Courts

First Monday in October

The 2011-2012 term of the United States Supreme Court begins Monday, October 3, 2011, the first Monday in October.  In most terms, the Court usually completes its work by the following July 1.  Of the approximately 10,000 petitions filed with the Court each term, very few cases are granted review and receive signed opinions.

Many interesting cases are on the 2011 October Term docket, including the indecent broadcast regulations case between the FCC and Fox Television and the 4th amendment case dealing with the warrantless use of a GPS tracking device.  Two great sources for learning about the new term are the ABA’s Preview of the United States Supreme Court Cases and Scotus Blog.  Preview is published eight times during the term.  Each issue provides a concise analysis of cases granted review and summarizes decisions reached by the Court.  The Preview website links the researcher to a list of the cases granted certiorari for the 2011-2012 term with links to the merits briefs filed in each case.  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 interesting voting trends.  For example, the eighth issue of Preview is a special issue devoted to a review of the newly completed term.  Harvard Law Review devotes its November issue to coverage of the previous term and the Scotus Blog provides a comprehensive end-of-term statistical analysis.  As noted in the analysis of this past term, the Court decided a total of 82 merits cases.  That number includes 75 signed opinions, five summary reversals, and two cases that were affirmed by an evenly divided court.  End-of-term reviews are a great way to learn more about the work of the nation’s highest court.

Websites:

http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/institution.aspx

http://www.supremecourtpreview.org

http://www.scotusblog.com

Harvard Law Review (via HeinOnline)

Cases:

FCC v. Fox Television Stations, No. 10-1293, 613 F. 3d 317 (2d Cir. 2010) http://www.americanbar.org/publications/preview_home/10-1293.html

United States v. Jones, No. 10-1259, 615 F.3d 544 (D.C. Cir. 2010)
http://www.americanbar.org/publications/preview_home/10-1259.html

 

On This Day . . . Gideon v. Wainwright

On March 18, 1963, the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, a case that made significant changes to the face of criminal law in the United States.

Charged with breaking and entering into a Florida pool hall, Clarence Earl Gideon could not afford an attorney. After being convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment, he appealed and asserted that his conviction was unconstitutional because the trial court refused to appoint counsel. The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision, written by Justice Hugo Black, found that the Sixth Amendment gives criminal defendants the right to counsel when charged with a serious offense, even if they cannot afford it. Gideon was subsequently retried and acquitted.

In ruling that states are required to provide attorneys to indigent criminal defendants, the Supreme Court effectively created the public defender system that  today is  accepted as an integral part of the legal community.

Further reading:

Gideon’s Trumpet (Book)

Gideon’s Trumpet (Movie)

Kyung M. Lee, Reinventing Gideon v. Wainwright: Holistic Defenders, Indigent Defendants, and the Right to Counsel, 31 Am. J. Crim. L. 367 (2004). (Article mentions  The Bronx Defenders.)

Bruce R. Jacob, Memories and Reflections about Gideon v. Wainwright, 33 Stetson L. Rev. 181 (2003). (The author is the former Florida Assistant Attorney General who argued the case before the United States Supreme Court.)

The Right to Counsel and Privilege Against Self-Incrimination: Rights and Liberties Under the Law

First Monday in October

This coming Monday October 4, “the first Monday in October,” marks the beginning of a new term for the U.S. Supreme Court.  Why do Supreme Court terms always begin on the first Monday in October?  Watch this 2-minute video from the Clerk of the Supreme Court to learn why.

C-SPAN and the Supreme Court

C-SPAN, the non-profit cable network whose mission is to provide public access to the political process, offers an extraordinarily rich source of video content via its Supreme Court Week web site. (You can also access the site through the Mendik Library’s online catalog.) The site includes the C-SPAN documentary The Supreme Court: Home to America’s Highest Court, video interviews with all living current and former Supreme Court Justices, and many other Supreme Court-related videos.  Expect to see more C-SPAN video there once the Senate confirmation hearings for nominee Elena Kagan get underway.

More on Elena Kagan

The Law Library of Congress joins the University of Michigan Law Library in offering its own comprehensive web page detailing the background of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.  The page contains links or cites to Kagan’s articles and books, transcripts of her oral arguments in the Supreme Court, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Kagan’s nomination to be United States Solicitor General, and a variety of web resources and videos.  The University of Michigan page is available here.

Elena Kagan Web Page

The University of Michigan’s Law Library has created an informational web page for the latest nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan. The web page includes biographical information about Elena Kagan, links to her authored works, transcripts of speeches and links to confirmation hearings for Ms. Kagan’s nomination as Solicitor General. The site will be updated as new information becomes available and will include links to the hearing transcripts once the confirmation hearings begin.

We hope this web page will enable you to follow Solicitor General Kagan’s progress through the nomination process!

Sonia Sotomayor Resources Page

The Law Library of Congress has created a new resources page on Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor.  The page contains links and citations to Judge Sotomayor’s writings as well as a variety of web resources.  The page will most likely be updated as more material becomes available online.

 

 

Cameras in the Courtroom Legislation

Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Sunshine in the Courtroom Act, which would allow photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting or televising of court proceedings except when it would violate a party’s due process rights.  A similar bill is already pending in the House.  Complete information about the bill (S. 352) is available from THOMAS.

Oral Arguments In Detainee Cases Available December 5

From Law.com

C-SPAN announced Monday that Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. has approved its request for same-day release of the audio of Supreme Court oral arguments set for Dec. 5 in Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. United States. The cases, testing the habeas corpus rights of Guantanamo detainees, were deemed of sufficient public interest to warrant same-day release, rather than the traditional schedule of releasing oral argument recordings to the National Archives at the end of each Court term.

This exception from usual practice has been allowed once or twice a term, more or less, since 2000 in response to media requests for access to the audio, which makes broadcast coverage of oral arguments more complete.

Last term, the Court allowed same-day release twice, first in November in the partial-birth abortion cases, and then in December for the Seattle and Louisville cases on the use of race in public school class assignments. C-SPAN Radio will air the audio as soon as it becomes available, usually minutes after the oral argument, and the audio will be made available to other media for excerpting on radio, television and the Web.

The advocates who will be heard during the hourlong argument are among the best: former Solicitor General Seth Waxman for the detainees, and current SG Paul Clement for the Bush Administration.