Today the Supreme Court indeed granted certiorari in a case arising from some of the massive immigration raids the government has conducted recently. The case, Flores-Figueroa v. United States, will determine the burden of proof the government must show in prosecuting alleged illegal immigration under criminal identity theft laws. SCOTUSBlog has the deets and the filings on the case.

That was the only certiorari grant the Court issued today, but some of the other justices had more to say on some other matters. And they said it in statements.

Justice John Paul Stevens issued a statement regarding the Court’s denial of certiorari in Walker v. Georgia, a case in which a death row inmate challenged the constitutionality of the state’s administration of the death penalty.

While Stevens joined with the other justices in unanimously denying cert because the inmate had not first sought redress from state courts, Stevens still took the opportunity to say more. And procedural defect aside, in Stevens’ opinion, the petitioner – who asserts that the state has failed to adhere to self-reporting and other requirements to ensure that the death penalty is not arbitrarily administered – has a point.

“Justice [Potter] Stewart was the principal architect of our death penalty jurisprudence during his tenure on the Court,” Stevens wrote. “In his separate opinion in Furman v. Georgia, he observed that death sentences imposed pursuant to Georgia’s capital sentencing scheme were ‘cruel and unusual in the same way that being struck by lightning is cruel and unusual.’”

Although the Georgia statute was amended since the Furman decision, Stevens said the Court’s acceptance of the new law’s constitutionality was based on its administration in a way that “would protect against the imposition of death sentences influenced by impermissible factors such as race.” If that is not happening, Stevens reasoned, then it could run afoul of the Eighth Amendment and the state’s highest court should have looked in to that issue.

“The Georgia Supreme Court owes its capital litigants the same duty of care and must take seriously its obligation to safeguard against the imposition of death sentences that are arbitrary or infected by impermissible considerations such as race,” Stevens wrote.

Stevens also noted that the denial of cert does not prevent the petitioner from trying again – something that may likely happen since he knows he has at least one vote in favor of granting cert.

Walker will not get the vote of Justice Clarence Thomas, who also wrote a statement regarding the case. “Petitioner brutally murdered Lynwood Ray Gresham, and was sentenced to death for his crime,” Thomas wrote. “Justice Stevens objects to the proportionality review undertaken by the Georgia Supreme Court on direct review of petitioner’s capital sentence. The Georgia Supreme Court, however, afforded petitioner’s sentence precisely the same proportionality review endorsed by this Court.”

The statements come after other justices last week made their thoughts known about cert denials through statements. Most noted was a statement by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. who fancied himself a crime writer of sorts and talked about the tough-as-cheap-steak nature of a Philly cop’s life.

This morning the U.S. Supreme Court denied the certiorari petition of Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis. Davis had sought an appeal before the high court to determine whether a death row inmate who asserts a strong claim of innocence can be executed.

Since Davis’ conviction for the 1989 slaying of a Savannah police officer, seven of the nine witnesses who testified against him have recanted their stories. Those repudiations, coupled with the lack of DNA evidence implicating Davis to the killing has caused a number of high-profile figures to advocate on Davis behalf, including Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and singing group the Indigo Girls.

The Court had stayed the execution of Davis pending a ruling on his petition. Today’s order allows Georgia officials to set a new execution date.

Virginia Sloan, President of the Constitution Project, expressed disappointment that the Court allowed the verdict to stand as a matter of procedure. “The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to refuse to hear Troy Davis’ appeal constitutes the mere appearance of justice,” Sloan said in a statement. “Mr. Davis deserves to have his claims of innocence fully evaluated. Instead, the courts have followed their procedures to this ultimate – and untimely – end. Justice should be more than a formality, and the Supreme Court should be more than a rubber stamp.”

This morning the U.S. Supreme Court denied the certiorari petition of Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis. Davis had sought an appeal before the high court to determine whether a death row inmate who asserts a strong claim of innocence can be executed.

Since Davis’ conviction for the 1989 slaying of a Savannah police officer, seven of the nine witnesses who testified against him have recanted their stories. Those repudiations, coupled with the lack of DNA evidence implicating Davis to the killing has caused a number of high-profile figures to advocate on Davis behalf, including Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and singing group the Indigo Girls.

