Washington Briefs

Recent Posts from Washington Briefs

• Justice Kennedy Bashes “Stupid” New York Times Story

  Justice Anthony M. Kennedy clearly wasn’t happy with last week’s New York Times story in which the paper’s Supreme Court reporter, Adam Liptak, revealed that Kennedy’s office had asked a school newspaper to show him…

• Defense Lawyer Vindicated By Supreme Court

  It’s not every day that individual lawyers get a ringing endorsement from the U.S. Supreme Court. But that’s what happened to Stockton, Calif.-based defense lawyer John Schick yesterday. In a per curiam opinion, the court…

• Life Without Parole Is (Something Completely) Different

  The Supreme Court has repeatedly endorsed the concept that “death is different.” The phrase — and various versions of it — took center stage at today’s double-header argument on juvenile life without parole (Graham v.…

• Stephen Colbert: Referendum 71 Signers Should Be Allowed To Stay In The Closet

  Last week, the Supreme Court stopped the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from authorizing the release of the names of people who signed a petition to put Referendum 71, Washington state’s equivalent of Proposition…

• Justices Hang With The Queen

  ot that they are suckers for pageantry or anything, but three U.S. Supreme Court justices tagged along when the U.K. Supreme Court was opened earlier today.  They rubbed shoulders with the likes of Queen Elizabeth…

• Justice Ginsburg In Hospital Again

  The U.S. Supreme Court public information office just issued a release stating that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized again Wednesday night after “an apparent adverse reaction to a sleeping aid combined with cold medication”…

• Chief Justice Dons His Umpire Uniform Again

  If you thought Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s remarks about judges being umpires who are “servants of the law” was just a cute soundbite designed to win confirmation to the Supreme Court, then think…

• The Verdict On C-Span’s SCOTUS Show

  Your blogger was a little disappointed with the episode of C-Span’s Supreme Court series that focused on the reporters who cover the court.  There was a little bit too much discussion of the justices and…

• Surprise Of The Day: Scalia and ACLU Don’t See Eye-To-Eye

  During  today’s U.S. Supreme Court argument about a cross that sits in the middle of nowhere in the Mojave Desert, Justice Antonin Scalia and a lawyer for the ACLU got into a bit of a…

• Human Sacrifice at the Supreme Court

  It’s only the second day of the term, but the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are already indulging in their love for colorful hypothetical questions seemingly aimed at flummoxing the lawyers appearing before them.…