Tony

January 20, 2016 | National Law Journal

Elizabeth Wydra, longtime chief counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center, is set to succeed founder Doug Kendall, who died in September, as president.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

January 20, 2016 | National Law Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a pair of Kansas Supreme Court rulings that reversed the death sentences of three convicted murderers. The 8-1 ruling in Kansas v. Carr and two related cases was written by Justice Antonin Scalia and did not bear the earmarks of a court that is ready to re-examine the constitutionality of the death penalty—as some had hoped after the court's ruling last term in an Oklahoma case.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

January 20, 2016 | National Law Journal

Elizabeth Wydra, longtime chief counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center, is set to succeed founder Doug Kendall, who died in September, as president.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

January 19, 2016 | Supreme Court Brief

By the end of oral arguments Tuesday in Heffernan v. City of Paterson, New Jersey, lawyers and justices agreed on one thing: The case was really odd. "This is a bizarre case," said Thomas Goldstein of Goldstein & Russell. "It is bizarre," Justice Antonin Scalia concurred. In the course of the hour, some of the exchanges posed lessons that practitioners can learn from.

By Tony Mauro

5 minute read

January 18, 2016 | National Law Journal

Solitary confinement has become a hot topic for debate nationwide, especially after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy spotlighted it as exacting "a terrible price" from inmates, physically and mentally, in a June 2015 opinion.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

January 15, 2016 | National Law Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court added another class action case to its argument docket on Friday, agreeing to determine the fate of an "end run" tactic used by plaintiffs to appeal the denial of class certification. The court granted certiorari in Microsoft v. Baker, a dispute over a class action brought by Xbox 360 purchasers who blame the company for scratched discs.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

January 15, 2016 | National Law Journal

Solitary confinement has become a hot topic for debate nationwide, especially after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy spotlighted it as exacting "a terrible price" from inmates, physically and mentally, in a June 2015 opinion.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

January 15, 2016 | Law.com

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell's appeal of corruption charges, setting the stage for a significant review of federal bribery statutes.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

January 15, 2016 | National Law Journal

Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe once taught Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, but that did not prevent the Texas senator from taking a potshot at Tribe during Thursday night's televised GOP debate. In an email interview Friday, Tribe declined to comment on being in the spotlight. But he reiterated his earlier point that Cruz has been hoisted on his own petard, so to speak, as a fan of originalism in interpreting the Constitution.

By Tony Mauro

5 minute read

January 15, 2016 | National Law Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court added another class action case to its argument docket on Friday, agreeing to determine the fate of an "end run" tactic used by plaintiffs to appeal the denial of class certification. The court granted certiorari in Microsoft v. Baker, a dispute over a class action brought by Xbox 360 purchasers who blame the company for scratched discs.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read