“The Honorable, the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. God save the United States and this Honorable Court.” – Marshal of the Court
Good Monday morning!
More specifically, good Monday morning, today, Monday, October 5, 2015.
The First Monday in October.
Today begins the session of the Supreme Court of the United States. Last year they upheld Obamacare, confirmed that people of the same sex can marry in every state, upheld that the Confederate flag is not free speech for the purposes of a license plate, upheld the right to religious freedom in prison, but upheld the use of death penalty drugs in botched execution and struck down something or other about pollution limits.
So – what are the cases on the docket this session? Here’s a taste:
- Unions: A challenge to a California law that allows public-sector unions to require members and nonmembers alike to subsidize the union’s political activities.
- Death Penalty Procedure: Two separate challenges to death penalty procedures.
- Affirmative Action: A challenge to race-based admissions to American colleges and universities.
- Gerrymandering: A challenge to political redistricting procedures.
- Criminal Procedure: A highly charged debate over whether lawyers regularly use peremptory challenges to prevent jury members on the basis of race or gender.
Not a tax case or a securities case in sight.
Ok, you might point to one argument – Nebraska v. Parker. The question in Nebraska v. Parker is about whether Congress in 1882 had reduced the size of a reservation for the Omaha Indian tribe in Nebraska, putting the town of Pender outside Indian property and thus not subject to a tribal tax on liquor sales.
That’s a tariff, not so much what we do here, at the firm.
To the judges of the Court – judge wisely.
To the rest of us – buckle up, buttercup.
Feel free to leave a comment or contact us about the cases you’ll be monitoring.