Category: Supreme Court Decisions

A divided U.S. Supreme Court recently held that while jury deliberations should normally be kept secret, racial or ethnic bias mandates an exception to the rule. The court decided Pena-Rodriguez v Colorado, 580 U. S. ____ (2017) by a vote of 5-3. Fa...

In Bethune-Hill v Virginia State Board of Elections, the U.S. Supreme Court considered what constitutes racial gerrymandering.   Through its holding that the district court applied an incorrect legal standard in determining that race did ...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently released its decision in Fry v Napoleon Community Schools. The justices unanimously held that exhaustion of the administrative procedures established by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is unneces...

The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Abbott v Veasey, which challenges a controversial voter identification law implemented by the State of Texas. Nonetheless, the justices did leave the door open to review the voter ID law in the future. &...

In its first decision of 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a New Mexico police officer was entitled to qualified immunity. As highlighted in the Court’s per curium opinion in White v Pauly, 580 U. S. ____ (2017), “qualified immu...

The U.S. Supreme Court considered several high-profile cases this week. Most notably, the justices grappled with how the First Amendment applies to federal trademark law.   The specific issue in Lee v. Tam is whether the federal ban on reg...

The U.S. Supreme Court kicked off the New Year with oral arguments in five cases. The issues before the justices ranged from tribal sovereignty to state laws regarding credit card payments. Below is a brief summary:   Nelson v. Colorado: C...

In State Farm Fire & Casualty Co v United States, ex rel. Rigsby, et al., 580 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that failing to satisfy the False Claims Act’s (FCA) seal requirement does not automatically warrant dismissal of the c...

The U.S. Supreme Court handed federal prosecutors another significant win. In Shaw v United States, 580 U. S. ____ (2016), the justices rejected the defendant's arguments that the federal bank fraud statute, which covers schemes to deprive a bank of ...

In December, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in four cases, including two tough cases involving the use of race in redistricting. Justice Samuel Alito characterized them as “very, very complicated.” In the same vein, Justice Anthony ...