Meet Gary Peel. Gary was once an attorney of note in the Madison County, Illinois area. In fact, he once had a case in front of the United States Supreme Court that dealt with attorney advertising and “specialist” claims. Though he didn’t argue the case, he was the censured attorney,......
The Supreme Court will soon rule on a Third Circuit decision defining the role of disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), after the Court accepted certiorari on Monday. The case involves a New Jersey subdivision with a traditionally non-white population that faced a significant change in demographics......
We've all seen the odd protesters at the Supreme Court building. They stand on the sidewalk, often holding racist, homophobic, or anti-Semitic signs, and we politely ignore them, as they are so far from the building that it is easy to rush past them on the way to watch Justice......
Lets play a word association game. What are the first things you think of when you hear "Ninth Circuit"? Liberal. Western. Reversals. The Ninth's reputation precedes it, and with the results of the recent spate of Supreme Court decisions, it may have reclaimed it's title as the most reversed circuit court......
We in the law like cases to settle. We like settlements so much that if a party makes a reasonable offer to settle, and the other side declines, and doesn’t land a more favorable verdict at trial, we’ll make them pick up part of the tab, specifically for expert witness......
Today was not the day where the Supreme Court stood up and affirmed equality. Nor was it the day that they ended affirmative action or a 1960s Voting Rights Act that continues oversight over southern states' elections. Nope. Today was the day of jurisdiction over raisons, narrow decisions on arbitration,......
Much like a procrastinating child, the U.S. Supreme Court always leaves the toughest tasks for last. With only three weeks left in the current tern however, some of the most intriguing landmark cases will be decided soon. According to SCOTUSblog’s calendar, opinions are expected to be released on June 10, 13,......
We were starting to worry that the ideological differences that make for such great theater amongst the Nine were beginning to dissipate. After all, the latest handful of decisions by the Supreme Court have come down without much dissent or controversy. Were Scalia and Ginsburg becoming BFFs not just outside......
Is there anything rarer than an appellate court choosing to ignore a poorly-reasoned state supreme court opinion? Michael Pizarro has twice been convicted of murdering his 13-year-old half-sister, Amber Barfield, with special circumstances involving lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under age 14. On the night of her death in......
For such a hotly-debated topic, the law regarding bans and burdens on abortion hasn’t changed much. Any ban or undue burden on pre-viability abortions is unconstitutional per the Supreme Court’s holdings in Roe, Casey, and Gonzales. Since 1973, the bright line rule that a woman’s right to privacy trumps the......
For the first time in thirty years, and despite recent opportunities to do so, the Supreme Court will address one of the touchiest of all subjects: prayer in public meetings. Greece, New York begins its town meetings with an invocation. Though there is no official policy deciding who can open......
The relationship between government and religion will once again become a point of discussion at the U.S. Supreme Court, as the Justices agreed to consider whether a New York town could open meetings with a prayer. Two residents sued Greece, New York, in 2008, saying it was endorsing Christianity, a......
When you've argued at least 20 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and worked in the Solicitor General's Office for two different administrations (Bush II and Obama), and Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Nine, (a personal favorite) writes a New Yorker feature on you, titled, "The Supreme Court Nominee-in-Waiting," some......
Comcast. Dukes. Concepcion. Heck, Citizens United. The big-name pro-business rulings have come aplenty in this present incarnation of the Supreme Court. Is this a case of big names triggering the availability heuristic -- the principle that noteworthy events figure more prominently in our minds? (Planes are safer than automobiles, even......
California cities and counties are free to ban the sale and distribution of medical marijuana. Pot dispensaries can be banned via zoning laws, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous ruling, which approved a ban by the city of Riverside, is expected to spur more such bans statewide. About......
You'd have to imagine, at some point, that either Congress (ha!) or the Supreme Court will step in and clear up the confusion surrounding restitution for those depicted in child pornography, as well as the issue of joint and several liability of the present day possessors of the images. Though......
The Supreme Court isn't in a hurry to fill its docket for the 2013 Term. So far, the Court has only granted cert in 19 merit-based cases. While there are already some stand outs in the next term -- like Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action --some of the......
Most of us are waiting to hear the Supreme Court's thoughts on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California's Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage. Judge Harry Pregerson, however, already has an opinion. Judge Pregerson is the chair of the Ninth Circuit's Standing Committee on Federal Public Defenders. Last......
The California Supreme Court ruled last week that a Long Beach ordinance couldn’t save the seaside city from a tax refund lawsuit. Long Beach resident John McWilliams sued the city on behalf of himself and similarly-situated individuals, challenging the city’s telephone users tax (TUT) and seeking refund of taxes paid.......
The Supreme Court disposed of two more matters on its to-do list this morning, but it only issued one opinion. Today, we have a unanimous opinion in McBurney v. Young and a DIG in Boyer v. Louisiana. Let’s discuss what happened........