On February 24, 2021 the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Lange v. California. The question before the court was whether the pursuit of a person whom a police officer has probable cause to believe has committed a misdemeanor categorically qualifies as an exigent circumstance sufficient to allow the officer to enter a home without a warrant. In this case, Arthur Lange was driving home on the highway in Sonoma, California when police pursued Lange with the intention of conducting a traffic sto...
Mar 08, 2021•1 min
On February 22, 2021, by a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court denied cert in Repubulican Party of Pennsylvania v. Degraffenreid. There were two questions presented, which the Court decided not to entertain. The first was whether the Pennsylvania Supreme Court usurped the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s plenary authority to “direct [the] Manner” for appointing electors for president and vice president under Article II of the Constitution, as well as the assembly’s broad power to ...
Mar 04, 2021•11 min
On December 10, 2020 the Supreme Court decided United States v. Briggs. The question presented was whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces erred in concluding–contrary to its own longstanding precedent–that the Uniform Code of Military Justice allows prosecution of a rape that occurred between 1986 and 2006 only if it was discovered and charged within five years. Briggs argued on appeal that rape was not “punishable by death” and thus was subject to the fiv...
Feb 23, 2021•20 min
On December 8, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Facebook Inc. v. Duguid. The issue presented was whether the definition of an "automatic telephone dialing system" in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 encompasses any device that can “store” and “automatically dial” telephone numbers, even if the device does not “us[e] a random or sequential number generator.” Megan Brown, Partner at Wiley Rein LLP, and Daniel Lyons, Professor of Law at...
Feb 23, 2021•18 min
On October 7, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Ford Motor Company v. Montana Eight Judicial Circuit Court. The issue presented was whether the “arise out of or relate to” requirement for a state court to exercise specific personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant under Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz is met when none of the defendant’s forum contacts caused the plaintiff’s claims, such that the plaintiff’s claims would be the same even if the d...
Feb 23, 2021•24 min
On January 25, 2021 the Supreme Court decided Henry Schein Inc. v. Archer and White Sales Inc.. The question presented was whether a provision in an arbitration agreement that exempts certain claims from arbitration negates an otherwise clear and unmistakable delegation of questions of arbitrability to an arbitrator. This case arose out of a dispute between two dental equipment sales companies. In 2019, the 5th Circuit decided two questions. First, it concluded that the companies’ contract...
Feb 22, 2021•35 min
On January 14, 2021 the Supreme Court decided City of Chicago, Illinois v. Fulton. The question presented was whether an entity that is passively retaining possession of property in which a bankruptcy estate has an interest has an affirmative obligation under the Bankruptcy Code’s automatic stay, 11 U.S.C § 362, to return that property to the debtor or trustee immediately upon the filing of the bankruptcy petition. The debtors believe that a different provision of the code, obligated ...
Feb 01, 2021•17 min
On On January 19, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Federal Communications Commission v. Prometheus Radio Project. The question before the Court was whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit erred in vacating as arbitrary and capricious the Federal Communications Commission orders under review, which, among other things, relaxed the agency’s cross-ownership restrictions to accommodate changed market conditions. Ms. Jane E. Mago, Consultant in Media Policy and...
Jan 22, 2021•1 hr
On January 19, 2021, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in BP P.L.C. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore. The question presented was whether 28 U.S.C. 1447(d) permits a court of appeals to review any issue encompassed in a district court’s order remanding a removed case to state court when the removing defendant premised removal in part on the federal-officer removal statute, 28 U.S.C. 1442, or the civil-rights removal statute, 28 U.S.C. 1443. Philip Goldberg, Special Counsel for the...
Jan 22, 2021•12 min
On December 18, 2020 the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Henry Schein Inc. v. Archer and White Sales Inc. The question presented was whether a provision in an arbitration agreement that exempts certain claims from arbitration negates an otherwise clear and unmistakable delegation of questions of arbitrability to an arbitrator. The Fifth Circuit stated that an agreement that exempts certain disputes from arbitration does not clearly and unmistakably delegate arbitrability to the arbitrator f...
Jan 11, 2021•23 min
On December 10, 2020 the Supreme Court decided Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association. The question presented was whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) pre-empts the State of Arkansas’ Act 900, which regulates the price at which pharmacy benefit managers reimburse pharmacies for the cost of drugs covered by prescription-drug plans. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that ERISA preemption applied. By a vote of 8-0, the Supreme...
Dec 21, 2020•10 min
On December 1 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Cargill v. Doe I. There were two legal questions before the Court. The first was whether the presumption against extraterritorial application of the Alien Tort Statute is displaced by allegations that a U.S. company generally conducted oversight of its foreign operations at its headquarters and made operational and financial decisions there, even though the conduct alleged to violate international law occurred in – and the plaint...
Dec 18, 2020•24 min
On December 10, 2020 the Supreme Court decided the case of Tanzin v. Tanvir. In an 8-0 ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgement of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, holding that "appropriate relief" under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) includes claims for money damages against government officials in their individual capacities. Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel at First Liberty, joins us to discuss the ruling and its implications.
Dec 16, 2020•16 min
On December 2, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Edwards v. Vannoy. The question before the court was whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Ramos v. Louisiana applies retroactively to cases on federal collateral review. William S. McClintock is an Associate at King & Spalding LLP. He joins us today to discuss this case’s oral argument.
