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SCOTUS Map: December 2018 – Victoria Kwan
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On Friday the justices meet for their January 4 conference; John Elwood's Relist Watch compiles the petitions likely relisted for this conference.The calendar for the January sitting, which will begin on January 7, is available on the Supreme Court's website.
Recent Decisions
- United States v. Stitt The term "burglary" in the Armed Career Criminal Act includes burglary of a structure or vehicle that has been adapted or is customarily used for overnight accommodation.
- Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service An area is eligible for designation as “critical habitat” under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 only if it is habitat for the listed species; and the decision by the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior not to exclude an area from critical habitat under 16 U. S. C. §1533(b)(2) is subject to judicial review.
- Mount Lemmon Fire District v. Guido State and local governments are covered employers under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 regardless of the number of employees they have.
Current Relists
- City of Escondido, California v. Emmons (1) Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit erred in denying the officers qualified immunity by considering clearly established law at too high a level of generality rather than giving particularized consideration to the facts and circumstances of this case; (2) whether the lower court erred in denying the officers qualified immunity by relying on a single decision, published after the event in question, to support its conclusion that qualified immunity is not available; and (3) whether the lower court erred in failing or refusing to decide whether the subject arrest was without probable cause or subject to qualified immunity.
- Hester v. United States Whether the rule of Apprendi v. New Jersey–which held that any fact, other than a prior conviction, that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt–should apply to the imposition of criminal restitution.
- Kennedy v. Bremerton School District Whether public school teachers and coaches retain any First Amendment rights when at work and “in the general presence of” students.
Conference of December 7, 2018
Major Cases
- 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. - Department of Commerce v. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Whether, in an action seeking to set aside agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., a district court may order discovery outside the administrative record to probe the mental processes of the agency decisionmaker—including by compelling the testimony of high-ranking Executive Branch officials—when there is no evidence that the decisionmaker disbelieved the objective reasons in the administrative record, irreversibly prejudged the issue, or acted on a legally forbidden basis. - 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. - Timbs v. Indiana
Whether the Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause is incorporated against the states under the Fourteenth Amendment. - Apple Inc. v. Pepper
Whether consumers may sue anyone who delivers goods to them for antitrust damages, even when they seek damages based on prices set by third parties who would be the immediate victims of the alleged offense.
- Kisor v. Wilkie
Recent Special Features
Statistical Snapshot
see all »Cases argued 32 Cases decided 3 Summary reversals 0 Merits cases granted to date 57 Live Blog Archives
- Day five of confirmation hearing | September 27, 2018
- Day four of confirmation hearing | September 7, 2018
- Day three of confirmation hearing | September 6, 2018
- Day two of confirmation hearing | September 5, 2018
- Day one of confirmation hearing | September 4, 2018
- Nomination | July 9, 2018 (with First Mondays)
- Orders | June 28, 2018 (with Jeffrey Pojanowski and Michael Dorf)
- Opinions | June 27, 2018 (with First Mondays)
- Opinions | June 26, 2018 (with SCOTUS Map and First Mondays)
- Orders and opinions | June 25, 2018 (with John Elwood and First Mondays)
- Opinions | June 22, 2018 (with First Mondays)
- Opinions | June 21, 2018 (with First Mondays)
- Orders and opinions | June 18, 2018 (with First Mondays)
- Opinions | June 14, 2018
- Orders and opinions | June 11, 2018
- Orders and opinions | June 4, 2018
- Orders and opinions | May 29, 2018
- Orders and opinions | May 21, 2018
- Orders and opinions | May 14, 2018
- Opinions | April 24, 2018
- Opinions | April 17, 2018
- Orders and opinions | April 2, 2018
- Opinions | March 27, 2018
- Opinions | March 21, 2018
- Opinions | March 20, 2018
- Orders and opinions | March 5, 2018
- Opinions | February 27, 2018
- Opinions | February 21, 2018
- Orders and opinions | January 22, 2018
- Opinions | November 8, 2017
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On November 13, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and Judge Susan Carney of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit presided over the final round of the 2018 Ames Moot Court Competition at Harvard Law School.
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.










