Good morning and welcome to our live blog, just the third this term.
Good morning, everyone! Thanks for joining us.
Three boxes of opinions today.
To answer a couple of common questions, for those of you who are new-ish here: We don't have any idea how many opinions we will get today or what ones they might be.
But we will know very soon . . . .
First opinion is in Murphy v. Smith, the attorney's fees case.
Decision is by Gorsuch, with Sotomayor dissenting (joined by Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan).
The decision of the Seventh Circuit is affirmed.
This is a case about how the fees are paid for prisoners who prevail in their civil rights lawsuits.
The majority rules that the district court must apply up to 25% of the judgment in favor of the prisoner to the fees. It is barely 9 pages.
Next decision is in Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran, also out of the Seventh Circuit.
The decision is by Sotomayor, with Kagan recused. It is otherwise unanimous, and the Seventh Circuit is affirmed.
The court holds that Section 1610(g) of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act identifies property that will be available for attachment and execution in satisfaction of a judgment under Section 1605A, but it does not in and of itself divest the property of immunity.
Next opinion is in Class v. United States, by Breyer. It is joined by Roberts, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan and Gorsuch. Alito dissents, joined by Kennedy and Thomas.
Lower court's decision is reversed and remanded; court holds that a guilty plea, by itself, does not bar a federal criminal defendant from challenging the constitutionality of his statute of conviction on direct appeal.
Petitioner in Class was indicted for having guns in his car while parked on the U.S. Capitol grounds. He wanted to challenge the statute prohibiting guns on the Capitol grounds as a violation of the Second Amendment and the Due Process Clause.
Next up: Digital Realty Trust v. Somers, from Ginsburg. Court's opinion is joined by Roberts, Kennedy, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan. Sotomayor has a concurring opinion joined by Breyer; Thomas concurs in part and concurs in the judgment, joined by Alito and Gorsuch.
The Ninth Circuit's decision is reversed and remanded.
The Court holds that Dodd-Frank's anti-retaliation provision does not extend to an individual, like the petitioner in this case, who has not reported a violation of the securities law to the SEC. Somers reported potential securities-law violations to the company and was then fired.
That is apparently the final decision of the day. The justices will hold their private conference on Friday, and we are likely to get orders from that conference on Monday morning at 9:30 am. No way to know yet whether we will get opinions next week, but if we do they would likely be Tuesday and/or Wednesday at 10 am.
Okay, folks, I am going to get to work on Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran. Hope to see you back here soon, and thanks as always for joining us.
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