Courts

First Monday in October

The first Monday in October marks the opening day of the new Supreme Court term, and this year is no different! The term begins on October 5, and ten cases have been set for oral argument over the first two weeks. The Court will hear arguments about defendants’ Eighth Amendment rights in four death penalty cases, a challenge to the Texas legislature’s redistricting plan based on the “one-person, one-vote” guarantee of Reynolds v. Simms (1964), and an Equal Protection challenge to the use of race in undergraduate admissions decisions. It will also hear a case involving whether public employees should be required to pay local union fees even if they opted out of joining the union.

Other major cases coming up this term include OBB Personenverkehr AG v. Sachs, in which the court will determine when an entity is an “agent” of a “foreign state” under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and Ocasio v. U.S., in which the court will determine whether a conspiracy to commit extortion requires that the conspirators agree to obtain property from someone outside the conspiracy.

Besides the SCOTUS Blog, other places to go for Supreme Court information include the Supreme Court’s website, where you can listen to oral arguments, the ABA’s Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases, where you can find the parties’ briefs, and Supreme Podcast. This is shaping up to be another fascinating and controversial term. What will The Nine do? Listen to the arguments, read the briefs, and see if you can anticipate their decisions!

New Court of Appeals Judge Nominated

Governor Andrew Cuomo has nominated Justice Leslie Stein to replace Judge Victoria Graffeo on the New York Court of Appeals. A Democrat, Justice Stein currently sits in the Appellate Division’s Third Department, where she had been appointed by former Governor Eliot Spitzer in 2008. Cuomo’s decision to replace Graffeo, a Republican, has the potential to give Democrats a 4-3 majority on the Court.  The Senate has 30 days to act on the nomination.

For more details on Governor Cuomo’s appointment, read the New York Law Journal’s article, Cuomo Picks Third Dept. Justice for Top Court and the Governor’s press release.

Finding Federal Court Records Online

Finding federal court records online has always seemed more difficult than it should be!  While Westlaw and LexisNexis provide access to the federal docket sheets that list the filings for each case, the filed documents themselves are not always available.  Instead, a service called “PACER” (an acronym for “Public Access to Court Electronic Records”) became the method of choice for obtaining federal court documents.  PACER is not without its shortcomings: there is a $0.10 per page fee (but a maximum charge of $3.00 per document), and some users complain of PACER’s clunky interface, limited functionality, and inability to update more than once a day.

PacerPro is a free commercial service offering a better way of searching federal court records.  Updating in “real time” from all 214 federal court sites, PacerPro provides a more streamlined search interface, the option of downloading an entire docket with a single click, and the ability to bookmark cases.  Using PacerPro still requires a PACER account, however, and users will generally still incur the charge of $0.10 per page.   PacerPro does not include documents from federal bankruptcy or appellate courts.

For NYLS students, Bloomberg Law remains an even better option.  Bloomberg provides full-text searching of federal and state court dockets and available filings.  Most importantly, all documents are available via Bloomberg for free to law students and faculty.

Free SCOTUSblog App Now Available

SCOTUSblog, a popular blog providing comprehensive coverage of the United States Supreme Court, recently announced the availability of a FREE iOS app.

The new app provides mobile access to the content available on SCOTUSblog, access to its Twitter feed, and notifications alerting users to breaking Supreme Court news.  It will also “be rolling out new features and improvements regularly.”

You can download the FREE SCOTUSblog iOS App at the App Store.

First Monday in October

The first Monday in October marks the opening day of the new Supreme Court term, and this year is no different. During its first week, the Court will hear arguments about federal age discrimination claims, class actions in securities litigation, and ineffective assistance of counsel. It will also hear a major campaign finance case, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, in which the Court will consider a First Amendment “challenge to aggregate limits on contributions to federal candidates and political committees.”

Other major cases coming up this term include Environmental Protection Agency v. EME Homer City Generation, in which the Court will consider whether the D.C. Circuit erred in invalidating an EPA rule that implemented limits on cross-state air pollution, and Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, in which the plaintiffs challenge a Michigan constitutional amendment that prohibits race or sex-based preferential treatment in public university admissions.

Besides SCOTUS Blog, other places to go for Supreme Court information include the Supreme Court’s website, where you can listen to oral arguments, the ABA’s Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases, where you can find the parties’ briefs, and Supreme Podcast. This is shaping up to be another fascinating and controversial term. What will The Nine do? Listen to the arguments, read the briefs, and see if you can anticipate their decisions!

Court-PASS: Online Database for NY Court of Appeals

On February 1, the New York Court of Appeals launched a free online document database called Court-PASS. Practitioners will be able to upload court papers and the database will serve as permanent digital archive of all cases filed after January 1, 2013. Researchers will be able to search or browse Court-PASS and view decisions, briefs, motion papers, criminal/civil case records, and videos/transcripts of oral arguments. For more information see the Court’s Notice to the Bar.

