Thursday round-up
on Jun 13, 2013 at 9:30 am
Coverage and commentary yesterday focused largely on the decisions that have not yet been issued.
At the ISCOTUSnow blog, Carolyn Shapiro explains the opinion-drafting process, and why the public is still waiting on the decisions in high-profile cases this Term. Commentary on Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, in which the Court is considering a challenge to the University of Texas’s use of race in its undergraduate admissions process, comes from The Economist’s Democracy in America blog, while at the Constitutional Accountability Center’s Text & History blog Emily Phelps argues that, although the story of Edward Blum, who recruited the plaintiffs in Fisher and Shelby County v. Holder, the challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, “makes for a good Washington process story,” those plaintiffs have “actually been astonishingly weak.” Democracy in America also previews the upcoming decision in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, a custody battle in which the Court is considering the scope of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Finally, Jeremy Leaming of ACSblog compares the Warren Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down a ban on interracial marriage in Virginia, to the same-sex marriage cases: Hollingsworth v. Perry, the challenge to California’s ban on same-sex marriage, and United States v. Windsor, the challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Coverage of a federal court’s decision yesterday invalidating the ban on picketing, protests, and other demonstrations on the plaza in front of the Court comes from Lyle Denniston at this blog and Ruthann Robson at the Constitutional Law Prof Blog.
Briefly:
- At this blog, Kedar Bhatia has an updated Stat Pack for the October 2012 Term.
- Also at this blog, John Elwood reviews Monday’s relisted cases.
- In light of the Court’s decision on Monday in Horne v. Department of Agriculture, holding that takings claims stemming from violations of agricultural marketing orders may be brought in regular federal courts, Ilya Shapiro of Cato At Liberty follows up on his op-ed for Bloomberg View (which Marissa covered in Monday’s round-up) on the government’s unanimous losses in several recent cases.
- In her column for the The New York Times, Linda Greenhouse suggests that the Court’s decision to grant cert. in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, the challenge to an amendment to the Michigan constitution that bars the use of affirmative action in public university admissions, reflects conservative concern over the make-up of the Court.
- The Economist’s Democracy in America blog previews Town of Greece v. Galloway, in which the Court will consider whether a legislative prayer practice violates the Establishment Clause notwithstanding the absence of discrimination in the selection of prayer-givers or forbidden exploitation of the prayer opportunity.
- Rory Little summarizes last week’s decision in Maryland v. King, upholding a Maryland law that allows police to take DNA samples from individuals arrested for “serious crimes,” for the American Bar Association.
Disclosure: Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys work for or contribute to this blog in various capacities, represented the American Association of Law Schools as an amicus in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin and were among the counsel to Representative F. James Sensenbrenner et al., who filed an amicus brief in support of the respondent in Shelby County v. Holder. Tejinder Singh of Goldstein & Russell, P.C., was among the counsel on an amicus brief filed by international human rights advocates in support of the respondents in Hollingsworth v. Perry; Kevin Russell of Goldstein & Russell, P.C., was among the counsel on an amicus brief filed by former senators in support of Edith Windsor in United States v. Windsor.
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