LOPSIDED AT SCOTUS YESTERDAY | Race Runs Deep in OT16
October 6, 2016
DECIDEDLY LOPSIDED
|That’s how Adam Liptak described yesterday’s arguments at the Supreme Court in the case involving a Texas death row inmate whose sentence may have hinged on expert testimony which said black men are more dangerous than men of other races. Apparently the justices are poised to rule in favor of Duane Buck, with only the extent of their ruling left up for debate. Seven of the eight justices spoke during arguments (take a wild guess who kept mum), and all of them agreed that the expert testimony in Buck’s trial was unacceptable. JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO, one of the court’s most conservative justices said yesterday, “What occurred at the penalty phase of this trial is indefensible.”
THAT'S WHY HER HAIR'S SO BIG - IT'S FULL OF SECRETS
|Yesterday, the justices revisited the issue of insider trading for the first time in twenty years in the case of Salman v. United States. The case raises the question of whether trading activity is considered “insider trading” if the person who initially shared the secret didn’t actually benefit from doing so. However, the justices didn’t appear ready to make any radical changes to insider-trading rules. JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR said to the Justice Department’s lawyer, “I’m not sure that your solution is going to clarify much of this area.” JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER also mentioned, “I’m not worried so much about this case. I am worried about line-drawing.”
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|Addressing yesterday’s case, The Editorial Board for The New York Times argues that “absolving Mr. Salman would set a precedent that would make the fight to stop illegal insider trading even harder.”
RUNS DEEP
|For The National Law Journal, Marcia Coyle reports that the issue of race runs deep on the Supreme Court’s OT16 docket, with justices primed to “grapple with race in criminal justice, electoral maps and lending discrimination.”
FOR THOSE WHO LOVE PROCESS
|In The Washington Post, Elise Viebeck provides everything you need to know about when and how JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND’S nomination “will die — or come back to life — between now and the end of January.”
NEW NORM
|“The Supreme Court’s second day of hearings in its new term moved the Justices directly into some of the most significant controversies they will face in coming months, and it was plain that the outcomes are hardly going to be bold.” Over at Constitution Daily, Lyle Denniston explains how caution is the new norm at SCOTUS.
OTHER NEWS
What is the intent requirement of the Fourth Amendment?
The Washington Post“For a Fourth Amendment ‘search’ to occur, is it only the government’s act that matters, or is there also a purpose requirement for the government’s act?”
Texas judge confronts 'serious deficiencies' in death penalty cases
The Guardian“The state broke its longest streak without an execution. But the highest criminal court has issued multiple late stays — and the legal process may be changing.”