jump. Monday, August 16: Respondent’s brief in Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp. (09-834) Thursday, August 19: Petitioner’s brief in [...]

California’s Attorney General, Edmund G. Brown, Jr., formally notified the Ninth Circuit Court Friday night that the state will not appeal a federal judge’s ruling striking down the Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage.  That position, along with a flurry of other filings in the Circuit Court, puts new emphasis on a basic issue: can [...]

A motions panel of the Ninth Circuit Court on Friday set a fast schedule for reviewing a plea to put on hold, for several months, a federal judge’s ruling striking down California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage.  In a scheduling order, the panel ordered briefing completed by Monday morning — a little more than [...]

A motions panel of the Ninth Circuit Court on Friday set a fast schedule for reviewing a plea to put on hold, for several months, a federal judge’s ruling striking down California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage.  In a scheduling order, the panel ordered briefing completed by Monday morning — a little more than [...]