Tuesday round-up

AMY HOWE MAY 17, 2016 6:59 AM

Yesterday was a busy day at the Court, as the Justices issued both orders from their May 12 Conference and opinions in several argued cases.  Andrew Hamm rounded up early coverage of yesterday’s events for this blog.

 Other coverage of yesterday’s ruling in Zubik v. Burwell, the challenge to the Obama administration’s birth-control mandate and the accommodation offered to religious non-profits, comes from Tony Mauro and Marcia Coyle in The National Law Journal (subscription or registration may be required).  Commentary comes from Greg Lipper at the Bill of Health Blog, Cristian Farias at The Huffington Post, Irin Carmon at MSNBC, Howard Wasserman at PrawfsBlawg, and Timothy Verrall and Hera Arsen at the Ogletree Deakins blog. 

I covered yesterday’s decision in Spokeo v. Robins, in which the Court sent a Virginia man’s lawsuit against the search engine Spokeo back to the Ninth Circuit, for this blog.  Commentary comes from Hera Arsen and Gustavo Suarez for the Ogletree Deakins blog, Howard Wasserman at PrawfsBlawg (who also discusses the decision in Merrill Lynch v. Manning), Leland Beck at the Federal Regulations Advisor, Kevin McGinty at The National Law Review, and Bradford Mank at Casetext.

Coverage relating to the nomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia comes from Seung Min Kim of Politico, who reports that “Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee will host a forum Wednesday featuring former top legal and government officials who know Garland personally and who will testify on behalf of the veteran jurist’s legal acumen and personal character.”  Commentary comes from Michael Ramsey, who in The Atlantic argues that “Garland is by all accounts a fine judge and the Senate’s failure to take formal action may be regrettable, but that is a decision the Constitution entrusts to the political process.”  And at Crime and Consequences, Kent Scheidegger weighs in on the controversy over the naming of George Mason’s law school for Scalia.   

Briefly:

• At Crime and Consequences, Kent Scheidegger summarizes yesterday’s summary reversal in the case of a California inmate, noting that the issues in the case are “to some extent . . . specific to California’s odd system of original habeas petitions in reviewing courts.”
• At Supreme Court Brief, Tony Mauro reports on the release of a new book that “delves into the craft of framing, researching, writing and arguing cases on appeal at the Supreme Court and lower courts.”
• In an op-ed for The Boston Globe, Wendy Kaminer weighs in on the case of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, arguing that, “[w]hen courts decline to restrict the reach of vaguely written statutes they effectively give prosecutors the illegitimate, unaccountable power not just to enforce laws but to make them.”
• At Above the Law, David Lat reports on a “frank and surprisingly funny” appearance by Justice Clarence Thomas at the Fifth Circuit Judicial Conference.
• In The Washington Post, Robert Barnes reports on remarks by retired Justice John Paul Stevens, who “recently expressed doubts again about whether he had all the information he needed in reaching what he called a ‘fairly unfortunate decision’” in a 2008 challenge to Indiana’s voter ID law.
• Robin Bravender reports for Greenwire that, “[w]hen President Obama moves out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. next January, his environmental legacy won’t be entirely clear.”

 Remember, we rely exclusively on our readers to send us links for our round-up.  If you have or know of a recent (published in the last two or three days) article, post, or op-ed relating to the Court that you’d like us to consider for inclusion in the round-up, please send it to roundup [at] scotusblog.com.

 [Disclosure:  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 Zubik.  However, I am not affiliated with the firm.]

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