Tag Archives: SCOTUS

Textualism is not Strict Constructionism is not Originalism
As President Donald Trump prepares to appoint a second Supreme Court justice, the national dialogue has been saturated with gossip over what judicial philosophy the next nominee might bring to the bench. For legal nerds, SCOTUS nominations are what the World Cup is to soccer fans: the one time everyone else cares about your passion. […]

“[T]he Worst Kind of Justice” – Justice Gorsuch, Slatesplained
Yesterday marked the end of the Court’s October Term 2016, meaning the last few cases yet to be decided were announced and various pending matters were otherwise disposed of (deets on that can be found here and other forthcoming summaries). It was a pretty typical end-of-term day, what with big cases granted cert for argument next term, an interesting constitutional decision announced, and the commentariat atwitter just trying to keep up.

Chief Justice Roberts and Original Spelling(e)
Patent exhaustion reached the SCOTUS docket last year, in the form of Impression Products v. Lexmark International. Handing down its 8-0 opinion this Tuesday (7-1 when counting RBG’s partial dissent from the resolution of the cross-border question) the Court delivered—in Ronald Mann’s words—a judgment “full of quotable maxims certain to populate the U.S. Reports for […]

Justice Gorsuch’s Greatest Hits – Circuit Edition
Justice Gorsuch is just about to start his tenure on the highest court in the land, but he’s already got quite a few great quotes among his many opinions during his time on the Tenth Circuit. Here, in no particular order, is a sneak preview of things to come. *********************************** “In enlightenment theory and hard won […]

“Acutely Aware of My Own Imperfections” – A Modest Skeptic for the Supreme Court
Senate Judiciary Committee hearings regarding the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States begin Monday. Like most hearings of this nature, these will undoubtedly prove to be some mix of pomp and circumstance, political theatrics, and run-of-the-mine congressional inquiry. It has become increasingly apparent that the left side of […]