Category Archives: Supreme Court

“For Justices, Free Speech Often Means ‘Speech I Agree With’”

May 6, 2014, 8:04 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Adam Liptak NYT Sidebar column on new Lee Epstein study (complete with a great graphic): Justice Antonin Scalia is known as a consistent and principled defender of free speech rights. It pained him, he has said, when he… Continue reading

Justice Kagan Raises Prospect of Prayer at Polling Places; Justice Alito Responds

May 5, 2014, 8:01 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Justice Kagan, dissenting in today’s Supreme Court case of Town of Greece v. Galloway, writes: To begin to see what has gone wrong in the Town of Greece, consider several hypothetical scenarios in which sectarian prayer—taken straight from this… Continue reading

“Former Justices Aren’t Above Playing Politics; A call for constitutional change provokes critics.”

May 5, 2014, 7:13 amBush v. Gore reflections, campaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Tony Mauro on the Justice Stevens testimony controversy.

When One Justice Makes a Mistake, It is an Embarrassing Blunder. But When 9 Do, Silence.

May 4, 2014, 5:00 pmSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Bob Barnes of the Washington Post has a nice recap of the partisanship surrounding Justice Scalia’s error in a recent case in which he mischaracterized a precedent (a precedent whose opinion he authored). Justice Stevens made a mistake like this… Continue reading

Justice Ginsburg Comments on Number of Bush v. Gore Dissents

May 2, 2014, 7:50 amBush v. Gore reflections, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

In this must-read Jess Bravin piece, there’s this: The importance of “one dissent instead of four” was driven home by Bush v. Gore, she said, when the court moved quickly in December 2000 to accept, hear and decide… Continue reading

Fisher, Lithwick, Rein, Sherman to Join UCI’s Chacon, Chemerinsky for SCOTUS Term in Review Event: Save the Date

May 2, 2014, 7:45 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

I’m delighted to announce the line up for the 4th annual UCI Law Supreme Court Term in Review event to be held on July 10, 2014 at noon at UCI law (with live webcast). We’ve got an unbelievable lineup of… Continue reading

Must-Read Lyle Dennistion on SCOTUS Justices in the Public Realm

May 1, 2014, 11:58 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Over at SCOTUSBlog. I’ve been working on a longer term empirical project about this. More to come at a later time.

“Federal panel upholds Arizona legislative map”

May 1, 2014, 7:52 amcitizen commissions, redistricting, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Gannett: A divided federal court has upheld the legislative map drawn by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, removing any question about which districts candidates would run in this year. The 2-1 decision by a federal panel came 13 months… Continue reading

“Former Justice Stevens: Campaign cash isn’t speech”

April 30, 2014, 3:28 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

AP reports.

“Is it unethical for Justice Stevens to write and testify about campaign finance restrictions?”

April 30, 2014, 2:53 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Eugene Volokh says no. I’m not sure why Justice Stevens doesn’t simply retire, given that he is not hearing any cases. Then there would be no controversy whatsoever about the propriety of his testimony.

“Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, On The Supreme Court’s Decisions Regarding Campaign Finance, Voting Rights, and Democracy”

April 30, 2014, 12:30 pmcampaign finance, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Read it here. Judiciary Committee hearing coming in June.

Read Senator Udall’s Proposed Amendment on Campaign Finance

April 30, 2014, 8:19 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

You can find it here. I have been quite critical of most attempts to amend the Constitution. But this is the best approach I’ve seen so far.

“Justice Stevens Testifies, But Takes No Questions”

April 30, 2014, 7:55 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Josh Blackman blogs. So disappointing. Justice Stevens puts out a controversial proposed constitutional amendment to change campaign finance law but then won’t stay to defend it.