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The Marble Palace Blog: Supreme Court

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October 14, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: New SCOTUS Books Coming In Over the Transom

As the Supreme Court's new term begins, some important new books about the court have arrived.
6 minute read
September 30, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Stalled for Years, Warren Burger's Biography Is Back on Track

Chief Justice Warren Burger died in 1995, but efforts to write the biography of his life and legacy have taken time.
5 minute read
September 23, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: The Story of a Forgotten Black Supreme Court Advocate From the 19th Century

Cornelius Jones, one of the few Black Supreme Court advocates of his time, is remembered.
3 minute read
September 06, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Justice William O. Douglas, an Early Activist of the Environmental Movement

A compelling new book by a Ninth Circuit judge focuses on the conservation advocacy of Douglas and his high public profile, unlike any other.
6 minute read
August 26, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: An Inside Look at How Justices Handled Oral Arguments During the Pandemic

During a recent conference, Justice Elena Kagan explained why colleagues were "very split" on how to make oral arguments work in the COVID-19 era.
6 minute read
August 15, 2022 | News

The Marble Palace Blog: What It's Really Like to Argue Before SCOTUS

A new book reveals the angst, drama and adventure of arguing before the Supreme Court.
5 minute read
August 10, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: A Lawyer Who Won a 1983 SCOTUS Free Speech Case on Behalf of His Wife Has Died at Age 70

Sebastian Graber, a lawyer who represented activists, was best known for a case about the right to demonstrate on Supreme Court grounds.
4 minute read
August 05, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: An Unearthed Cache of Letters From a SCOTUS Secretary Reveals How Unliked Some Justices Were

In letters recently uncovered, a former secretary for SCOTUS justices in the 1930's wrote about life at the court and her least favorite justices.
5 minute read
July 27, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Justice Barrett's 'Austere and Desert-Like' Writing Style

In her nearly two years on the Supreme Court bench, Amy Coney Barrett has developed her own terse way of writing opinions.
5 minute read
July 21, 2022 | Analysis

The Marble Palace Blog: The Longest SCOTUS Oral Argument

In a Supreme Court oral argument this past term, something unusual happened: The longest argument by a single advocate in decades. Here is how it came about.
4 minute read
July 15, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Byron White, Supreme Court Justice and Basketball Star

The late Justice Byron White was a famed football player in his younger days, but his basketball skill made a mark inside and outside the court.
4 minute read
June 30, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: After 20 Years, Howard Bashman Still Shows How Appealing Appellate Law Can Be

Supreme Court justices, judges, law clerks, lawyers and journalists still follow Bashman's blog for appellate news.
5 minute read
June 23, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Goodwin Procter Prepares for Recusal Issues Given Partner's Family Ties to Ketanji Brown Jackson

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's brother-in-law, William Jackson, is a partner in the firm's complex litigation and dispute resolution practice.
4 minute read
June 17, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: When Justices Have Lawyers in the Family

It's no surprise that Supreme Court justices have lawyers as relatives, but sometimes when they do, things get tricky.
6 minute read
June 09, 2022 | Conversation

The Marble Palace Blog: In New SCOTUS Ruling, Words Were Not Enough

Wednesday's controversial Supreme Court decision included two photographs, a rare attachment to the court's written words.
5 minute read
June 03, 2022 | Conversation

The Marble Palace Blog: Sotomayor's Bobblehead, Easy as Apple Pie

For the first time in five years, the Green Bag has issued a new bobblehead of a sitting Supreme Court justice, this time Sonia Sotomayor, complete with a baseball mitt and a slice of apple pie.
4 minute read
May 27, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: How a 14-Year-Old Student Made Supreme Court History

After Brown v. Board of Education, Chief Justice Earl Warren insisted on hiring an African-American student to become one of the court's "pages" or aides.
4 minute read
May 19, 2022 | Chart

The Marble Palace Blog: A Famed Federal Judge Pens a Romance Novel. Yes, a Romance Novel.

A romance novel by Judge Wilkinson raises eyebrows, but he says creative writing helps him as a judge and makes his legal writing fresher and more accessible.
4 minute read
May 12, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: At Canada's Supreme Court, There Are No Leaks

The Supreme Court of Canada gives journalists advance access to court decisions before they are made public, giving them time to better understand and report about the cases. Secrecy-prone SCOTUS is not likely to follow suit.
4 minute read
May 03, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: The Alito Leak and the SCOTUS Ethic of Confidentiality

The stunning leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion shakes the foundation of the court's ethic of confidentiality and discretion.
6 minute read
April 28, 2022 | News

Marble Palace Blog: Celebrated as a Top SCOTUS Advocate, Lisa Blatt Laments 'Appalling Disparity' Among Lawyers Before the Court

Williams & Connolly partner Lisa Blatt, honored Wednesday by fellow SCOTUS colleagues, said action, not talk, is needed to increase diversity among the Supreme Court bar.
4 minute read
April 21, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Book Banning Trend Reaches SCOTUS Gift Shop

A book by Jamie Raskin about the constitutional rights of students, sold at the Supreme Court Historical Society's (virtual) gift shop and elsewhere, is on a Texas list of books to be removed from schools.
3 minute read
April 14, 2022 | News

The Marble Palace Blog: Ketanji Brown Jackson and Stephen Breyer Are Friends, But They Pronounce 'Amicus' Differently

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers said "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" when they disagreed on how to pronounce "tomato." But Justice Breyer and Justice-to-be Jackson will surely stay friends, even though they say the Latin word for friend differently.
4 minute read
April 08, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: RBG's Legacy Continues With Awards, Auctions and Donations

With an auction of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's art collection opening on April 27, along with other awards and events, the interest in RBG's life and artifacts lives on.
3 minute read
March 23, 2022 | News

The Marble Palace Blog: Kagan, Biden, Clinton and Other Friends of Walter Dellinger Pay Tribute

In a virtual service honoring the late Walter Dellinger, President Joe Biden declared him as "the protector of American democracy," and Justice Elena Kagan praised him as a "clear-eyed optimist."
9 minute read
March 18, 2022 | News

The Marble Palace Blog: Will There Be a Third Justice Jackson?

