Monday round-up
on Dec 15, 2014 at 5:49 am
On Friday afternoon the Court issued orders from its Conference earlier that day, granting four new cases. The highest-profile new grant came in Toca v. Louisiana, in which the Court will consider (among other things) whether its 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama, banning mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles who commit murder, applies retroactively. Lyle Denniston covered the orders for this blog; other coverage of the grant in Toca came from Adam Liptak of The New York Times and Robert Barnes of The Washington Post.
At big think, Steven Mazie observes that “none of the justices have had much of a chance to live the life of an average American worker” – which, he suggests, may explain why the Court’s recent decision in Integrity Staffing Solutions Inc. v. Busk, holding that workers at a warehouse are not entitled to compensation for time spent in mandatory security screenings, “seems to turn a blind eye to the reality of the working lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.” And at the Ogletree Deakins blog, Elizabeth Washko analyzes the impact of the decision on retailers.
Briefly:
- At Citylab, Eric Jaffe recaps the five “key moments” in last week’s oral argument in Department of Transportation v. Association of American Railroads, noting that “[i]f you ride Amtrak and care about getting places on time, then the Supreme Court heard a case of great interest to you on Monday.”
- In commentary for the U-T San Diego, Damien Schiff urges the Court to grant review in Stewart & Jasper Orchards v. Jewell, a challenge to federal water policies in California.
[Disclosure: Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is among the counsel to the petitioner in State Water Contractors v. Jewell, another challenge to the same water policies as in Stewart & Jasper. However, I am not affiliated with the firm.]
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