April argument calendar, day by day
on Feb 11, 2013 at 2:39 pm
The Supreme Court on Monday released the calendar of oral argument for the final scheduled hearing session of this Term, beginning April 15. The list indicates that the Court has chosen to put over until its next Term two of its recently granted cases: a major test case on Congress’s power to make it a crime to violate a global treaty, and a significant test case on securities fraud class-action claims. The April sitting will include arguments only in the mornings, beginning at 10 a.m. The opening argument of this sitting will be in the case testing whether human genes can be patented — a case discussed in the recent symposium on this blog.
The day-to-day list follows the jump, with brief summaries of the legal issues at stake.
Monday, April 15:
12-398 — Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics — are human genes, taken out of the body but not changed, eligible for patenting
12-162 — United States v. Davila — does a magistrate judge’s participation in plea bargain discussions always require that the guilty plea be vacated
Tuesday, April 16:
12-399 — Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl — legality under federal law of non-Indian couple’s adoption of an Indian child over the father’s objection
11-798 — American Trucking Association v. Los Angeles — power of city port agency to limit federally licensed truckers from use of the port area (grant limited to Question # 1)
Wednesday, April 17:
12-418 — United States v. Kebodeaux — Congress’s authority to make it a crime to fail to register for a sex offender conviction years earlier and after the individual has completed the sentence
12-246 — Salinas v. Texas — constitutionality of use of pre-arrest silence during a police interview as evidence to support guilt at trial
Monday, April 22:
11-1221 — Hillman v. Maretta — whether federal or state law controls the right to receive death benefits under a federal employee’s life insurance policy
12-10 — Agency for International Development v. Open Society International –government agency’s power to limit the free-speech rights of organizations receiving federal AIDS prevention funds (Justice Elena Kagan is recused)
Tuesday, April 23:
12-357 — Sekhar v. United States — application of anti-extortion Hobbs Act to an attempt to influence a government attorney’s recommendation on a pension fund issue
11-889 — Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann — right of one state to obtain its equal share of water from an adjoining stae’s length of a river with shares determined by an interstate compact
Wednesday, April 24:
12-547 — Metrish v. Lancaster — constitutionality of state’s retroactive withdrawal of a “diminished capacity” defense to a criminal charge
12-484 — University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar — proof needed to show illegal retaliation in the workplace under Title VII
The two cases that will go over to October Term 2013 are Bond v. United States (12-158), on the scope of Congress’s power to criminalize conduct in order to implement a global treaty, and Chadbourne & Park v. Troice (12-79, consolidated along with 12-86 and 12-88), seeking clarification of the right to bring a securities fraud class-action lawsuit based upon state law, when the investment scheme has no direct link to market securities (grant limited to a single question).
