ShareThe Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here. Twelve years ago, in Miller v. Alabama, the Supreme Court declared that mandatory sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole for offenders who were under the...

ShareThe Supreme Court did not add any new cases to its merits docket for the 2024-25 term in a scheduled list of written orders on Monday morning. The justices denied review in over 60 cases, including a challenge to a Maryland county’s guidelines to provide support for transgender students. In John and Jane Parents 1 v. Montgomery County, Md., three...

ShareEach weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Monday morning read: Must parents be told of child’s gender transition? Supreme Court rejects case (Maureen Groppe, USA Today) Supreme Court rejects challenge to Maryland ‘assault weapon’ ban (Lawrence Hurley,...

ShareEach weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Friday morning read: Supreme Court rebuffs challenge to consumer protection agency (Lawrence Hurley, NBC News) At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display (Jodi Kantor, The New York Times)...

ShareSmith v. Spizziri is this week’s item on the court’s bountiful menu of cases under the Federal Arbitration Act. The question here is what options are available to a trial court that decides to send a case to arbitration. Must it stay the matter or, instead, does it have the option to dismiss it entirely? Discussion at the argument suggested that...

ShareThe Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the structure used to fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal agency tasked with enforcing consumer finance laws. By a vote of 7-2, the justices reversed a decision by a federal appeals court in Louisiana, which had ruled that the agency’s funding...