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Editor's Note :

Scribble

Court will review census citizenship dispute this term – Amy Howe

Argument preview: Justices to examine rejection of contracts in bankruptcy – Ronald Mann

Argument preview: Justices to consider ability of government to challenge patents in administrative process – Ronald Mann

Live blog of opinions | April 18, 2017

Live blog of opinions | April 18, 2017

Feb. 2019

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Conference of February 15, 2019

Conference

Holiday

Orders

RETURN MAIL INC. V. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE (17-1594)

MISSION PRODUCT HOLDINGS INC. V. TEMPNOLOGY INC. (17-1657)

Opinions

Conference

Orders

MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORP. V. HALLECK (17-1702)

UNITED STATES V. HAYMOND (17-1672)

MONT V. UNITED STATES (17-8995)

THE AMERICAN LEGION V. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (17-1717)

3rd & 7 37yd

Good morning, everyone! Welcome to our live blog.

by Amy Howe 4/18/2017 1:43:53 PM

Comment ()
I am down at the court waiting for possible opinions at 10 am.

by Amy Howe 4/18/2017 1:44:13 PM

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We could get a pretty wide range of opinions today. There is still one opinion left from October: Manrique v. United States. Justice Thomas is the only justice who does not yet have an opinion from October, so he is likely the author of that decision, whenever it comes.

by Amy Howe 4/18/2017 1:45:36 PM

Comment ()
There are three decisions left from November: Venezuela v. Helmerich & Payne International; Bank of America v. Miami; and Sessions v. Morales-Santana. Justices Ginsburg and Breyer do not yet have any November decisions, so presumably they each have at least one of theirs; the third one could be just about anyone's.

by Amy Howe 4/18/2017 1:47:09 PM

Comment ()
And from December we have Jennings v. Rodriguez and McCrory v. Harris; Roberts, Alito, and Kagan have not yet written for December. Thanks to the blog's Andrew Hamm for putting these together.

by Amy Howe 4/18/2017 1:48:15 PM

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Is it reasonable to think Packingham V North Carolina could be one?

by AnonMoose 4/18/2017 1:48:34 PM

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Since the Chief wrote two opinions for January, do you think it's likely that Kagan & Alito are writing for December?

by Kevin 4/18/2017 1:49:07 PM

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Anyone noteworthy there yesterday for Justice Gorsuch's first day on the bench? His family? Retired justices? Etc?

by Scotusblog fan 4/18/2017 1:50:05 PM

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If a case comes from a circuit in which a new justice sat doe s he or she recuse even if he or she was not on the panel which decided the case?

by Schmerguls G. 4/18/2017 1:51:30 PM

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How likely is a 4-4 summary affirmance in the City of Miami cases? Unless the Court comes to some compromise position (which Gorsuch's confirmation may motivate on the liberals' side), it is hard to count to five for a reversal.

by Thomas 4/18/2017 1:52:46 PM

Comment ()
Last time one reader asked about the quickest turnaround to hearing a case in recent memory. Here’s what I found going back to Stevens.

John Roberts, 4 days: Confirmed September 29, 2005, heard first case on October 3, 2005 (Roberts had already been confirmed for O’Connor’s seat on September 6, 2005, which would be 27 days)
David Souter, 7 days: Confirmed on October 2, 1990, heard first case on October 9, 1990
Sandra Day O’Connor, 14 days: Confirmed on September 21, 1981, heard first case on October 5, 1981
Antonin Scalia, 19 days: Confirmed on September 17, 1986, heard first case on October 6, 1986
Anthony Kennedy, 19 days: Confirmed on February 3, 1988, heard first case on February 22, 1988
Clarence Thomas, 20 days: Confirmed October 15, heard first case on November 4, 1991
Samuel Alito, 21 days: Confirmed January 31, 2006, heard first case on February 21, 2006
John Paul Stevens, 26 days: Confirmed on December 17, 1975, heard first case on January 12, 1976

Thank you to Oyez and the U.S. Senate. https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/nominations/Nominations.htm

by Andrew Hamm 4/18/2017 1:53:13 PM

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I didn't see Louise Gorsuch yesterday, but didn't look that closely at the other side of the courtroom.

