Courts

First Monday in October

The new Supreme Court term will begin Monday October 3, 2022, and the Court will again be open to the public. The Court has an active term ahead, particularly with two controversial affirmative action cases on the docket, both to be argued on October 31st.  The Harvard College case and the University of North Carolina case will look at whether these institutions may use race as a factor in admissions and whether their efforts at racial balancing violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

You can find detailed information (including case summaries) for the upcoming Supreme Court term at the SCOTUS Blog . You can also view the case briefs at the Supreme Court’s website (under CASE DOCUMENTS click the link for Docket Search and enter the docket number of the case you are interested in).

The Court will again be making available to the public live audio of the arguments.  Check for the link on the Supreme Court’s web site on the day of argument.

Anniversary of the Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

This Sunday, September 18, 2022, marks the two-year anniversary of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to serve as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.  She left behind an enormous legacy – one that includes not only her signature lace-collar but the transformation of women’s rights in the United States. “The Notorius RBG” visited NYLS a few times in her long and illustrious career.  In 2018, she gave the Sidney Shainwald Public Interest Lecture.  At the lecture, she was interviewed by NYLS Professor Nadine Strossen.  In 1999, Justice Ginsburg spoke at the NYLS Law Review Dinner.  Visit our NYLS Digital Commons repository to find more information and pictures.

More on First Monday in October

Over on the SCOTUSblog, Prof. Stephen Wermiel offers a quick review of the debate dividing the justices about when to overrule constitutional precedent and when to follow it.  It’s a debate he describes as certain to continue when the Court begins its new term on Monday.  Read the post here.

First Monday in October 2019

The new Supreme Court term is set to begin this year on Monday October 7, 2019.

For previews of arguments scheduled for this term, visit the SCOTUSblog. Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII) also offers a comprehensive preview of the upcoming term.

You can listen to oral arguments at the Supreme Court’s Oral Arguments link, where the audio is posted at the end of each argument week. You can access the parties’ briefs at the Supreme Court’s web site. (Under Case Documents click the link for Docket Search.)

First Monday in October 2018

The new Supreme Court term is set to begin this year on Monday October 1, 2018.

For previews of arguments scheduled for this term, visit the SCOTUSblog. Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII) offers a comprehensive preview of the upcoming term. You can also find summaries of and links to all cases scheduled thus far for argument at Oyez. The First Mondays podcast, hosted by law professors Dan Epps and Ian Samuel, is a self-described “entertaining podcast about the Supreme Court.” The most recent episode (recorded September 24, 2018) provides a birds-eye view of the coming term. You can listen to oral arguments at the Supreme Court’s Oral Arguments link, where the audio is posted at the end of each argument week. You can access the parties’ briefs at the Supreme Court’s web site. (Under Case Documents click the link for Docket Search.)

The Kavanaugh Nomination Hearing

September 4 marks the first day of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. President Donald Trump nominated the D.C. Circuit Court judge to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Check out the SCOTUSblog for live blogging of the hearing. For articles, books, congressional materials, and web resources by and about the Supreme Court nominee, visit the Law Library of Congress’ Brett M. Kavanaugh page. To track the public statements made by United States senators about how they plan to vote, visit SCOTUS Watch.

First Monday in October

We are nearing the end of September and that means the new Supreme Court term is right around the corner!  Every year, the first Monday in October marks the beginning of a new term.  This year’s term begins on Monday, October 2.

As of now, the Court has agreed to hear 32 cases.  Justices will hear arguments on several important issues including partisan gerrymandering, immigration, and marriage equality and religious freedom.

Some cases of note include Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project and Trump v. Hawaii, both of which involve challenges to President Trump’s controversial Executive Order suspending for 90 days entry into the United States by foreign nationals from specific countries.  Carpenter v. U.S. asks whether a warrantless search and seizure of cellphone records is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.  Finally, in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission the justices will decide between a same-sex couples’ right, under a state anti-discrimination law, to obtain a custom wedding cake to celebrate their marriage and the constitutional rights of a small business owner who refused to create the cake because of religious beliefs.

You can find more information on the upcoming Supreme Court term  at HeinOnline’s Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases, SCOTUS Blog and Supreme Podcast.  You can also listen to oral arguments at the Supreme Court’s website and find the parties’ briefs at the ABA’s Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases.

Listen to Second Circuit Court of Appeals Arguments

If you can’t make it to the U.S. Courthouse in Foley Square to attend oral arguments before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, next month you’ll be able to access audio recordings of them from the court’s own website.  See the court’s announcement here or here.

The recordings will become available on August 15, 2016, the first day of the court’s 2016 term.

Most of the other circuit courts of appeals also make audio recordings available on their respective web sites.  The 10th and 11th circuits are the exception.

The Supreme Court Vacancy

The passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia created a vacant seat on the nation’s highest court. Article II section 2 of the Constitution provides the mechanism to fill that seat, stating that the President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Judges of the Supreme Court.”  Since the Supreme Court was established in 1789, 160 nominations have been submitted to the Senate.  The last Justice nominated and appointed to the Supreme Court was Justice Elena Kagan on August 5, 2010, after Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement in April of that year.  Because it is a presidential election year, more controversy than usual now surrounds the nomination and appointment process .

For more information on the nomination and confirmation process as well as the history of past nominations and appointments, visit HeinOnline’s “History of Supreme Court Nominations” and the Georgetown Law Library’s Supreme Court Nominations Research Guide. .

Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection

On November 2, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Foster v. Chatman, No. 14-8349, revisiting the issue once thought settled by the 1986 decision in Batson v. Kentucky, which held it unconstitutional to strike potential jurors based on race.  A transcript of the oral argument in Foster is available here.  The Court will post an audio recording on November 6.

For a brief review of peremptory challenges to jury selection and their history, see this excerpt from Professor Michael Roffer’s recently published The Law Book: From Hammurabi to the International Criminal Court, 250 Milestones in the History of Law.