As the White House continues vetting candidates for Justice Stephen Breyer's Supreme Court seat, the delicate D.C. dance of lobbying for certain individuals is well underway. On this week’s “SCOTUS Sweepstakes” episode of The Term, we take a closer look at two of the rumored "shortlisters" under consideration, plus a few “long list” candidates who have recently gained some traction.
Frustrations boiled over at the Supreme Court this week in a Voting Rights Act decision Monday that Justice Elena Kagan called a “disservice to Black Alabamians” and a further abuse of the court’s emergency docket, prompting a heated response from Justice Brett Kavanaugh. On this week's episode of The Term, we’re breaking down the case and the brewing debate over the court’s so-called “shadow docket," plus analyzing Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s virtual remarks this week to New York University Schoo...
The Harvard admissions case taken up by the Supreme Court could see the court's conservative majority overrule more than 40 years of precedent by ending affirmative action in higher education. Can America's preeminent school save its race-conscious admissions process? On this week’s episode of The Term we’re breaking down the blockbuster case with Law360 senior Boston courts reporter Chris Villani, plus giving some updates on a couple of other cases the justices took up including a dispute over ...
Justice Stephen Breyer on Thursday formally announced he would be retiring at the end of the Supreme Court term. On this week’s episode, The Term breaks down the legacy he will leave behind and takes a look at what lays ahead for his potential successor with two special guests.
The Supreme Court this week agreed to hear the case of a high school football coach who prayed with students, weighed whether Boston could refuse to fly a Christian-themed flag, and debated Ted Cruz's challenge to campaign finance law. On this week’s episode of The Term, we’re breaking down a big week in First Amendment law.
The Supreme Court heard two emergency appeals Friday on whether to allow the Biden administration to impose vaccination or testing requirements on huge swaths of the American workforce. On this week’s episode of The Term, senior employment reporter Vin Gurrieri joins us to discuss the more than 3 hours of oral arguments, how the justices seemed to be leaning, and when we can expect a ruling on this urgent hot button issue.
With the year drawing to a close and the justices on break for the holiday, we’re taking the opportunity to look at how the first three months of the Supreme Court term have gone so far. On this week’s episode we welcome guest host and Law360 Pulse reporter Jack Karp, who has been tracking Supreme Court data throughout the term and will give a breakdown of the numbers: Which justices have spoken the most and the least, and just how bad is the gender disparity between advocates? Finally, we end w...
Discrimination or church-state separation? That was the question the Supreme Court justices debated this week in a blockbuster First Amendment case over a Maine private school subsidy program that excludes "sectarian" schools. Law360's The Term dives into the arguments on this week's episode.
The Supreme Court appears likely to uphold Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, but how far will the justices go in scaling back abortion rights? Law360's The Term analyzes the key moments from Wednesday's hearing that could decide the fate of Roe v. Wade.
Arguing before the Supreme Court is considered a privilege to most lawyers—a privilege longtime former Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben has had over 100 times. This week on The Term podcast, Dreeben discusses his most memorable moments at the lectern and how he sharpened his advocacy skills.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday considered whether residents of Puerto Rico should be eligible for federal disability benefits in a case that examines the island's unique status in the eyes of the United States government. On this week's episode of The Term, we welcome Law360 senior reporter Carolina Bolado, who has been tracking this case for years. She talks us through what the justices were asking on Tuesday, and what the case could mean not just for Puerto Rico but for U.S. territories everywhe...
The Supreme Court's conservative majority seems likely to strike down New York's century-old restrictions on carrying firearms in public, but it's unclear what limits the court will set to keep guns out of "sensitive" places. Law360's The Term examines this week's blockbuster oral arguments in New York Rifle and Pistol Assn. v. Bruen, plus a summary of the arguments that took place Monday in a pair of explosive cases over Texas’ 6-week abortion ban.
It was finally the Second Amendment's turn to steal the show at the Supreme Court next week—until the justices caught court watchers by surprise by adding a pair of explosive cases over Texas' 6-week abortion ban to Monday's docket. On this week’s episode of The Term, we discuss what’s behind the last minute maneuvers and break down everything you need to know before the high court hears the landmark abortion rights cases next week.
The Supreme Court stayed busy this week despite oral arguments, issuing a pair of rulings on Monday that granted qualified immunity to law enforcement officers involved in alleged violations of civil rights. On this week’s episode, we welcome guest Jay Schweikert, an attorney and research fellow with the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice, to discuss what the rulings mean for the future of the controversial doctrine. Also this week, an update on the latest round of briefs filed at the ...
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted and sentenced to death in 2015 for his role in the deadly Boston Bombings that killed three people and injured nearly 300 others, but last year his sentence was overturned by a First Circuit that found he didn’t receive a fair trial. The case reached the Supreme Court on Wednesday, where the justices grappled with arguments about mitigating evidence and appeared to lean in favor of reinstating his punishment. Law360’s senior Boston courts reporter Chris Villani ha...
