The Supreme Court receives thousands of briefs each term. In addition to the typical petitions, briefs in opposition, amicus briefs, and various other briefs, the Justices also receive applications for stays. These applications are typically requesting a stay of execution, but may request a stay on other types of orders as well. Applications for stays [...]
Once a brief is finalized and ready for printing, one of the final decisions is the method of mailing for the service parties and the Court. Fortunately, Supreme Court Rule 29 provides the following straightforward guidelines for ensuring your document is filed and served in a timely manner. Filing The Court follows the mailbox rule–meaning [...]
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (or “Notorious RBG” as she is affectionately known as in the law blogging world) was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 15, 1933. Although Ginsburg has a lengthy list of accomplishments earning her the “notorious” moniker, one of her most notable accomplishments includes being only the second female United States Supreme [...]
The filibuster led by the Senate Democrats was ultimately futile when the Republicans retaliated by triggering the nuclear option to end the bitter battle over Scalia’s vacant seat and confirm Neil Gorsuch as the next Supreme Court Justice in a 54 to 45 vote last Friday. Gorsuch was sworn in as the 113th Justice on [...]
Pro se is a legal term that comes from Latin, meaning "for oneself, on one's own behalf." It basically means that an individual is representing him- or her-self in court by choice without the help of an attorney. People may choose to represent themselves in court for a variety of reasons. Some want to avoid [...]
Another day, another thought-provoking tweet from President Trump. Recently, he claimed that former President Obama authorized illegal wiretaps in Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign. A number of people have stated that this is blatantly false, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey, and of course, Barack Obama himself. [...]
There is less than one week to go before Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings begin and the political landscape continues to reflect the tension between the need to fill Scalia’s long-vacant seat and the conflicting demands placed on the Senators themselves, from both the party and their voters. Previously, we discussed that the Republicans would need [...]
President Trump’s recent executive order on immigration is already facing several legal challenges, despite the policy being only a few weeks old. At the time of this writing, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to grant a stay on a temporary restraining order suspending the order, and the Trump administration is preparing to [...]
Today in our look at Supreme Court history, we examine a lecture Justice William J. Brennan Jr. gave in 1985 entitled “In Defense of Dissents.” Brennan begins with the question: What does a judge…hope to accomplish by dissenting? After all, the law is the law, and in our system, whether in the legislature or the [...]
This week, two Congressmen introduced legislation allowing certain Supreme Court procedures to be recorded on camera. Representatives Gerry Connelly, a Democrat from Virginia, and Ted Poe, a Republican from Texas, have re-introduced the Cameras in the Courtroom Act. The bill was first introduced on January 6, 2015. The text of the rule provides that “the [...]