The Economist maps out every American execution since 1976, when the Supreme Court announced the modern constitutional regime governing death penalty cases after effectively suspending all executions nationwide for four years. Over one-third of all executions during this period took place in Texas, for a total of 481 people killed by that state. Of the…
Category: The Courts
Study: All-White Juries More Likely To Convict Black Defendants
Two particularly salient points from Duke’s summary of the study: — In cases with no blacks in the jury pool, blacks were convicted 81 percent of the time, and whites were convicted 66 percent of the time. The estimated difference in conviction rates rises to 16 percent when the authors controlled for the age and…
Arizona’s ‘Show Me Your Papers’ Law in the U.S. Supreme Court
If the Court gives its blessing to this coordinated “attrition through enforcement” strategy and allows S.B. 1070 and its progeny to be implemented, the nation will return to a time of deep division, likely cleaved once again along regional lines, with some states passing welcoming laws, and others passing restrictive ones. Yet the ultimate objective…
Conservatives Wince At 5th Circuit’s Retaliatory Move
The legal battle over the constitutionality of the health care law was always going to be hard-fought. But in the aftermath of Supreme Court arguments, Republican-appointed appellate judges have taken the unusual step of publicly confronting President Obama after he bristled at the notion that the high court would overturn the law. That wouldn’t be…
Republican Fifth Circuit Mad at Obama, Gives Attorney Homework Punishment
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit may be the most ideological court in the country. When the oil industry’s allies in Congress wanted to protect the industry from drilling lawsuits, they passed a bill trying to force those lawsuits into the reliably industry-friendly Fifth Circuit. When a high school cheerleader sued…
Supreme Court Upholds Invasive Strip Searches
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that jailers may subject people arrested for minor offenses to invasive strip searches, siding with security needs over privacy rights. By a 5-4 vote, the court ruled against a New Jersey man who complained that strip searches in two county jails violated his civil rights. Justice Anthony Kennedy said in…
Supreme Court and Obamacare: What happens next
The Supreme Court likely will decide whether the Obama administration’s signature legislative accomplishment is unconstitutional within 48 hours. But aside from the nine justices and a handful of law clerks, none of us will know what that decision is until the summer. “By the end of this week, the justices will likely know, their law…
7 Ways the Affordable Care Act Helps Latinos
As the Supreme Court holds hearings on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act this week, it is worth noting the ways Obamacare is improving the lives of Latinos. Given that Latinos are more likely to be uninsured than any other ethnic group, it comes as no surprise that a majority (66 percent) of Latino…
Faith Leaders Rally Around Affordable Care Act as a Step in the Right Direction
People of faith and other supporters came together outside the Supreme Court on Monday for a time of song and testimony in defense of the Affordable Care Act. On Monday the Court began hearing three days of arguments on the constitutionality of the law passed in 2010, which ensures all Americans have access to affordable…
Sunshine State Bets On Sunset For Health Care Act
Scott holds that, until the Supreme Court decides the case, the Affordable Care Act is not yet the law of the land. In an interview with member station WUSF in Tampa, Scott says until then, he has no interest in setting up a health care exchange. “All it’s going to do is raise the cost…
Supreme Court begins debating health care law [video] [audio of arguments]
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday began three days of potentially landmark oral arguments over the constitutionality of the sweeping health care law championed by President Barack Obama, with a majority of justices appearing to reject suggestions they wait another few years before deciding the issues. In one of the most politically charged cases in…
On Health Care, Supreme Court Essentially Powerless To Kill Many Of Obama’s Big Changes
Health care reform can’t be stopped by the Supreme Court. Next week the high court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act passed two years ago. Ultimately, the justices could overturn all or parts of the law. The Republican presidential contenders have vowed to repeal the law if they win the…
Supreme Court Will Release Same-Day Audio Of Health Care Arguments
The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will make available same-day audio of upcoming oral arguments later this month, arguments that could determine the fate of the Obama health care overhaul. In a three-paragraph announcement, the court said it is making the same-day audio available because of the “extraordinary public interest” in the health…
Legal experts predict a Supreme Court win for Obamacare
The American Bar Assn. devoted all 40 pages of the latest Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases magazine to the high courts review of Obamacare, formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The court is scheduled to hear arguments about the laws constitutionality this month. For this special issue, the editors of…
The Health Law And The Supreme Court: A Primer For The Upcoming Oral Arguments
How big is the constitutional challenge to the Obama health care law, which the Supreme Court will hear on March 26-28? For starters, it’s big enough for the justices to schedule six hours of arguments — more time than given to any case since 1966. After all, the Affordable Care Act is arguably the most…
McConnell: Im Filibustering Seventeen Judges Because Reid Made Republicans Look Bad
Both Reid and McConnell agree that there is nothing objectionable about these judges — in McConnell’s words, “it is highly unlikely any of these district judges are not going to be confirmed.” Additionally, both men agree that the Senate should vote on the “IPO bill” that Reid refers to, a bill dealing with investments in…
Texas Voter ID Law Blocked By Justice Department
The U.S. Department of Justice has blocked a new voter ID law from going into effect in Texas. The department says the state failed to show that the law would not deny or limit minorities right to vote. Its the second state voter ID law the department has blocked. Texas, like several other states, has…
Majority Of Americans Think Ideology Will Affect High Court’s Ruling On Health Law
With the Supreme Court just two months away from hearing a historic legal challenge to the 2010 health law, nearly 60 percent of the public expects the justices to depend more on personal ideology than a legal analysis of the individual mandate, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s January health tracking poll. Just 28 percent of…
Justice Department, Lawmakers File SCOTUS Health Suit Briefs
The Obama administration brief is the first of four that will be filed before the end of February. The Supreme Court will hear arguments starting March 26. Read the DOJ brief. Read the plaintiffs’ brief. via Justice Department, Lawmakers File SCOTUS Health Suit Briefs – Kaiser Health News.
Montana High Court Says Citizens United Does Not Apply In Big Sky State
The Montana Court vigorously upheld the state’s right to regulate how corporations can raise and spend money after a secretive Colorado corporation, Western Tradition Partnership, and a Montana sportsman’s group and local businessman sued to overturn a 1912 state law banning direct corporate spending on electoral campaigns. “Organizations like WTP that act as a conduit…