Friday round-up

ANDREW HAMM SEP 1, 2017 11:32 AM

Debate over two public symbols reaches the Supreme Court. At Bloomberg Law, Kimberly Robinson reports that the Supreme Court has asked Gov. Dewey Phillip Bryant of Mississippi to respond to a petition asking it to decide whether the inclusion of the Confederate Battle Flag on the state’s flag violates the equal protection clause; she notes that “the move means that at least one justice is taking a close look at the case” and suggests it may be Justice Clarence Thomas, who “has shown an interest in state displays of symbols associated with racism and slavery.” Emily Wagster Pettus provides additional coverage for the Associated Press. The Tribune News Service reports that a 23-state coalition is asking the Supreme Court to overrule a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upholding a district court’s ruling ordering a community in New Mexico to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from its city hall lawn.

In U.S. News & World Report, Joseph Williams discusses recent victories by voting-rights advocates in challenges to Texas’ ballot-ID law and legislative districts, noting “the victories are tempered by the fact that Republicans have vowed to appeal both cases to the Supreme Court, raising the very real possibility that the justices would agree to review and possibly reverse the lower-court decisions.” And at Howe on the Court, Amy Howe reports that Justice Samuel Alito, in his capacity as circuit justice for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, has put on hold a lower-court ruling that had invalidated maps for the Texas House of Representatives.

Briefly:

• In a second post at Howe on the Court, Amy Howe reports on the argument calendar for November sitting, noting that it “lacks the potential-blockbuster cases that are currently slated for argument during the court’s October sitting.”
• At the Pacific Legal Foundation’s Liberty Blog, Jonathan Wood discusses the foundation’s amicus brief in Christie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, in which the Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of a federal statute that prohibits New Jersey from repealing its ban on commercial sports betting.
• In The Washington Post’s Retropolis blog, DeNeen Brown revisits the constitutional oath taken by Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice, which was administered by Justice Hugo Black, a white justice and former member of the Ku Klux Klan.

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