Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with supremecourt

Explain the mechanics of the Georgia State Supreme Court

carlodio — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:43:00 -0800

I have a family member who won a case in the Georgia court system. It was a well articulated case that a competitor was engaging in predatory business practices that affected a large group of business owners of a particular type of business. The court agreed, and an appeals court declined to hear the appeal. However, another appeal was made to the Georgia Supreme Court. What are the odds that the GA Supreme Court will hear a case already held up during an appeal? This family member has a lawyer and that lawyer was capable enough to win the case, so don't tell him to get a lawyer... :)

However, I have two questions.

First, what are the odds that the GA Supreme Court will hear a case that was already held up on appeal?

Second, how important is it to retain local counsel in Atlanta with Supreme Court experience versus the 'home town' lawyer that got him this far?

Any recent legal decisions I should know about?

rakish_yet_centered — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:08:50 -0800

A New York State bar exam question Having piddled around doing other things the last few years, I find myself studying for the bar with old law outlines.

Is there anything recent from either the Supreme Court or New York State Court of Appeals that I might be tested on? My books cover Kelo, so anything more recent than that.

Where can I get Mexican Supreme Court rulings?

allen8219 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:41:58 -0800

Where can I find the full text of recent Mexican Supreme Court rulings? I can only find the announcements of their decisions, but not the decisions themselves... I'm specifically interested in their most recent ruling, about secret ballots, which you can see on their front page here: http://www.scjn.gob.mx/PortalSCJN/

Muchas gracias!

George Carlin's Supreme Court defense

philosophistry — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:41:36 -0800

Where can I find a transcript of what George Carlin told the Supreme Court? On Slate, Joshua Mann refers to a transcript of George Carlin's defense in the Supreme Court case that he's famous for.

Where can I find this transcript?

C'mon SCOTUS throw me a bone!

Science! — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:03:27 -0800

Dear US Supreme Court Fans, when will the opinion on Columbia v. Heller be issued? In the last year I've become a fan of the supreme court. I listen to oyez.org podcasts of the arguments and opinions when I can. I'm almost done with Toobin's book "The Nine" and I am becoming increasingly fascinated with the court. I've browsed through scotusblog, oyez, and justia but they all seem to be wholeheartedly dedicated to reporting the facts. Fair, and honorable enough. I however want to know what date this ruling is likely to come out on, and what website I should be hitting refresh on to get the opinion as fast as I possibly can.

If I've missed a forecasting page on one of these sites or any other please point it out. References or a history of accurately predicting opinion release dates preferred.

Trolls: For the purposes of this question the outcome does not matter, I just want to know when it's going to be released.

Is the 9th Circuit Overturned More Often?

goatdog — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:59:16 -0800

Is the 9th Circuit really overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court more often than the other circuits? The general impression is that the liberal 9th Circuit is overturned more often, but is it really true? I mean rate of overturn, not number--that circuit produces many more cases than the others, so it would make sense that the number of overturns would be higher. Scotusblog and its wiki provide some statistics, but their numbers don't go back earlier than '04 (when three circuits were overturned at a higher rate than the 9th). Does anyone know where to find more complete numbers?

Information about the cases granted certiorari for the upcoming term of the US Supreme Court?

anotherpanacea — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 08:33:48 -0800

Where can I find information about the cases granted certiorari for the upcoming term of the US Supreme Court? Preferably, I'd like access to both short, layman-accessible summaries and merit briefs for all cases for the October '07 term. I've seen partial summaries on SCOTUSblog, and the Supreme Court's website has this page, which provides lawyer-accessible summaries. I need the information for undergraduates.

1. I could swear I've seen some listing of upcoming cases with the issues presented so as to be accessible to the public. Is it too soon for this more journalistic coverage?

2. There's got to be a way to find the briefs for the cases from their prior hearings, probably involving Lexis-Nexis, which I have access to. But how?

Justice wardrobe vocab test.

spiderwire — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 21:57:11 -0800

what's the name of the little bib-like thing that the women on the U.S. Supreme Court wear?

John Roberts' résumé??

raf — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:10:48 -0800

My googlefu is failing me. During the debate over the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court, I saw somewhere a pdf copy of his résumé from when he was fairly young — just out of his clerkships and applying, probably, to some government job. It was typed on a typewriter and was multiple pages long, in a style and format that would be quite abnormal today. Now I can't find it. Can you?

US Supreme Court histories?

OmieWise — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 09:05:30 -0800

Good U. S. Supreme Court histories? I really like the Supreme Court. I like to hear about it and read about it. I love the place it occupies in our national politics, the deliberative position it holds. I'm interested in reading books of history about it, how it has evolved, major trends, what it used to be like. Any suggestions? For instance, I really liked the history of the court in Rehnquist's Grand Inquests even though I disagreed with many of his conclusions. Is his history of the court good?

(A related question: is there any relationship between a real interest in this kind of stuff and a career as a lawyer?)

Installing Alito to the Supreme Court

whoda — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 09:45:04 -0800

With the Dem's threatening to fillibuster Bush's new nomination for the Supreme Court, can Bush just wait until Christmas time when Congress takes a recess and install Alito with no confirmation vote? I have heard of similar things as an option in past political situations, and I'm assuming that somewhere in our 200+ year history something like this has been done. Unfortunately, I never really paid attention to the actual workings of the whole thing. What are the actual rules/laws as to what the President can do when Congress isn't in session. Specifically for the things Congress would 'normally' vote on or approve had they been in session.

What does it mean to overturn a Supreme Court decision?

MrMoonPie — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 09:52:24 -0800

What does it really mean to "overturn" a Supreme Court decision? I'm specifically asking about Roe v. Wade, but that's not important. What I want to know is if there's some sort of formal "overturning process" by which the Court renounces or repeals in some way an earlier decision. Or is it more a matter of, to use this case as an example, new legislation being passed outlawing abortion, and the Court deciding not to intervene?

Where can I get Supreme Court records?

Embryo — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 00:06:38 -0800

Where can I find the text of briefings filed with the Supreme Court? Also, where can I find a list of cases a lawyer has participated in? I'm working on an entry for knowmore.org regarding John Roberts, and we're trying to find out a little more information regarding the points of view he has advocated specifically concering issues of importance. There are a lot of articles that cite this information, so we know there must be some way to find these documents.

Compliance Incentives

kafziel — Tue, 17 May 2005 12:10:09 -0800

Anyone happen to remember which Supreme Court case dealt with federal funding going to states that complied with guidelines, and specified that the funding incentives had to be related to the guideline (ie, money for highways if you instituted a speed limit is OK, but money for highways if your public school test scores were past a minimum is not OK)?

Supreme Court Reversals

alphanerd — Wed, 28 Jul 2004 09:46:46 -0800

Has the Supreme Court ever reversed a unanimous Supreme Court ruling? How frequently are 8-1 rulings overturned? I'm writing a paper on Brown v. Board of Education and was wondering whether it was worth it for Warren to press for unanimity given that the "all deliberate speed" clause was added to achieve this, and severely diluted the ruling. Uhm... Is this thing on?

US Supreme Court

John Kenneth Fisher — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 22:01:13 -0800

Feeling strongly on the issue, I'm planning on heading into Washington, DC in hopes of being in the courtroom when the Supreme Court hears Hamdi v. Rumsfeld and Padilla v. Rumsfeld.

Keeping in mind the likely popularity of these cases, when should I show up and be on line? If I make it in to hear argument on the first case, will I need to try to throw someone some cash for their ticket to the second? What might be helpful to know that I won't find on the official info sheet? [last three links PDF] (Also, do I have to show up EXTRA early now that I've mentioned this on MeFi?)