Rumors of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s possible retirement have shifted to 2018 after news of him telling applicants for the 2018 term that he is considering retirement began circulating in early July. Kennedy is the most senior Associate Justice on the Court and is often the swing vote on the Court’s 5-4 decisions, meaning his retirement [...]
On this day in Supreme Court history, Congress enacted the Supreme Court Case Selections Act of 1988. The Act was designed to “improve the administration of justice by providing greater discretion to the Supreme Court in selecting the cases it will review, and for other purposes.” The Act amended 28 U.S.C. § 1257 to eliminate [...]
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 [...]
The Constitution gives the Supreme Court "original jurisdiction" over several small but important categories of cases: Cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; Cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; Controversies in which the United States is a party; Controversies between two or more states; Controversies between a state and citizens of another state; [...]
Have you ever wondered about the women who ran the households of the Founding Fathers while they Declared Independence, fought the Revolutionary War, drafted and ratified the Constitution, and then governed the fledgling United States? We know quite a bit about Abigail Adams, in large part because of the vibrant letters she [...]