The Court had stayed the execution of Davis pending a ruling on his petition. Today’s order allows Georgia officials to set a new execution date.

Virginia Sloan, President of the Constitution Project, expressed disappointment that the Court allowed the verdict to stand as a matter of procedure. “The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to refuse to hear Troy Davis’ appeal constitutes the mere appearance of justice,” Sloan said in a statement. “Mr. Davis deserves to have his claims of innocence fully evaluated. Instead, the courts have followed their procedures to this ultimate – and untimely – end. Justice should be more than a formality, and the Supreme Court should be more than a rubber stamp.”

Today the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rehear the case in which the Court struck down the Louisiana statute that made child rape an offense punishable by death. But even in agreeing not to rehear the matter, Justice Antonin Scalia issued a statement blasting members of the Court’s majority in the case.

The case, Kennedy v. Louisiana, drew attention after the discovery of a little-known 2006 military law that made child rape a capital offense. Neither party in the case realized the law existed when the argued before the Court, and Court based its decision striking down the law in part on the absence of tradition of making child rape a capital offense.

Last month the Court asked parties in the case to file supplemental briefs “addressing not only whether rehearing should be granted but also the merits of the issue raised in the petition for rehearing.”

The court did issue a modified opinion in the case, which can be found here.

In a statement regarding the modification and the denial of rehearing, the Court indicated that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, Jr. voted in favor or reviewing the case.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, author of the opinion, noted in today’s statement that although military rules allowing the death penalty for rape have been in place for more than a century, “[t]he death penalty, however, has not been carried out against a military offender for almost 50 years.” Kennedy added that the 2006 law’s “authorization of the death penalty in the military sphere [for child rape] does not indicate that the penalty is constitutional in the civilian context.” Kennedy’s statement was joined by the other four justices who made up the 5-4 majority in the case last term.

In a separate statement, Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., noted that he voted against rehearing the case “because the views of the American people on the death penalty for child rape were, to tell the truth, irrelevant to the majority’s decision in this case.”

But Scalia derided the majority’s “lack of consensus” rationale as merely a way to “giv[e] effect to the majority’s own preference.”

As for Kennedy’s distinction between military law and civilian law, Scalia wrote: “It is difficult to imagine . . . how rape of a child could sometimes be deserving of death for a soldier but never for a civilian.”

The court also granted certiorari in 10 cases, ranging from Fifth Amendment rights of indigent defendants to liability under CERCLA for environmental cleanup costs. The order list can be found here. More coverage of those grants will be coming up later on this blog and on the Lawyers USA website.

Less than two hours before Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis was to be put to death last night, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the execution until the justices can consider Davis’ petition on Monday.

Davis, who was convicted of killing a police officer in 1989, has asked the court to review his case, saying that the majority of witnesses who testified against him have since recanted their stories, and citing the absence of physical evidence in his conviction. Davis maintains his innocence. Among the people who have urged clemency for Davis are former President Jimmy Carter and Pope Benedict XVI.

The stay will remain in effect if the Court agrees to consider his case. If his petition is dismissed, the stay will be lifted.

The issue of whether the death penalty should be allowed in cases of child rape could be reheard by the Supreme Court this term.

Yesterday the Court ordered that parties in the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana file supplemental briefs “addressing not only whether rehearing should be granted but also the merits of the issue raised in the petition for rehearing.”

The rehearing was requested by Kennedy and Solicitor General Gregory Garre after the discovery of a little-known 2006 military law that made child rape a capital offense. The law was approved by Congress and adopted into Manual for Courts-Martial by executive order of President George W. Bush.

When the Court struck down the Louisiana law making child rape punishable by death, it based the decision in part of the absence of other laws punishing child rape by death.

The Court gave Kennedy and the Justice Department only 11 days in which to file their briefs. The State of Louisiana has until one week later to file its response. A decision of whether the Court will take up the case could come as soon as its first official conference of the term, scheduled for Sept. 29.

