As this term draws to a close, the U.S. Supreme Court is getting busy in reducing its inventory of pending cases. Yesterday, six of them were resolved....more
6/6/2025
/ Breach of Contract ,
Class Action ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
First Amendment ,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA) ,
Nonprofits ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Religious Institutions ,
SCOTUS ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Supreme Court Justices ,
Title VII
The U.S. Supreme Court did not issue any merits opinions yesterday, but it did issue two orders denying cert. One of them, Nicholson v. W.L. York, Inc., is potentially significant for litigants of discrimination claims under...more
Readers of this blog will recall our recent discussion concerning the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which the Court overruled the long-standing doctrine of Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v....more
This post’s title comes from the 1960s doo-wop hit “Stay,” by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs. I recognize that most practicing lawyers today are too young to know of this classic....more
The U.S. Supreme Court did not issue any merits opinions today, but there were two dissents from denials of cert. that merit attention, both concerning the First Amendment....more
Yesterday, an evenly divided 4–4 U.S. Supreme Court, with Justice Barrett having recused herself, decided in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond to leave in place the holding of the Oklahoma Supreme Court...more
5/23/2025
/ Charter Schools ,
Educational Institutions ,
Executive Powers ,
Federal Reserve ,
First Amendment ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
NLRB ,
Religious Institutions ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Supreme Court Justices
Late on Friday, May 16, in the case of A.A.R.P. v. Trump, the U.S. Supreme Court enjoined the Trump administration from carrying out further deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (the “Act”) of 176 Venezuelan...more
The most anticipated event at the U.S. Supreme Court today was the oral argument in the birthright citizenship case....more
The U.S. Supreme Court did not publish any opinions last week, but I note with sadness the death of retired Justice David Souter on May 8.
I got to know Justice Souter first during his vetting in 1990....more
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court again decided only a single case, that of Feliciano v. Department of Transportation, and, to many Court observers, the most interesting thing about it is the lineup of Justices—one that...more
In its 2022 decision in Becerra v. Empire Health Foundation, for Valley Hospital Medical Center, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the phrase “entitled to [Medicare Part A] benefits” applied to “all those qualifying for the...more
Immigration-related cases have recently been highly controversial and much in the news.
Thus, it should be unsurprising that the U.S. Supreme Court was sharply divided in the case of Monsalvo Velázquez v. Bondi, the...more
Notwithstanding its mounting backlog, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved only one case today, an unsurprising unanimous decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University....more
Late in the day on April 10, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion relating to an order in the case of Noem v. Abrego Garcia....more
The motions docket of the U.S. Supreme Court remains busy. Following the April 4 decision in Department of Education v. California—in which the Court, treating a temporary restraining order (TRO) as if it were a preliminary...more
While not a decision on the merits, the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion on April 4, 2025, in Department of Education v. California is worth considering....more
The Supreme Court decided two cases today, continuing the release of opinions on which the Court is not deeply divided. The tougher ones are yet to come....more
The U.S. Supreme Court resolved more textual battles yesterday, one in a fully argued case, the other on procedural motions. The combinations of Justices continue to defy stereotypes, and at least one of those combinations,...more
3/6/2025
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Veterans Affairs ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Aid ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Supreme Court Justices ,
Veterans
Only a few readers of SCOTUS Today are lawyers who are professionally occupied with environmental matters. However, almost all of my readers are constantly occupied with administrative law matters, governed in the...more
Yesterday was a day of unanimity at the U.S. Supreme Court, and what the Justices were unanimous about was a textually literal approach to applying dictionary definitions to resolve statutory disputes....more
2/27/2025
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Lanham Act ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks
The U.S. Supreme Court decided two cases yesterday, one of which, Lackey v. Stinnie, involved an action brought pursuant to 42 U. S. C. §1983 and should be of particular interest to the many readers of this blog who practice...more
2/26/2025
/ 42 U.S.C. §1983 ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Criminal Procedure ,
Due Process ,
Equal Protection ,
Evidence ,
False Evidence ,
False Testimony ,
Jurisdiction ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Prevailing Party ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS
The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the nationwide injunction that had been blocking the enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) while the merits of the CTA are pending a decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for...more
As the snow has fallen on Washington, DC’s First Street over the past few days, the Supreme Court has begun to issue opinions in the current term....more
In its first decision on the merits in the current term, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court (per Jackson, J.) has held in Bouarfa v. Mayorkas that revocation of an approved visa petition under 8 U.S.C. §1155, based on a...more
It goes without saying that the actions of federal regulatory agencies greatly affect many essential aspects of our daily lives, among them the delivery of medical services, medicines, and therapeutic devices and the...more