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Live blog of opinions | April 18, 2017

June 2018

3rd & 7 37yd

Good morning, everyone! Welcome to our live blog.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Thanks, everyone!

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

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  (1) Whether the respondents’ challenge to the president’s suspension of entry of aliens abroad is justiciable; (2) whether the proclamation – which suspends entry, subject to exceptions and case-by-case waivers, of certain categories of aliens abroad from eight countries that do not share adequate information with the United States or that present other risk factors – is a lawful exercise of the president’s authority to suspend entry of aliens abroad; (3) whether the global injunction barring enforcement of the proclamation’s entry suspensions worldwide, except as to nationals of two countries and as to persons without a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States, is impermissibly overbroad; and (4) whether the proclamation violates the establishment clause of the Constitution.
- South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc.
  Quill Corp. v. North Dakota and National Bellas Hess Inc. v. Department of Revenue of Illinois -- which held that a state cannot require an out-of-state seller with no physical presence in the state to collect and remit sales taxes on goods the seller ships to consumers in the state -- are overruled.
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  The government’s acquisition of Timothy Carpenter’s cell-site records from his wireless carriers was a Fourth Amendment search; the government did not obtain a warrant supported by probable cause before acquiring those records.
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- Carpenter v. United States The government’s acquisition of Timothy Carpenter’s cell-site records from his wireless carriers was a Fourth Amendment search; the government did not obtain a warrant supported by probable cause before acquiring those records.
- Currier v. Virginia Because Michael Currier consented to a severance of the multiple charges against him, his second trial and resulting conviction, following an acquittal at his first trial, did not violate the double jeopardy clause.
- Ortiz v. United States Military judge Colonel Martin Mitchell’s simultaneous service on an Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals and the Court of Military Commission Review violated neither 10 U. S. C. §973(b)(2)(A) nor the appointments clause of the Constitution.
- WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical Corp. The focus of the Patent Act’s general damages provision, 35 U. S. C. §284, in a case involving infringement under Section 271(f)(2) is on the act of exporting components from the United States; therefore, WesternGeco’s award for lost profits was a permissible domestic application of Section 284, not an impermissible extraterritorial one.
- Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission Securities and Exchange Commission administrative law judges are “officers of the United States,” subject to the Constitution’s appointments clause.
- Pereira v. Sessions A putative notice sent to a nonpermanent resident to appear at a removal proceeding that fails to designate a specific time or place for that proceeding does not end the continuous residence period calculation necessary for possible cancellation of the individual’s removal.
- South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. Quill Corp. v. North Dakota and National Bellas Hess Inc. v. Department of Revenue of Illinois -- which held that a state cannot require an out-of-state seller with no physical presence in the state to collect and remit sales taxes on goods the seller ships to consumers in the state -- are overruled.
- Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. United States Employee stock options are not taxable “compensation” under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act of 1937.
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- Arlene's Flowers Inc. v. Washington (1) Whether the creation and sale of custom floral arrangements to celebrate a wedding ceremony is artistic expression, and, if so, whether compelling their creation violates the free speech clause; and (2) whether the compelled creation and sale of custom floral arrangements to celebrate a wedding and attendance of that wedding against one's religious beliefs violates the free exercise clause.
- Bearcomesout v. United States Whether the “separate sovereign” concept actually exists when Congress’s plenary power over Indian tribes and the general erosion of any real tribal sovereignty is amplified by the Northern Cheyenne Tribe’s constitution in such a way that the petitioner’s prosecutions in both tribal and federal court violate the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.
- Biestek v. Berryhill Whether a vocational expert’s testimony can constitute substantial evidence of “other work,” 20 C.F.R. § 404.1520(a)(4)(v), available to an applicant for social security benefits on the basis of a disability, when the expert fails upon the applicant’s request to provide the underlying data on which that testimony is premised.
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