Mar
8
Most United States Supreme Court Justices Have Lacked Prior Judicial Experience
Posted by: J. Gordon Hylton | March 8, 2012 | 1 Comment
In response to my earlier post about Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court who were also the Court’s senior justice in terms of years of service, Nick Zales posed the question as to whether the late William Rehnquist was the only Chief Justice to have had no prior judicial experience before becoming a [...]
Mar
7
United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Unlikely to Be the Court’s Most Senior Member
Posted by: J. Gordon Hylton | March 7, 2012 | 4 Comments
Wisconsin, like a number of states, designates the senior member of its state supreme court in terms of service as the Chief Justice. The United States Supreme Court, in contrast, uses a system in which the President of the United States chooses a new Chief Justice every time the existing Chief dies or steps down. [...]
Feb
28
The Resurrection of the “Trespass” Element of Fourth Amendment Law
Posted by: David Behm | February 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Recently, in United States v. Jones, the Supreme Court ruled that the attaching of a GPS tracking device to a suspect’s car without his knowledge and monitoring of the vehicle’s movements violated the suspect’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. See generally 132 S.Ct. 945 (2012). In so doing, the Court resurrected an [...]
Feb
26
Judge Sutton’s Hallows Lecture
Posted by: Joseph D. Kearney | February 26, 2012 | 1 Comment
Marquette University Law School is fortunate to welcome this week the Hon. Jeffrey S. Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Judge Sutton will deliver our annual Hallows Lecture on Tuesday, February 28, at 4:30 p.m. in the Appellate Courtroom of Eckstein Hall. His lecture, titled “Barnette, the Roosevelt Appointees, and [...]
Feb
24
The Criminal Jurisdiction of Indian Tribes
Posted by: Scott C. Idleman | February 24, 2012 | 1 Comment
This is the third in a series of posts addressing commonly asked questions regarding American Indians, Indian Tribes, and the law. The first post dealt with casinos, taxation, and hunting and fishing rights, while the second focused on the relationship between the unique legal treatment of Indian tribes or their members and the U.S. Constitution’s [...]
Feb
23
Does the Legislature Lack the Power to Revise the Redistricting Law?
Posted by: Edward A. Fallone | February 23, 2012 | 3 Comments
Republican lawmakers have asserted that they have no power to re-draw the election maps at issue in the ongoing Baldus v. Brennan litigation in federal court, despite a suggestion from the three judge panel hearing the case that the legislature make revisions to the law. The 1954 Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion that these lawmakers cite [...]
Jan
30
Collecting Judges, Past and Present
Posted by: Joseph D. Kearney | January 30, 2012 | 1 Comment
Tom Shriner’s recent remembrance of Judge Dale Ihlenfeldt said to law students and new lawyers that “you can—must—learn the lessons of the law (and life) from everyone, not just your professors, but your colleagues, your adversaries, your clients, and even from judges.” This last (neatly phrased) is the case, in my estimation, both of judges [...]
Jan
30
Cockfighting, Congress, and Interstate Commerce
Posted by: Scott C. Idleman | January 30, 2012 | 1 Comment
Some convicted defendants in South Carolina are crying foul at the application of the federal Animal Welfare Act to criminally punish the promotion of cockfighting. The statute is said to be based in the power of Congress, found in article I, section 8 of the Constitution, to “regulate commerce . . . among the several [...]
Jan
24
The Roots of Progressivism Lie in . . . the Republican Party?
Posted by: Edward A. Fallone | January 24, 2012 | 10 Comments
Tonight, when President Barack Obama delivers his third State of the Union address, he is widely expected to channel the progressive rhetoric of Theodore Roosevelt. It was Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” speech in 1910 (quoted in my previous post here) that called for the federal government to play an active role in regulating the economy. When he speaks [...]
Jan
20
How Should the Supreme Court Handle Warrantless GPS Tracking?
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | January 20, 2012 | 2 Comments
One of the most anticipated decisions of the current U.S. Supreme Court term is United States v. Jones, which was argued last fall (transcript here). The case concerns Fourth Amendment protections from GPS tracking of automobiles. The lower court, the D.C. Circuit, held that the government was prohibited from placing a GPS tracking device on the [...]
Jan
20
Cory Maples May Avoid Procedural Default, But Will Anyone Else Ride His Coattails?
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | January 20, 2012 | 1 Comment
The Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that habeas petitioner Cory Maples may not have to bear the consequences of a truly egregious dereliction of duty by his pro bono lawyers. The lower federal courts had refused to consider Maples’ petition on the merits because he had missed a filing deadline in state court. Normally, criminal [...]
Jan
17
Private Prisons and Accountability
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | January 17, 2012 | 4 Comments
Last week, in Minneci v. Pollard (No. 10-1104), the United States Supreme Court held that employees of privately run federal prisons cannot be sued for money damages for violations of constitutional rights. By coincidence, last week also saw the release of a new report on private prisons by the Sentencing Project. The report raises a multitude [...]
Blog Editors
- Alan Borsuk
- Bruce E. Boyden
- Edward A. Fallone
- Melissa L. Greipp
- Scott C. Idleman
- Lisa Mazzie
- Michael M. O'Hear
- Ryan Scoville
