Supreme Court rulings and the Roberts Court

California Supreme Court recuses itself from hearing appeal on sale of state buildings
Reporting from Sacramento — All seven members of the California Supreme Court recused themselves Tuesday from hearing an appeal by the Schwarzenegger administration regarding the sale of state Office Buildings. Acting Chief Justice Marvin Baxter directed that seven state appellate judges be assigned to review the Governor's petition after the justices recused themselves. The High Court is housed in the Earl Warren Building at the San Francisco Civic Center Complex, one of the state prop...

Supreme Court becoming a tool for corporate interests: study
Stumble This! Those who have been arguing that the Supreme Court is growing more friendly to Corporate Interests while becoming less friendly to everyone else will now have statistical ammunition for their arguments. A study has found that the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has undergone a fundamental shift in its outlook, ruling in favor of businesses much more often than previous courts. According to the Northwestern University study, commissioned for the New York Times, the R...

Right-wing blogger Hal Turner gets 33-month prison sentence
A right-wing Internet Radio host and blogger was sentenced to 33 months in Prison Tuesday for calling for the killings of three Chicago federal appellate judges on his Web site last year. Hal Turner, of New Jersey, was convicted in August by a federal jury in Brooklyn of threatening to assault and kill the three judges on the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago. Two earlier trials had ended with the juries deadlocked. Turner was angry after Judges Richard Posner, Frank Easterbrook and...

CA justices bow out of state building sale case
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's last-ditch effort to win judicial approval of the sale of 11 state properties landed Tuesday before the California Supreme Court - which, in a rare action, promptly announced that all of its justices were disqualifying themselves from the case. The court's San Francisco headquarters, at 350 McAllister St., are among the buildings to be sold and leased back to the state for $2.3 billion. The court also has a stake in the legal issues because opponents claim the sale...

CA justices bow out of state building sale case
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's last-ditch effort to win judicial approval of the sale of 11 state properties landed Tuesday before the California Supreme Court - which, in a rare action, promptly announced that all of its justices were disqualifying themselves from the case. The court's San Francisco headquarters, at 350 McAllister St., are among the buildings to be sold and leased back to the state for $2.3 billion. The court also has a stake in the legal issues because opponents claim the sale...

Disgraceful political chameleon lashes out at Supreme Court for enforcing First Amendment
If there's a more duplicitous political hack than Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), please tweet me and let me know. The Pennsylvania politician has switched parties -- not once, but twice -- over his half-century career on the public dole. This is a man, one can tell, with rock-solid principles. Thankfully, the man with amorphous values was wiped out in the 2010 primary and will be replaced by Republican Pat Toomey. But before his departure, Specter couldn't help but bloviate on his perceptions of the...

Doug Kendall: The Chamber and the Court
Adam Liptak's must-read, front-page story in this past Sunday's New York Times examines in significant and compelling detail the increasingly favorable disposition of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Robert towards Corporate Interests, highlighting a newly released empirical study by Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC) that tracks the success of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce before the Court over most of the last 30 years. Great as Liptak's story is, it doesn't come close to c...

Heads Up, Supreme Court! Specter Minces No Words on His Way Out
By Ashby Jones On his way out of the public spotlight, Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.), is heeding the words of Dylan Thomas and refusing to go gentle into that good night. Earlier this year, Specter lost his Reelection bid in the Democratic primary. So his time in the upper chamber is growing short. No time like the present, he seems to be figuring, to tell the world, well, how he really feels. In a Speech on Tuesday morning, Specter saved most of his bullets for the Senate itself, saying it had ...

Obamas Judge pick of radical Goodwin Liu for 9th circuit dead in the water
I was determined to find some good news today somewhere  in the Ether world. I think I may have found one. I have been dogging this fellow Liu what seems like forever, who was a Candidate for the 9th Circuit Court of Liberal Loonies out West. We have had a couple of close calls, but looks like he is dead in the water now for the Court. CNS seems rather sanguine about his “possible Supreme Court” nomination, so looks like I will have to keep him in my Address Book. The ...

States try to counter Supreme Court's minimum-price ruling
WASHINGTON — When a Supreme Court majority let manufacturers require Retailers to charge minimum prices for their products, dissenting justices warned that the ruling would hit American households hard and could cost some families $1,000 more a year in retail bills. The 5-to-4 decision provoked an outcry from groups such as the Consumers Union and set off a rush of hearings and concern in Congress and the states. The dispute, Leegin Creative Leather Products v. PSKS, involved the maker of B...

States try to counter Supreme Court's minimum-price ruling
WASHINGTON — When a Supreme Court majority let manufacturers require Retailers to charge minimum prices for their products, dissenting justices warned that the ruling would hit American households hard and could cost some families $1,000 more a year in retail bills. The 5-to-4 decision provoked an outcry from groups such as the Consumers Union and set off a rush of hearings and concern in Congress and the states. The dispute, Leegin Creative Leather Products v. PSKS, involved the maker of B...

Wednesday round-up
Arlen Specter’s valedictory address on the Senate floor—styled as a “closing argument” and focused in part on the Supreme Court—garnered widespread media coverage. According to the WSJ Law Blog, Specter “mince[d] no words” and “seemed most exercised about the Citizens United decision from earlier this year.” In particular, Specter complained that the Court “has been eating Congress’ lunch by invalidating Legislation with judicial ...

Keep the FCC Out of the Internet
Wednesday, December 22, 2010 By Terence P. Jeffrey When the Obama Administration first went to the Supreme Court in March 2009 to explain its understanding of the First Amendment, Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart said the administration believed the government could prohibit a corporation from bouncing a book off a satellite into someone's Kindle if that communication took place within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a General Election and if the book included words advocating th...

