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Monday, June 07, 2010
Courts - "Despite adjustments, court harried in June "
Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY, has this report:
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices front-loaded their calendar this term, holding more oral arguments in the fall and winter and fewer in the spring, hoping to ease the traditional June crunch.Yet as some of the justices, including John Paul Stevens, have lamented, they entered June — the usual culmination of their nine-month term — a bit behind schedule. So the June frenzy and what retired Justice David Souter recently called "the quickened pace of decisions" endure.
The justices issued five decisions Tuesday and will continue with a new batch today.
Among the remaining 27 cases of the 78 heard are disputes testing individuals' guns rights, the validity of a federal anti-fraud law and whether people who sign petitions for ballot measures can stay anonymous. * * *
Among the cases awaiting decisions:
• McDonald v. City of Chicago: testing whether the Second Amendment right to bear arms can be invoked against city and state gun regulations; a 2008 ruling said the Second Amendment could be used to challenge regulations by the federal enclave of Washington.
• Black v. United States; Skilling v. United States; Weyhrauch v. United States: testing the constitutionality of a commonly used federal anti-fraud law that makes it a crime to deprive shareholders or the public of "the intangible right of honest services."
• Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project; Humanitarian Law Project v. Holder: testing a provision of the 2001 Patriot Act prohibiting "material support" to a designated terrorist group, even when it might involve advice on non-terrorist, humanitarian activities.
• John Doe No. 1 v. Reed: testing whether people who signed a petition for a state referendum against gay legal rights have a First Amendment claim to keep their names private.
• Christian Legal Society of University of California, Hastings, College of Law v. Martinez: regarding an appeal by a student group denied recognition at a state school because it excluded gay students.
• City of Ontario v. Quon: testing whether a police department's review of text messages sent by a SWAT team officer on a department pager, some to his wife and some to a mistress, violated his Fourth Amendment right to privacy.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 7, 2010 07:10 AM
Posted to Courts in general