Tony Mauro

April 27, 2006 | Law.com

In Wednesday arguments that were supposed to draw the Supreme Court into some of the immigration issues causing controversy across the nation, Mohawk Industries' employees claimed the company's hiring of illegal aliens depressed wages and amounted to racketeering as defined under RICO. Instead, immigration was barely mentioned, as arguments quickly devolved into a dense debate over the RICO statute's ambiguous wording and whether a corporation can be part of a separate "enterprise" covered by the law.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

May 27, 2005 | Law.com

Ordinarily, a law professor's announcement that he's not finishng the second volume of the third edition of his book wouldn't merit even a yawn. But when that professor is Laurence Tribe, the book is his famed treatise "American Constitutional Law" and he announces his decision in a "Dear Steve" letter to a Supreme Court justice, legal academics are left gasping in surprise and reaching for the appropriate metaphor. "It's like Michael Jordan leaving basketball at the top of his game," says one.

By Tony Mauro

6 minute read

August 25, 2009 | National Law Journal

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's "Our Courts" Web site, aimed at middle school students, has gone live with two interactive animated games that will, she hopes, engage young people in learning about and appreciating the role of courts in their daily lives. In one of the games, the player helps a hypothetical female swing-vote justice -- hmm, who might that be? -- reach a decision in a First Amendment case. The game's full Court, by the way, is composed of five women and four men.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

September 15, 2000 | Law.com

Unbeknownst to many, the U.S. Supreme Court's real work begins earlier than the legendary First Monday in October. On Sept. 25, the justices will convene privately for their "long conference." In a room adjacent to Chief Justice William Rehnquist's chambers, the justices will choose among hundreds of cases to add to their docket. It is the fulcrum of the Supreme Court's agenda-setting process.

By Tony Mauro

11 minute read

June 22, 2005 | Law.com

The Supreme Court says beef industry ads can keep sizzling.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

August 14, 2006 | The Recorder

The chief justice named a longtime friend and colleague, John Minear, to help him with the management of the court. Lawyers say he will leave a large void in the solicitor general's office.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

December 07, 2004 | Law.com

Young U.S. Supreme Court law clerks, who help their justices screen cases and draft opinions, may be assigned a new task this week: explaining Grokster and Morpheus to their bosses. The intensely watched copyright infringement case Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster and StreamCast Networks is on the agenda for the high court's private conference on Friday, along with dozens of other cases in which the court may grant or deny review.

By Tony Mauro

6 minute read

November 19, 2009 | The Recorder

The American Bar Association on Wednesday launched a new Web site highlighting newsworthy federal appeals court rulings.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

December 06, 2007 | National Law Journal

The Supreme Court appeared deeply divided Wednesday over just how much due process Guantanamo Bay detainees deserve in challenging their imprisonment -- and how much they already have -- as the justices weighed the impact of a law passed by Congress last year that stripped U.S. courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus appeals from detainees and established a limited appeal process. During a dramatic argument, Justice Anthony Kennedy, the presumed swing vote in the cases, tipped his hand only once.

By Tony Mauro

6 minute read

October 25, 2004 | National Law Journal

Chief Justice William Rehnquist expects to be on the bench when the Supreme Court convenes again Nov. 1, in spite of surgery on Saturday in connection with a recently diagnosed case of thyroid cancer. The surprise announcement of Rehnquist's illness and surgery came just before noon today, and raised in a concrete way an issue that has been an abstraction during the presidential campaign: the possibility of a departure from the Supreme Court in the near future.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read