New York Times Sues N.Y.P.D. on Access to Information
The New York Times has sued the New York Police Department, saying the department had routinely violated a state law that requires government agencies to provide information to the press and the public. In a Lawsuit filed on Tuesday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, The Times described four requests made by reporters this year for information that it said the police had delayed or denied. The Times said the department’s handling of the requests reflected a pattern and practice by which...

Jury Nullification: Does It Affect The Law?
Found this useful? Jury nullification is best defined as a jury returning a Not Guilty verdict because they believe that the law that is being used to charge a person with a crime is not appropriate. This does not mean that they believe the person is Not Guilty of the crime, but because they feel the law is inappropriate. In most cases, judges to not advise jurors that they have the power to exercise nullification. This stems from the belief that jurors are typically not versed in the law, and t...

Activist Judges Sighted and Called Out
Someone got Arlen’s dander up: “The Supreme Court has been eating Congress’ lunch by invalidating Legislation with judicial Activism after nominees commit under oath in confirmation proceedings to respect congressional fact finding and precedents,” said Specter, who voted in favor of both Roberts and Alito when the Bush appointees came before his panel. Specter specifically took issue with the court’s Controversial 5-4 decision early this year, in which it relaxed...

First Amendment Rules and Standards
My contribution to the con Law Professor roundtable I blogged about here consisted of a short piece that considered Citizens United, US v. Stevens and Humanitarian Law Project v. Holder from the perspective of rules and standards in First Amendment doctrine.  They're interesting cases to compare -- especially the first and the third, although Stevens' discussion of the Chaplinsky categories of unprotected Speech is relevant as well, in addition to being important in its...

California's pending building sale sparks judicial conflicts
Anyone know of a few good judges? All seven state Supreme Court justices have removed themselves from participation in a Lawsuit seeking to block the sale of 11 state buildings. They did not offer a formal reason, but it is safe to assume they did so because their court is housed in the San Francisco Civic Center, one of the buildings up for sale. Because the Supreme Court justices recused themselves, the state will call upon seven Appellate Court judges to serve in their place, according to J...

Sen. Arlen Specter's Closing Statement: Supreme Court "Eating Congress' Lunch"
ABC News' Ariane de Vogue reports:  Sen. Arlen Specter, in remarks he dubs his "closing argument," makes one last effort before Retirement to encourage Congress to require the Supreme Court to televise its proceedings. His harshly worded comments -- prepared for delivery on the floor of the Senate as his final statement -- eviscerate the Supreme Court for its recent Campaign Finance decision.  Specter says the Court ignored a massive congressional record ...

A.M. Roundup: NY will lose two seats in Congress
Good morning! It’s an early Christmas for data geeks, who now have Census figures to play with. And the battle over redistricting can now being in earnest. Here are some headlines… Census data show New York will lose two Congressional Seats, dropping the total size of our delegation to 27. (TU) The locus of population shifted south and west, to states that traditionally vote Republican. (AP) Rep. Bill Owens expects his district, the 23rd, to expand. (WDT) There are three bills left...

Supreme Court rejects federal powers on fertility industry
Janice Tibbetts, Postmedia News · Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 Ottawa — A deeply divided Supreme Court of Canada struck down key federal powers to regulate the country’s thriving fertility industry Wednesday, ruling that several parts of a new law fall under provincial jurisdiction. However, in an unusual decision that split three ways, the court majority declared that other sections of the six-year-old Assisted Human Reproduction Act should remain under federal control over crimina...

Supreme Court upholds provinces’ jurisdiction over assisted reproduction
Published Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 10:10AM EST Last updated Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 10:17AM EST The Supreme Court has upheld the right of the provinces to regulate the assisted-reproduction industry. The court issued a divided advisory opinion that upholds, in part, a 2008 Quebec Court of Appeal decision that said Ottawa had overstepped in asserting control over assisted reproduction. The Supreme Court was split 4-4-1, with Justice Thomas Cromwell offering the determining view. Sperm Donor mix-...

Aerial Photos Show "Progress" At Atlantic Yards Project
(CBS 2) NEXT » CBS 880's Tom Kaminski has obtained dramatic photographic evidence of construction at the Controversial Atlantic Yards development/Parking Lot. The big arena that may one day be the home of the Brooklyn New Yorkers (currently the New Jersey Nets) seems to be coming along, despite numerous Lawsuits attempting to stop it. Today, in fact, opponents of the project will square off in court against the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC). A coalition of community groups ...

New York Times Lawsuit Hopes to Make NYPD Open Up
The New York Times is suing the New York Police Department for their alleged violation of the State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), says the Times. The Lawsuit describes four requests for information which were delayed or denied: the addresses of NYC residents who had gun permits, the database on Hate Crimes, the database on crime incident reports and the tracking log on FOIL requests. The New York Times vice president and General Counsel general counsel David E. McCraw said these denials m...

"No, I wasnt contacted or interviewed or given any opportunity to opine on any of it, including having my seven-year-old daughte
"The primary story here is not that interesting... People lie and cheat and steal all the time. That’s a fact of life. But rarely does a national news organization give them an unverified megaphone to whitewash it." Forbes interviews the husband of that woman who had her Wedding story told in the New York Times. We talked about the NYT story yesterday, and (my husband) Meade, in the comments there, draws attention to the quotes that I'm using here. [Bob Ennis, former husband of TV reporte...