by Circuit Justice assignments 4/18/2017 1:53:50 PM

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Just had the five-minute buzzer.

by Amy Howe 4/18/2017 1:55:03 PM

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going in to wait for opinions.

by Amy Howe 4/18/2017 1:56:42 PM

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Any chance that Gorsuch will write an opinion this term?

by Gagafor Gorsuch 4/18/2017 1:56:56 PM

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First opinion. Goodyear Tire v Haeger by Kagan

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:01:01 PM

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Reversed and remanded

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:01:07 PM

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When a federal court exercises its inherent authority to sanction bad faith conduct by ordering a litigant to pay the other side's legal fees, the award is limited to the fees the innocent party incurred solely because of the misconduct

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:02:05 PM

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To put it another way, the award is limited to the fees that the party would not have incurred but for the bad faith.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:02:37 PM

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The district court has broad discretion to calculate fee awards under that standard.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:03:00 PM

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Howard Wasserman will have our analysis in Goodyear. Here is the opinion. www.supremecourt.gov

by Andrew Hamm 4/18/2017 2:03:09 PM

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Only one box today.

by Amy Howe 4/18/2017 2:03:37 PM

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But here, the court granted legal fees beyond those resulting from the litigation misconduct, so this award cannot stand.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:03:40 PM

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8-0, 13 pages.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:03:46 PM

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Amy is going for the next one. Probably not more than one more, because there is only one box.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:04:07 PM

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Second and final opinion. Coventry Health Care v Nevils. 8-0, by Ginsburg, concurrence by Thomas.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:04:50 PM

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Argued March 1.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:04:58 PM

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Reversed and remanded

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:05:58 PM

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The Federal Employees Health Benefits Act's express preemption provision overrides state law barring subrogation and reimbursement.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:06:50 PM

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Ronald Mann will have our analysis in Coventry. Here is the opinion. www.supremecourt.gov

by Andrew Hamm 4/18/2017 2:06:57 PM

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The regime Congress enacted is compatible with the Supremacy Clause.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:07:24 PM

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Barely 11 pages. Thomas has a one-paragraph concurrence.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:07:37 PM

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That is all the opinions for today.

by Edith Roberts 4/18/2017 2:07:54 PM

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Do we know how Gorsuch has staffed his chambers with clerks? Did he bring some in with him, or is he relying on a pool?

by Col. Mustard 4/18/2017 2:08:25 PM

Comment ()
And that is all she wrote. We are still waiting on Manrique and the November cases. Maybe we will get one of them tomorrow? We will be back here again at 9:45; hope to see you then!

by Amy Howe 4/18/2017 2:10:24 PM

Comment ()
Thanks, everyone!

by Andrew Hamm 4/18/2017 2:12:11 PM

Comment ()

Featured Posts

Court will review census citizenship dispute this term – Amy Howe

Argument preview: Justices to examine rejection of contracts in bankruptcy – Ronald Mann