Dec 15, 2020•18 min
On November 30, 2020 the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Van Buren v. United States. The question before the court was whether a person who is authorized to access information on a computer for certain purposes violates Section 1030(a)(2) of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act if he accesses the same information for an improper purpose. Orin Kerr is a Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law and he joins us to discuss this case’s oral argument.
Dec 14, 2020•21 min
On November 30, 2020 the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Trump v. New York. The first legal question before the Court was whether a group of states and local governments have standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge a July 21, 2020, memorandum by President Donald Trump instructing the secretary of commerce to include in his report on the 2020 census information enabling the president to exclude noncitizens from the base population number for purposes of apportioning seats...
Dec 14, 2020•25 min
On November 2, 2020 the Supreme Court decided Taylor v. Riojas, holding that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit erred in granting qualified immunity to correctional officers sued by inmate Trent Taylor regarding the conditions of his confinement in a Texas prison. Taylor alleged that the officers knowingly confined him for six days in cells so grossly unsanitary as to violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. He contends that the cells were co...
Dec 07, 2020•9 min
On November 10, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Texas v. California. The issues before the court were whether the unconstitutional individual mandate to purchase minimum essential coverage is severable from the remainder of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as well as whether the district court properly declared the ACA invalid in its entirety and unenforceable anywhere. Iyla Somin joins us for this special, extended edition episode of SCOTUScast. Mr. Somin is a Profe...
Nov 20, 2020•26 min
On November 4, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. There were three questions before the court. The first was whether free exercise plaintiffs can only succeed by proving a particular type of discrimination claim — namely that the government would allow the same conduct by someone who held different religious views — as two circuits have held, or whether courts must consider other evidence that a law is not neutral and generally applicable, ...
Nov 16, 2020•21 min
On November 3, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Borden v. United States. The question before the court was whether the “use of force” clause in the Armed Career Criminal Act encompasses crimes with a mens rea of mere recklessness. Joining us to discuss this case’s oral argument is Kent Scheidegger. Mr. Scheidegger is the Legal Director & General Counsel at Criminal Justice Legal Foundation
Nov 16, 2020•11 min
On November 3, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Jones v. Mississippi. The question before the court was whether the Eighth Amendment requires the sentencing authority to make a finding that a juvenile is permanently incorrigible before imposing a sentence of life without parole. Joining us to discuss this case’s oral argument is Marc Levin. Mr. Levin is the Chief of Policy and Innovation for the Right on Crime initiative at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Nov 16, 2020•14 min
On October 6, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association. The issue in this case is whether states have the right to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, or PBM’s. Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas’s Attorney General, has petitioned the court to overturn the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth District’s prior decision to maintain Arkansas’ statute regulating PBMs’ drug reimbursement rates. Rutledge argue...
Nov 06, 2020•13 min
On November 2, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club. This case addresses the scope of transparency under the Freedom of Information Act’s key “deliberative process” privilege. More specifically, oral argument addressed whether documents drafted as part of a statutorily required interagency consultation process between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries fall under exemption 5 of FOIA. This exe...
Nov 06, 2020•20 min
On October 14, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding Torres v. Madrid. The question before the court was whether an unsuccessful attempt to detain a suspect by use of physical force is a “seizure” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 8th, 9th and 11th Circuits and the New Mexico Supreme Court hold, or whether physical force must be successful in detaining a suspect to constitute a “seizure,” as the U.S. Court o...
Oct 23, 2020•9 min
On October 14, 2020, the Supreme Court heard Pereida v. Barr, an immigration case. The question before the court was whether a criminal conviction bars a noncitizen from applying for relief from removal when the record of conviction is merely ambiguous as to whether it corresponds to an offense listed in the Immigration and Nationality Act. More specifically, the Court heard arguments regarding whether Mr. Pereida, who used a false Social Security card to get a job, could legally seek relief fro...
Oct 23, 2020•20 min
On October 13, 2020, The Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding United States v. Collins (consolidated with United States v. Briggs). The question before the court was whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces erred in concluding – contrary to its own longstanding precedent – that the Uniform Code of Military Justice allows prosecution of a rape that occurred between 1986 and 2006 only if it was discovered and charged within five years. Arthur Rizer and Richard Sal...
Oct 20, 2020•20 min
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc. on October 7, 2020. Two questions were before the court: the first was whether copyright protection extends to a software interface; the second was whether, as a jury found, Google's use of a software interface in the context of creating a new computer program constitutes fair use. Google reused roughly 11,000 lines of “declaring” code written by Oracle, but rewrote or purchased all other code that provided ...
Oct 19, 2020•13 min
On October 6, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding Tanzin v. Tanvir, a case involving the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, commonly referred to as RFRA. The issue in this case is whether RFRA permits suits seeking money damages against individual federal employees. Stephanie Taub joins us to discuss this case’s oral arguments.
Oct 16, 2020•26 min
On October 5, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding Carney v. Adams, a First Amendment case involving a longstanding Delaware state constitutional provision that limits judges affiliated with any one political party to no more than a “bare majority” on the state’s three highest courts. The leftover seats are reserved for the “other major party”, in effect barring members of minor parties and politically unaffiliated persons from joining the state&rs...
Oct 16, 2020•22 min
On June 30, 2020 the Supreme Court released its decision in United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V.. In an 8-1 decision, the Court upheld the ruling of the lower court, which found that “Booking.com” is not a generic term, and is thus eligible for trademark protection. Justice Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion for the Court, writing that a website styled “generic.com” does not qualify it for federal trademark protection if the term has meaning to c...
Jul 24, 2020•20 min
