Friday round-up
Yesterday afternoon the Court denied a stay of execution to Virginia inmate Jerry Terrell Jackson (discussed in yesterday morning’s round-up). Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor indicated that they would have voted to grant the stay. Pronounced dead at 9:14 p.m. EST, Jackson was the first Virginia inmate to be executed with a three-drug mixture that includes pentobarbital. The Washington Post, the Associated Press (via NPR), the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Crime & Consequences all have coverage of the execution.
Briefly:
- In a meeting with reporters at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, Justice Kennedy speculated that the Court’s docket for next Term is changing because “[a] lot of big civil cases are going to arbitration,†according to Trial Insider. (Thanks to Howard Bashman of How Appealing for the link.)
- At Appellate Daily, Michelle Olsen reports on a split between the D.C. and Ninth Circuits on the scope of the legislative privilege enshrined in Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution. Olsen writes that “[t]his circuit split on an issue of nationwide importance, namely the integrity and independence of Congress, has Supreme Court watchers’ attention.â€
- In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Lois Davis examines the impact of the Court’s decision last Term in the California prison overcrowding case, Brown v. Plata. Davis explains that “[t]he chief reason the court ordered a reduction in the prison population was the failure of the state to meet the basic medical needs of prisoners,†and then she wonders, “Can strapped local governments really do any better?â€
- Mike Dorf at Dorf on Law and Sarah Kliff at Ezra Klein’s Washington Post blog both speculate about the political implications of potential major rulings at the Court next Term.
- LegalNewsline and Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy take note of a new article in the Texas Review of Law & Politics, in which Virginia’s attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, and two other state officials explain their motivation for pursuing a constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act.
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