Tony Mauro

March 07, 2005 | National Law Journal

When parties air their differences before the Supreme Court, they are usually on opposite sides of the case. But in a dispute pending before the justices, two major Illinois legal figures are tussling over which one has the right to bring the case to the Court. "It's a very strange situation," says assistant appellate defender Darrel Orman who is watching, bemused, as his adversaries slug it out. "It qualifies as a turf battle, I'd say."

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

June 15, 2007 | New York Law Journal

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

July 06, 2004 | The Recorder

This term's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that may have the broadest impact was on few radar screens before being announced June 24: Blakely v. Washington, which could upend federal and state sentencing laws nationwide. The ruling means that any fact that increases a sentence -- even an aggravating factor within a statutory maximum -- must be proved to a jury, not decided by a judge. The lawyer who won the case was also an unknown quantity: Jeffrey Fisher, an associate at Seattle's Davis Wright Tremaine.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

June 29, 2006 | Law.com

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld most of the controversial Texas Republican redistricting plan spearheaded by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The ruling could encourage other states whose legislatures are dominated by one party to break from the tradition of redistricting only after the census every decade. The Court was splintered on the case, with six justices writing separately, and appeared no closer to deciding when a politically motivated redistricting plan crosses a constitutional line.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

October 19, 2006 | The Legal Intelligencer

When the U.S. Supreme Court debates the constitutionality of the federal partial-birth abortion law next month, it will have some sensitive information in its hands that no member of the public can see.

By Tony Mauro ALM Supreme Court Correspondent

7 minute read

April 18, 2007 | Law.com

National banks won a major victory Tuesday when the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government, not states, has the pre-eminent role in regulating banks' mortgage business, even if conducted by subsidiaries. The Court found that the National Banking Act pre-empts state regulation of banks -- and that the pre-emption extends to their subsidiaries, which are "equivalent" to the banks. Some say the ruling could impact the direction of the growing investigation into the subprime lending business.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

November 09, 2009 | New York Law Journal

By Tony Mauro

7 minute read

February 18, 2005 | The Legal Intelligencer

A week before Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist swore in President Bush to a second term as president last month, Justice Clarence Thomas presided over a little-noticed inauguration inside the court building that has generated some controversy.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

April 21, 2005 | The Legal Intelligencer

The late Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun ceded so much of his authority to his law clerks during his 24-year tenure that it amounts to a scandalous abdication of judicial responsibility, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Garrow asserts in a magazine article out this week.

By Tony Mauro

7 minute read

September 15, 2010 | Texas Lawyer

The University of Texas Press has published a new biography of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark, described by a court scholar as "the most underrated justice in recent history." The book, written by Clark's daughter, may go a long way toward improving the justice's place in history, recalling his role as a swing vote and civil rights advocate on the court, as well as his post-retirement role as the first director of the Federal Judicial Center and as a tireless advocate of judicial independence.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read