If Ketanji Brown Jackson becomes a Supreme Court justice, she'll be the third member of the court through history with that last name. The previous two Jacksons were very different.
4 minute read
March 10, 2022 | News

The Marble Palace Blog: Tweeting Supreme Court History

Duke Law professor Marin Levy has found a way to make Supreme Court history approachable and interesting, with small bites and Twitter threads.
4 minute read
March 04, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: The Bygone Boutique Law Firm That Enticed Ketanji Brown Jackson and Amy Coney Barrett

A legendary Washington law firm that is remembered for attracting young talent, including future Supreme Court justices.
5 minute read
February 18, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: A Former Law Clerk's Favorite SCOTUS Movie

A former clerk reminisces about his favorite Supreme Court-related movie. What's your favorite SCOTUS movie?
3 minute read
February 04, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Breyer's Passion for Buildings (Including the Marble Palace)

Once he is retired, Justice Stephen Breyer may resume his fervor for all things architectural.
3 minute read
January 27, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Recalling Breyer's Quirky Hypotheticals and Epic Questions

Justice Breyer livened up oral arguments with odd hypotheticals and rambling questions that kept advocates on their toes.
4 minute read
January 20, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: 6th Circuit Judge Merritt, Once Considered for SCOTUS Seat, Has Died at Age 86

Appeals Judge Gilbert Merritt Jr., who died on Jan. 17, is heralded as a "devoted champion of justice" and "a great mentor, boss, friend, and jurist."
4 minute read
January 14, 2022 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Roy Reardon's SCOTUS Hole in One

Roy Reardon, the Simpson Thacher lawyer who won a landmark Supreme Court case in 2001 for a golfer with a disability, has died at age 92.
5 minute read
January 07, 2022 | News

The Marble Palace Blog: 'Plessy' and Precedent

The scar of "Plessy v. Ferguson" still reverberates in the current Supreme Court.
4 minute read
December 30, 2021 | News

The Marble Palace Blog: The Role of Justices and Judges in a Tumultuous Time

Judges, lawyers, law professors and even journalists weigh in on how the Supreme Court and other courts could help calm the divisions in the nation.
5 minute read
December 21, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: The Supreme Court's Powerful Eggnog Recipe

Just in time for December holidays: A Supreme Court recipe for eggnog, unearthed from the papers of Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone.
3 minute read
December 15, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Seven Years of Trying to Fix the Supreme Court

After seven years of trying, Fix the Court is chalking up fixes that are coming to fruition at the Supreme Court.
7 minute read
December 08, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Gifts for SCOTUS Devotees

The Supreme Court's gift shop is the (online) place for holiday presents for the SCOTUS aficionados in your life.
4 minute read
November 30, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Will Opinion Announcements Fade Away?

Opinion announcements from the bench, a long tradition that is an important part of justices' public roles, may become a thing of the past
4 minute read
November 18, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Justices as Speechmakers

Recent sharp-edged speeches by members of the high court have been controversial, but history shows that speechmaking by justices is nothing new.
4 minute read
November 11, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Midnight at SCOTUS

In 1997, the Supreme Court publicly tried to discourage parties from filing pleas and applications in a way that made the justices make weighty decisions late at night.
4 minute read
November 04, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: General Prelogar

There was some suspense at the Supreme Court when new Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar took to the lectern for her first appearance: Would she be called General Prelogar?
3 minute read
November 01, 2021 | Analysis

'The Marble Palace Blog': Should It Become the Harlan Palace?

Is it time to give the Supreme Court building a name? And would John Marshall Harlan be the right name?
6 minute read
October 27, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Farewell to the Justices' Barber

"I was a regular customer of Diego's for the past 15 years, and I always looked forward to seeing him," Justice Alito said of the death of Diego D'Ambrosio.
4 minute read
October 22, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Author John Grisham and Supreme Court Thrillers

You may wonder what Grisham and his book have to do with the U.S. Supreme Court, but there are connections.
4 minute read
October 15, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: 'OYEZ! OYEZ!' Meet the New Marshal

The Supreme Court has a new voice: Gail Curley, the court's new marshal.
4 minute read
October 13, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: First Questioner

Justice Clarence Thomas has asked the first question of 10 of 11 lawyers at the lectern so far.
3 minute read
October 06, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: What SCOTUS Lawyers Look Like

A solo appellate lawyer discusses why he made a photo collage to visualize the diversity of the lawyers arguing before the Supreme Court this term.
4 minute read
October 01, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Before the Supreme Court's First Monday Comes the Sunday Red Mass

This upcoming Red Mass may be historic. For the first time, seven of the Supreme Court's nine justices are Catholics or have Catholic roots.
4 minute read
September 29, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: Yes, Justices Make Mistakes

A scattering of bloopers has been made public on the court's website after it announced a change in how opinions are publicly corrected.
3 minute read
September 27, 2021 | Commentary

The Marble Palace Blog: How the SCOTUS Long Conference Started + Did Scalia Really Watch RBG Parasail?

One justice is credited with starting the annual long conference 50 years ago.
7 minute read

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