A battle over a death row inmate that pitted the United States against Mexico, and the President against his home state of Texas, ended last night when a Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for Jose Ernesto Medellin to be put to death.

The Court, divided along ideological lines, rejected the late appeal by Medellin yesterday. Medellin was pronounced dead last night at 9:57 p.m.

In March, the Court ruled in Medellin v. Texas that President George W. Bush did not have to power to unilaterally order a Texas court to comply with the Protocol of the Vienna Convention, which would have gen Medellin a new hearing because he was denied the right to seek help from the Mexican consulate. But Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., said that the Executive Branch is not vested with the power to do so. Only Congress can enforce the rule by enacting it into law.

Medellin had asked the Court to delay his execution to give Congress time to act. In the 5-4 vote yesterday, the dissenting Justices – Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter, and Stephan Breyer – said they would have asked the Bush administration for input before making a final decision.

After most lawmakers on Capitol Hill recessed and headed to their home districts for the August break on Friday, House Republicans protested the lack of action on the energy bill by staging a “Phantom Session” after the House officially adjourned. Sometimes yelling their frustrations (because microphones were turned off), they occupied the House chamber for nearly five hours. There were no cameras rolling, but the WaPo’s Capitol Briefing has a recap.

Did you miss all the shenanigans Friday? Well you are in luck: about 30 GOP lawmakers vowed to return this morning to continue the recess protest. They say this could go on all week. (Politico)

Meanwhile:

Blogging for the SEC: Corporations may now sometimes fulfill their federal public disclosure requirements under by posting information on their websites and blogs instead of thirdparty-issued news releases, according to new guidance issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (ABA Journal)

High court shout out: Justice Anthony Kennedy supports his former law clerk, embattled 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski. (National Law Journal)

: A Mexican convicted of murder in Texas has appealed to the US Supreme Court to stay his execution set for Tuesday so lawmakers can enforce an International Court of Justice order to halt his and other Mexicans’ executions. (AFP)

Tougher sentences sought too: A senior federal appeals court judge is citing the case of a D.C. man awaiting sentencing on a drug charge in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit whether judges should give defendants tougher sentences based on conduct that jurors rejected as a basis for conviction. (Washington Times)

Bad economy = more legal malpractice claims: The declining economy is threatening the bottom line of law firms, but it is also creating an increased liability risk for attorneys. Over the last 25 years, each dip in the economy has produced a notable increase in legal malpractice claims. (Lawyers USA)

UPDATE 2: After Georgia’s high court and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected last minute appeals, Lynd was executed. He was pronounced dead at 7:51 p.m. Tuesday at the Diagnostic and Classification prison in Jackson, Ga.

UPDATE: Mississippi inmate Earl Wesley Berry’s execution had been set for May 21, meaning that Georgie could now become the first state to carry out the death penalty since Baze v. Rees if the execution of William Earl Lynd goes forward at 7 p.m. today as planned. More from the AP.

The first executions since last fall – when the U.S. Supreme Court halted lethal injections which considering their constitutionality – could take place today and tomorrow.

Today Mississippi death row inmate Earl Wesley Berry could face his death sentence for his kidnapping and murder conviction. Tomorrow Georgia could execute its first prisoner – Earl Lynd, who was convicted of murder – since the Supreme Court’s de facto moratorium on executions pending the decision in Baze v. Rees. Last month the Court ruled that the three-drug lethal injection combination used in Kentucky and most other states did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

Last-minute appeals are underway in both cases, and pro- and anti-death penalty protesters are set to hold demonstrations in both states.

Executions may resume in a host of states after the U.S. Supreme Court denied the appeals of death row inmates from Mississippi, Alabama and Texas today – a move that came days after the Court’s fractured decision in Baze v. Rees that the method of lethal injection used in Kentucky (as well as in the other states) does not violate the constitution.

The appeal denials leave inmates Thomas Arthur of Alabama, Earl Wesley Berry of Mississippi and Carlton Turner of Texas facing possible imminent execution. Capital sentences are free to resume in other states as well, but most do not have immediate executions scheduled.