Argument preview: Justices to consider ability of government to challenge patents in administrative process – Ronald Mann
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This Week at the Court
On Friday, the justices met for their February 15 conference and agreed to hear oral argument in Department of Commerce v. New York during the second week of the April sitting.
The calendar for the February sitting, which will begin on Tuesday, February 19, is available on the Supreme Court's website.
Major Cases
- Lamone v. Benisek
  In case in which the plaintiffs allege that a Maryland congressional district was gerrymandered to retaliate against them for their political views: (1) whether the various legal claims articulated by the three-judge district court are unmanageable; (2) whether the three-judge district court erred when, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, it resolved disputes of material fact as to multiple elements of plaintiffs’ claims, failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and treated as “undisputed” evidence that is the subject of still-unresolved hearsay and other evidentiary objections; and (3) whether the three-judge district court abused its discretion in entering an injunction despite the plaintiffs’ years-long delay in seeking injunctive relief, rendering the remedy applicable to at most one election before the next decennial census necessitates another redistricting.
- Kisor v. Wilkie
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., which direct courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of its own ambiguous regulation.
- Rucho v. Common Cause
  (1) Whether plaintiffs have standing to press their partisan gerrymandering claims; (2) whether plaintiffs’ partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable; and (3) whether North Carolina’s 2016 congressional map is, in fact, an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
- New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, New York
  Whether New York City’s ban on transporting a licensed, locked and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside city limits is consistent with the Second Amendment, the commerce clause and the constitutional right to travel.
- The American Legion v. American Humanist Association
  (1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.
- Gamble v. United States
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule the “separate sovereigns” exception to the double jeopardy clause.
see all this term’s cases »
Recent Decisions
- Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. The sale of an invention to a third party who is obligated to keep the invention confidential may place the invention “on sale” for purposes of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which bars a person from receiving a patent on an invention that was “in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention,” 35 U. S. C. §102(a)(1).
- New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira A court should determine whether the Federal Arbitration Act’s Section 1 exclusion for disputes involving the “contracts of employment” of certain transportation workers applies before ordering arbitration; here, truck driver Dominic Oliveira’s independent contractor operating agreement with New Prime Inc. falls within that exception.
- Stokeling v. United States The Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause encompasses a robbery offense that, like Florida’s law, requires the criminal to overcome the victim’s resistance.
- Culbertson v. Berryhill The Social Security Act’s fee cap of 25 percent of past-due benefits imposed on attorneys who successfully represent Title II benefit claimants in court proceedings applies only to fees for court representation and not to aggregate fees for both court and agency representation.
- Henry Schein Inc. v. Archer and White Sales Inc. The “wholly groundless” exception to the general rule that courts must enforce contracts that delegate threshold arbitrability questions to an arbitrator, not a court, is inconsistent with the Federal Arbitration Act and Supreme Court precedent.
see all this term’s cases »
Current Relists
- Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda Whether the prohibition in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1), against employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” encompasses discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation.
- Baxter v. United States (1) Whether a conviction for robbery under Florida law qualifies as a “violent felony” within the Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause simply because it requires overcoming victim resistance, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has held, or whether such a conviction fails to qualify as an ACCA “violent felony” because Florida caselaw confirms that overcoming victim resistance does not invariably requires the use of “violent force” as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has held; and (2) whether a conviction for any state robbery offense that includes “as an element” the common law requirement of overcoming “victim resistance” is categorically a “violent felony” within the ACCA’s elements clause if the offense has been specifically interpreted by state appellate courts to require only slight force to overcome resistance.
- Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia Whether discrimination against an employee because of sexual orientation constitutes prohibited employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” within the meaning of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2.
More Petitions »
Recent Special Features
Statistical Snapshot

Cases argued 43

Cases decided 10

Summary reversals 2

Merits cases granted to date 73

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Chief Justice Roberts at Belmont University

On February 6, Chief Justice John Roberts spoke at Belmont University College of Law with Alberto Gonzales, dean of the law school and former U.S. attorney general.

Peabody Award
Awarded the Peabody Award for excellence in electronic media.
Sigma Delta Chi
Awarded the Sigma Delta Chi deadline reporting award for online coverage of the Affordable Care Act decision.
National Press Club Award
Awarded the National Press Club's Breaking News Award for coverage of the Affordable Care Act decision.
Silver Gavel Award
Awarded the Silver Gavel Award by the American Bar Association for fostering the American public’s understanding of the law and the legal system.
American Gavel Award
Awarded the American Gavel Award for Distinguished Reporting About the Judiciary to recognize the highest standards of reporting about courts and the justice system.
Webby Award
Awarded the Webby Award for excellence on the internet.

15
Conference

19
Orders
RETURN MAIL INC. V. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE (17-1594)

20
MISSION PRODUCT HOLDINGS INC. V. TEMPNOLOGY INC. (17-1657)
Opinions

22
Conference

25
Orders
MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORP. V. HALLECK (17-1702)

26
UNITED STATES V. HAYMOND (17-1672)
MONT V. UNITED STATES (17-8995)

27
THE AMERICAN LEGION V. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (17-1717)

Cases argued	43
Cases decided	10
Summary reversals	2
Merits cases granted to date	73