Scribble

Live blog of orders and opinions | June 25, 2018 (with John Elwood and First Mondays)

We live-blogged as the Supreme Court released orders from the June 21 conference (9:30 a.m.) and opinions in argued cases (10 a.m.). The justices added seven new cases to their merits docket for next term. The justices announced their decisions in Abbott v. Perez and Ohio v. American Express Co. Guest bloggers from First Mondays and John Elwood of Relist Watch also joined us.

3rd & 7 37yd

We have the second and final decision of the day. It is Ohio v. AmeEx, it is from Justice Thomas, and it is affirmed.

by Amy Howe 6/25/2018 2:11:24 PM
The vote is 5-4, with Breyer writing the dissent.

by Amy Howe 6/25/2018 2:11:40 PM
This is an antitrust case, in which a group of states are challenging a provision in the contract between American Express and the merchants that accept its cards; the provision bars the merchants from trying to steer their customers to use a particular credit card. The main issues before the court were twofold. First, at what market should courts look at in a case like this: Just at the merchants, or at the merchants and the cardholders? Second, if courts look at both the merchants and the cardholders as the market, do the plaintiffs have to show that both sides are harmed by the provision?

by Amy Howe 6/25/2018 2:11:50 PM
The Court holds that Amex's steering provisions do not violate federal antitrust law.

by Amy Howe 6/25/2018 2:12:12 PM
Here's the opinion in Ohio v. American Express. Beth Farmer will have our analysis:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-1454_5h26.pdf

by Andrew Hamm 6/25/2018 2:12:51 PM
Court defines the market as two-sided, including both merchants and cardholders. When the market is defined this way, the Court says, it is clear that the plaintiffs have not met their burden to show anti-competitive effects.

by Amy Howe 6/25/2018 2:15:41 PM
Breyer, a former antitrust law professor, is reading his dissent from the bench. This means we will have to wait some more to hear when the court will be back.

by Amy Howe 6/25/2018 2:16:30 PM
Going to bet that 1 box means no Janus

by Greg 6/25/2018 2:16:50 PM
Good news of the day: we get to spend at least one more morning with Amy.

by David 6/25/2018 2:18:18 PM
Does Justice Breyer misspell laissez faire in the opening line of his dissent...?

by Col. Mustard 6/25/2018 2:19:09 PM
Doesn’t Justice Breyer speak French?

by Guest 6/25/2018 2:20:07 PM
So do we meet again here tomorrow?

by Scott 6/25/2018 2:21:09 PM
So, if we get only one more opinion day, there are going to be 3 significant cases. Janus, Hawaii, and NIFLA. So much for the conventional wisdom that they spread out big decisions

by Matt 6/25/2018 2:22:49 PM
Where can we access the transcripts of the opinions/dissents read from the bench on decision days?

by guest 6/25/2018 2:23:15 PM
Do we think Kennedy will announce a retirement today?

by Brandon 6/25/2018 2:23:40 PM
Was AMEX controversial? Is it odd that Thomas wrote it?

by KPOM 6/25/2018 2:24:09 PM
Tomorrow we will have more opinions. They did not announce that tomorrow will be the next day, so it looks like we get to do this again at least twice!

by Amy Howe 6/25/2018 2:24:47 PM
@Col.Mustard laissez means "allow" and lassez means to grow weary. I doubt it was a pun, but the spelling is perhaps Freudian.

by Dave H. 6/25/2018 2:25:16 PM
What will happen with petitions that had been relisted and are not on today's orders list?

by CDK 6/25/2018 2:27:18 PM
They have finished releasing decisions for today. We will be back again tomorrow! I'm going to get to work now, but hopefully others will stick around to answer questions.

by Amy Howe 6/25/2018 2:30:45 PM
So 2 more days for decisions this week?

by Paul Catorce 6/25/2018 2:31:02 PM
Any idea when the 'clean up' conference might take place and approximately when the order list from that conference will be released?

by PJK 6/25/2018 2:35:28 PM
Does Alito's writing the gerrymandering case say anything about his writing (or not) Janus?

by Glenn 6/25/2018 2:37:19 PM
I'm very surprised at how Ohio came out. I just re-listened to the argument Saturday and would have sworn it was going to go for Ohio.

by Ohio 6/25/2018 2:38:12 PM
I'm outta here. See y'all later.

by Tejinder 6/25/2018 2:38:23 PM
Hi all, that's all for this morning. We'll be back tomorrow and at least one other day this week (Wednesday?).

by Andrew Hamm 6/25/2018 2:41:20 PM
Already this morning I posted the latest First Mondays podcast -- and thanks to Dan, Ian, and Leah for joining us again.

by Andrew Hamm 6/25/2018 2:41:45 PM
Today we'll have Amy writing on this morning's orders and on Abbott v. Perez, the racial gerrymandering case from Texas. Beth Farmer will write on the antitrust decision, Ohio v. AmEx. And Mark Walsh will provide a "view" from the courtroom.

by Andrew Hamm 6/25/2018 2:42:34 PM
If we didn't get to your question or comment -- sorry about that and hopefully we can tomorrow!

by Andrew Hamm 6/25/2018 2:42:54 PM

Featured Posts

A "view" from the courtroom: The daily grind – Mark Walsh

Argument analysis: Justices divided in Montana school-choice case – Amy Howe

Argument analysis: Justices debate ability of business that did not sign arbitration agreement to compel arbitration – Ronald Mann
Sponsored by Casetext
SCOTUStalk see all
Email Digest Sign-Up
Receive a daily email digest from Feedburner by entering your email.
Merits Case Pages and Archives

Archives

or

This Week at the Court
On Monday, the Supreme Court was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
On Tuesday, the court released additional orders from the January 17 conference, adding no new cases to the 2019 term docket and inviting the federal government to file a brief in four cases, two of which are consolidated. The justices heard oral argument in Shular v. United States and GE Energy Power Conversion France v. Outokumpu Stainless USA.
On Wednesday, the justices heard oral argument in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue.
On Friday, the justices will meet for their January 24 conference.
Major Cases
see all this term’s cases »
Statistical Snapshot

Cases argued 36

Cases decided 4

Summary reversals 1

Merits cases granted to date 69

see all »
Recent Special Features
Twitter Feed

Tweets by @SCOTUSblog

OT2019 Argued Cases

Full Calendar Submit Event

Jan. 2020

Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
			1 Holiday	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10 Conference	11
12	13 LUCKY BRAND DUNGAREES v. MARCEL FASHION GROUP (18-1086) THOLE V. U.S. BANK (17-1712) Orders	14 KELLY v. U.S. (18-1059) ROMAG FASTENERS v. FOSSIL (18-1233) Opinions	15 BABB v. WILKIE (18-882)	16	17 Conference	18
19	20 Holiday	21 SHULAR v. U.S. (18-6662) GE ENERGY POWER CONVERSION v. OUTOKUMPU STAINLESS (18-1048) Orders	22 ESPINOZA v. MONTANA DEPT. OF REVENUE (18-1195)	23	24 Conference	25
26	27 Orders	28	29	30	31

Orders/Opinions
Arguments
Conferences

Events
Holidays
Multiple

Download our Apple or Android App
Videos see all

Justice Kagan gives remarks on the American legal system

On November 18, Justice Elena Kagan spoke with George Mason University students about the American legal system. Kagan discussed her career, gave advice to aspiring judges and explained Supreme Court processes.

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.