Constitutional Law

Supreme Court Round-up

Two Decisions: The Supreme Court issued two decisions this week in Medellin v. Texas and Hall Street v. Mattel. The Medellin opinion, written by Chief Justice Roberts (with Justice Stevens concurring and Justices Breyer, Souter, and Ginsburg dissenting), attracted significant commentary. As Edward Lazarus described, it pitted the Court's states' rights advocates against advocates for greater presidential power and internationalists against those disdainful of international law. The Court held that rulings by the International Court of Justice require additional congressional action before being binding on the states, and that a presidential order to the states to give effect to the treaty has no legal effect. The Hall opinion, written by Justice Souter (with Justices Stevens, Kennedy, and Breyer dissenting), held that parties cannot contractually agree to expand judicial review beyond that allowed by the Federal Arbitration Act, in this case, to errors of law.

Seven Arguments: The High Court heard argument in seven cases this week (transcripts available here). The cases included a jurisdictional question of whether U.S. courts can hear habeas appeals from American citizens held by U.S. coalition-led forces in Iraq, the level of competency necessary for self-representation in a criminal trial, and whether the Voting Rights Act was violated by the appointment of a county official instead of holding a special election. SCOTUSBlog has more here.

Cert.: The Supreme Court granted certiorari in two cases this week. In U.S. v. Hayes, the Court will examine what the relationship between the offender and victim must be to qualify as a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence." In Pearson v. Callahan, the Court will examine whether police may enter a home without a warrant immediately after an undercover informant bought drugs inside and whether qualified immunity was properly denied to the police officers involved.

Triple Play: Litigator (and frequent ACS program participant) Tom Goldstein scored a "triple play" this week when he worked on three cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on the same day.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on January 01, 1970 (boomark / email).