Constitutional Law

Five More Cases for High Court: 2/19/08

The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to four cases today and added a fifth under its original jurisdiction.

The Court added another employment discrimination case to those already on the docket, this one on the enforceability of a labor union contract provision that waives union members' rights to bring workplace discrimination claims to court. Also relating to unions, the Court will examine whether they may charge non-members for the cost of lawsuits related generally to union members' rights.

The Court will revisit the "exclusionary rule," exploring whether to permit evidence found in a search that resulted from erroneous information from an officer who did not conduct the search. It will also examine an ERISA (pension) case involving divorcing spouses, and a water rights dispute between Montana and Wyoming.

SCOTUSBlog has more details on the cases. A report from the Associated Press discusses the Court's denial of writs of certiorari, including a very interesting ACLU challenge to the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program that was denied on standing grounds and implicated the government's assertion of the state secrets privilege.

The Supreme Court also heard argument in two cases today – transcripts available here.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on February 19, 2008 (boomark / email).