The Supreme Court capped its first oral arguments of the term with the case of Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee subjected to CIA torture during the War on Terror. Can Zubaydah collect evidence to hold the CIA's alleged Polish collaborators liable? Journalist Spencer Ackerman joins Law360's The Term to break down the case.
We’re back! With the start of the 2021 SCOTUS term just days away, Law360’s weekly Supreme Court podcast is kicking off its third season by welcoming special guest Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog and Howe on the Court to preview all the blockbuster cases on the docket, from the biggest challenge to Roe v. Wade in 30 years, to a gun rights case that would expand the Second Amendment outside the home, and many more.
An uptick in unanimous decisions caught U.S. Supreme Court watchers off-guard this term, but simmering beneath the surface are stark differences among the justices on the direction of the court. We’re talking big takeaways and wrapping up the term this week with the help of Law360 data editor Jackie Bell, who will break down the numbers behind the cases -- including who’s the new “Mr. Majority.”
Eight years after its Shelby County decision, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has once again blunted a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act over the outraged dissents of the liberal minority. This week, the hosts explore the consequences of Brnovich v. DNC and other high court action on the final day of the October 2020 term.
When a high school cheerleader posted a profane Snapchat three years ago, she could hardly have known the episode would give rise to the biggest Supreme Court ruling on student free speech rights in half a century. This week, The Term talks to the ACLU’s David Cole, who argued her case, on what the victory means. Also this week, the high court rejects NCAA rules limiting education-related compensation for college athletes, and lands on the side of property rights over organized farm labor in Cal...
On this week’s episode of The Term, we break down all the blockbuster decisions handed down Thursday by the Supreme Court, where the Affordable Care Act survived another GOP challenge, Nestle and Cargill defeated claims of aiding child slavery on cocoa farms and the court sided with a Catholic foster agency with a policy of refusing to certify same-sex parents.
The Term team is still waiting for a flood of opinions expected to drop by the end of the month, but that doesn’t mean we had a slow week at the high court. This week we discuss a new case taken up over government surveillance, an unsuccessful challenge to the male-only draft and a major immigration ruling dashing the hopes of many immigrants with "temporary protected status" of obtaining green cards.
A cop who took $5,000 to look up a stripper's license plate information may have broken department protocol and the public trust, but he did not violate federal computer crime law, according to a majority opinion handed down by the Supreme Court on Thursday. On this week’s episode of The Term we explore the closely-watched ruling, plus look at a corporate giant’s failed bid to escape a $2.1 billion product liability judgment.
The Supreme Court handed down rulings affecting immigrants, Superfund pollution sites and more this week as it works to clear its docket of argued cases before summer recess. Law360's The Term recaps all the latest developments, including a prisoner's failed attempt to be executed by firing squad rather than lethal injection that he says will cause severe pain.
The U.S. Supreme Court took an extraordinary step this week when it agreed to hear a closely watched abortion case that many observers speculate could mean the end of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that has protected abortion rights for half a century. On this week’s episode of The Term, we unpack how the case landed on court’s docket and which justices are the most likely targets of advocates when this blockbuster case is argued next year. Also this week: An opinion from Monday that limited...
In light of a slow news week at the Supreme Court, we take the opportunity on this week’s episode of The Term to welcome guests Vernon Burton and Armand Derfner, the co-authors of a forthcoming book examining the high court’s long, fraught history with race, from the first days of the Republic to the modern day Roberts Court.
The Supreme Court heard its final oral argument of the term this week in a criminal case involving sentencing relief for crack offenders that saw some tough questions for the Biden administration. Law360's The Term dives into the case, then looks ahead to some of the biggest decisions that are expected to come by the end of June.
The case of a high school cheerleader whose profanity-laced Snapchat led to a suspension landed in front of the Supreme Court this week, where the justices struggled to balance punishment for disruptive online speech while avoiding all-out censorship and student expression. On this week’s episode of The Term we break down the oral argument, as well as a potential landmark gun rights case the high court added to its docket, and a “textualist showdown” that played out in an opinion handed down on ...
With the stroke of a pen, the Supreme Court on Thursday nixed a legal strategy that the Federal Trade Commission used for many years to return billions of dollars to consumers. Law360's The Term breaks down the ruling—along with a big defeat for juvenile justice reformers and Justice Amy Coney Barrett's eye-popping book deal.
Long a political non-starter, the idea of "court-packing" is now dominating Washington as Democrats in Congress push legislation to add four seats to the Supreme Court and a presidential commission studies the broader issue of court reform. Will these latest efforts go anywhere? Law360's The Term discusses on this week's episode.
