Friday round-up
on Feb 14, 2014 at 7:37 am
With the Court having heard oral arguments in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, a challenge to Michigan’s ban on the use of affirmative action at public universities, in October, Greg Toppo of USA Today looks at whether “the end of the road [is] near for affirmative action in college admissions.” And at his more than twenty cents blog, Andrew Suszek imagines a “coffee house conversation” between the lawyers involved in the case.
Briefly:
- At Verdict, Michael Dorf discusses next month’s oral arguments in Hall v. Florida, in which the Court will consider the constitutionality of Florida’s scheme to determine whether an inmate has an intellectual disability that renders him ineligible for the death penalty.
- At Talking Points Memo, Sahil Kapur examines the extent to which the lower courts have relied on last year’s decision in United States v. Windsor, striking down a provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, to strike down state bans on same-sex marriage.
- Justice Elena Kagan spoke recently at a luncheon in honor of Judge Sri Srinivasan, where (among other things), she told Appellate Daily’s Michelle Olsen that it was “too soon” to talk about how she would like to be remembered on a future bobblehead doll.
- And in Florida earlier this week, Justice Clarence Thomas spoke on issues related to race; Charles Blow discusses those comments (and weighs in) in an op-ed in The New York Times.
Disclosure: Kevin Russell of Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is among the counsel on an amicus brief in support of the respondents in Schuette. Russell was also among the counsel on an amicus brief filed by former senators in support of Edith Windsor in Windsor.