Enter the Supreme Court Challenge

Bloomberg Law and the SCOTUSblog are offering cash prizes to the top three student teams in a competition to predict the outcomes of six Supreme Court cases and six cert. petitions that will be considered by the Court in March.  First prize — $3,500; second prize — $1,500; third prize — $1,000.  There will be cash bonuses for teams that “beat the experts.”  Details appear below.  Make sure to visit www.scotuscompetition.com for information and the official rules.  Note the deadlines for registering (February 28) and for submitting your picks (March 14).  Good luck!

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You are invited to participate in Bloomberg Law and SCOTUSblog’s Supreme Court Challenge! Teams of up to five law students from New York Law School will use resources available on Bloomberg Law (www.bloomberglaw.com) and SCOTUSblog (www.scotusblog.com) – including opinions, Supreme Court briefs, Justices’ profiles, and news – to perform any research needed to make predictions for merits cases and cert. petitions that will be considered by the Court in March 2013.

Prizes will be awarded to the three student teams with the most points as follows:

 *First prize is a minimum of $3,500, with an additional $1,500 awarded if your team also beats the experts at SCOTUSblog.

 *Second prize is $1,500 with an additional $1,000 if they beat the SCOTUSblog team.

 *Third prize is $1,000, with an additional $500 if they beat the SCOTUSblog team.

Blaise Woodworth and Eric Hanson, your Bloomberg Law Product Advocates, are available to answer any questions. Blaise & Eric will be at the Bloomberg Law table on the 5th floor every Tuesday & Wednesday from 11-4pm . They can also be reached at blaise.woodworth@law.nyls.edu / eric.hanson@law.nyls.edu.

All teams must be registered by February 28th and submit picks by March 14th, so visit www.scotuscompetition.com today for more information and the official rules.

 

Research Guide for Supreme Court Affirmative Action Case

Oral arguments are scheduled today (October 10) in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 631 F.2d 213 (5th Cir. 2011), cert. granted, 132 S. Ct. 1536 (Feb. 21, 2012).  The case is a challenge to UT Austin’s consideration of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions and will be the first time the Court addresses affirmative action in higher education since Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003).  The NYLS Racial Justice Project filed an amicus curiae brief in the case on behalf of the National Black Law Students Association. (See our previous post.)

The reference librarians of the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas have assembled a research guide for the case.  The guide includes the text of selected court documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court; news coverage and law review articles about the Fisher case; and some basic information on UT student body profiles and statistics since 2008.  Tarlton’s librarians will continue to follow the case and update the guide as new articles are published.

First Monday in October

The United States Supreme Court’s new term begins today (October 1, 2012), the first Monday in October.  The 2012-2013 docket thus far includes at least one case of particular interest to members of the NYLS community:  In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, involving a challenge to the University of Texas at Austin’s consideration of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions, New York Law School’s Racial Justice Project has filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Black Law Student’s Association.  (See this previous Mendik Matters post for additional details.)  Fisher is set for argument on October 10, 2012.

Two great sources for learning about the new term are the ABA’s Preview of the United States Supreme Court Cases and the SCOTUS Blog.  Preview is published eight times during the term, providing a concise analysis of cases granted review.  The Preview website links to a list of the cases granted certiorari for the 2012-2013 term and provides links to the merits briefs filed in each case.  The SCOTUS Blog provides comprehensive coverage and discussion of the Supreme Court and generally reports on every merits case before the Court at least three times: before argument; after argument; and after decision.

 

In preparing for the new term, you may also want to look back at earlier terms.  At the end of each term, a number of journals and blogs provide a wealth of information on the types of cases heard by the Court, a breakdown of cases by major subject areas, analysis of key cases and opinions, and discussion of voting trends.  For example, Preview devotes its last issue each year to a review of the newly completed term.  The Harvard Law Review (also accessible via HeinOnline) devotes its November issue to coverage of the completed term, and the SCOTUS Blog provides a comprehensive end-of-term statistical analysis.  End-of-term reviews are a great way to keep up with and learn more about the work of the nation’s highest court.

NYLS Law Students “Friend” the Supreme Court

Congratulations to the students and faculty of the NYLS Racial Justice Project for completing and filing an amicus curiae brief in Fisher v. Univ. of Tex. at Austin, 631 F.2d 213 (5th Cir. 2011), cert. granted 132 S. Ct. 1536 (Feb. 21, 2012) (No. 11-345) a case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear in October.  The case is a challenge to UT Austin’s consideration of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions and will be the first time the Court addresses affirmative action in higher education since Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003).The brief was written on behalf of the National Black Law Students Association and responds to arguments in other briefs that race-conscious admissions programs demoralize minority students, exposing them to stigma and academic environments in which they are outmatched.  A copy of the brief is attached here.

Hats off to students Matthew Hellman (’12), Christopher Binns (’12), Lailah Pepe (’13), Joycelyn Pittard (’13) and Xan Marshall (’13), and, of course, Professors Deborah Archer, Susan Abraham and Aderson Francois.