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DOMA could be in peril

Justices suggest federal law
treads on states’ authority

The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court seemed poised on Wednesday to strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act as an unconstitutional intrusion on the authority of states to regulate marriage.

Top Story

Justices rule in closely-watched
class action case

A consumer class action should not have been certified because the plaintiffs’ expert testimony failed to establish that the case was susceptible to awarding damages on a class-wide basis, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4.

Other stories

Gov’t can be sued for sexual assault by prison guards

Justices tackle California gay marriage case

Use of drug-sniffing dog constituted ‘search’

Court asks what it means to ‘agree’ to classwide arbitration

Court to decide if tax penalty applies to underpayment

High court to consider affirmative action case

Read more Lawyers USA coverage

DC Dicta

Grants of Certiorari

Supreme Court Decisions

35

The number of cases yet to be decided of the 74 cases argued this term, meaning that the justices must issue decisions for nearly half the court’s docket in just over one month’s time.

Click here to read past notable numbers.

“First, expect some adversity to come your way, you are going to get knocked down. It happens to everyone; it certainly happened to me and you could be pretty sure it is going to happen to you.”

-Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. in a commencement address at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, according to the BLT Blog.

Click here to read past quotations.

The Funniest Justice

The Funniest Justice, week 12:
Skimming for laughs

During oral arguments yesterday in U.S. v. Windsor – the challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked the attorney for the law’s defenders whether denying federal marriage recognition to same-sex couples legally married under state law was “diminishing what the state has said is marriage.”

Click here to see previous tallies.

Links

Supreme Court of the United States SCOTUSblog