Questions tagged [us-supreme-court]
For questions related to the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
173
questions
-1
votes
1
answer
45
views
Which part of the Constitution was cited in Jacobson v. Williams?
Which part of the Constitution did the SCOTUS majority opinion in Jacobson v. Williams cite?
1
vote
1
answer
102
views
Smallest claim settled by SCOTUS, inflation adjusted?
This is similar to this question, but for the US Supreme Court. What is the smallest claim, adjusted for inflation, settled by the SCOTUS?
- 8,791
1
vote
1
answer
96
views
Can you force the Supreme Court to hear a lawsuit by including all other judges as defendants?
If all judges with jurisdiction over a case have a conflict of interest, they do not have to recuse themselves. If a lawsuit is filed against several people, it can be dismissed partially, with only ...
- 8,791
0
votes
0
answers
22
views
Student Loan Cancellation re: WV vs EPA
The recent WV vs. EPA ruling limits federal agencies ability to exceed the power specifically granted to them in cases where it could be considered an “extraordinary case” of “political and economic ...
- 193
1
vote
2
answers
136
views
Could the Supreme Court overturn a constitutional amendment?
The Constitution cannot be amended to change the equal representation of states in the Senate. What would happen if an amendment was passed and ratified that did this? Could the Supreme Court rule ...
- 8,791
-3
votes
1
answer
100
views
Insane Shonda Rhimes coincidence: The last name of the lead actors of HTGAWM and Scandal match the last names in Washington v Davis [closed]
There's a cited court case in How To Get Away With Murder season 4, episode 13, called Washington v Davis. See here about the incorrect citation:
In Washington v. Davis, your predecessors decided ...
- 887
1
vote
3
answers
115
views
How is 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis *any* different than Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission?
I cannot see a single substantive difference between the two cases.
Why did this even need to come to the Supreme Court again?
3
votes
2
answers
728
views
What was the 1879 law that Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) overturned?
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) overturned an 1879 Connecticut law that forbade married couples from using contraceptives. What was that law, exactly?
- 806
16
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Can a U.S. state bring action before the Supreme Court against another state for equal rights of its own citizens when they visit the other state?
Let’s make this hypothetical. Two U.S. states, East Lumbago and West Lumbago, which share a common border. It’s a First Amendment issue, specifically: “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging . . . ...
- 612
15
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Could the right to "life" in the constitution be used by the supreme court to reject a federal law forbidding abortion bans?
I saw a question on here asking about how hard it would be to pass a Federal law that prevents states from banning abortion, and the discussion was mostly about whether the federal government had the ...
- 258
3
votes
1
answer
143
views
Is it illegal for Congress to pass an unconstitutional law?
If Congress passes a law and SCOTUS strikes it down, are there any consequences for Congress other than the law not being enforceable?
- 8,791
26
votes
6
answers
6k
views
What happens when the opinion of the Court misrepresents the facts of the case?
In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022), the Court ruled 6–3 in favor of a high school football coach who had been leading players in prayer and was instructed by the school district to stop. [...
- 393
0
votes
1
answer
80
views
Before a Supreme Court opinion is released, how many rounds of rebuttals are allowed?
When a majority opinion has been written, it is shared with the dissenting justices, who then write the dissenting opinion (basically a rebuttal to the majority opinion).
According to an article about ...
- 609
9
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Durability of Federal legislation protecting abortion rights in US
Recently the Supreme Court of the United States, through Dobbs, has restored the right of States to prohibit abortion. Supporters of reproductive freedoms have since renewed calls upon Congress to ...
- 209
5
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Could Congress create a court higher than the Supreme Court?
Could Congress create a court that could overrule SCOTUS decisions?
- 8,791
2
votes
1
answer
102
views
Did overturning Roe cause all pre-Roe abortion laws that were never repealed to go back into effect?
When Dobbs overruled Roe, did laws that were struck down under Roe go back into force if they were never repealed by the legislature that enacted them?
- 8,791
0
votes
1
answer
124
views
Is "packing the court" legal?
Why is the idea of "packing the court" so controversial? Wasn't the Constitution specifically designed to allow Congress and the President to "pack the court"?
- 8,791
0
votes
2
answers
38
views
What is the best way to write a court case name?
I can think of four ways to write the name of a court case (using Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization as an example):
Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's ...
- 8,791
5
votes
1
answer
136
views
Why would medical opinions be relevant in a court case regarding Roe v. Wade?
Both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists submitted amicus briefs in the Dobbs case that resulted in the ...
- 997
7
votes
1
answer
520
views
Can abortion laws which were made legal to prosecute be applied ex post facto?
Normally, a person cannot be charged with a crime if the statute outlawing their behavior was passed after they committed it, states and Congress are barred by the US Constitution from enforcing such ...
- 4,374
4
votes
2
answers
224
views
SCOTUS opinion with multiple authors
In most cases, a supreme court opinion has one justice listed author, though one or more other justices may join. However, in the recent case Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, the single ...
- 153
-2
votes
1
answer
144
views
Could a President choose to give an existing SCOTUS Justice two votes when he would ordinarily appoint another justice?
Could a President actually give a current Supreme Court Justice two votes when another justice died or resigned, as described in this Babylon Bee article, except with the consent of the Senate (that ...
- 8,791
5
votes
1
answer
338
views
Where would one find the briefing schedule/deadlines for amicus curiae for a SCOTUS case?
Say I wanted to file an amicus curiae for an upcoming SCOTUS case; where would I go to find the deadline to file? I've looked on places like SCOTUS blog, Ballotpedia, Oyez, Wikipedia, and found ...
- 319
0
votes
3
answers
519
views
What happens if a Supreme Court decision is obviously wrong?
Edited to add this summary: What happens if the Supreme Court issues a ruling that is obviously unconstitutional, such as interpreting a clause to mean something no reasonable person would believe it ...
- 8,791
2
votes
2
answers
118
views
Are there examples of State Supreme Courts refusing to follow a change in US Supreme Court jurisprudence?
For example, say the Supreme Court moves to a new standard, are there examples where state courts decide not to follow along!?
Ultimately, I would love to have a large list of examples—but even just ...
- 319
11
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What happens if a Supreme Court member dies before a decision is announced?
Suppose that the Supreme Court has finished hearing oral arguments to a case, the Justices are in the process of writing up their opinions, and one of them suddenly dies (or resigns, or becomes ...
- 316
4
votes
1
answer
170
views
What would happen if a case before the Supreme Court court involved a conflict of interest for all justices?
I realize this might be a silly scenario, but suppose that nine of the storage units in the Wooden v. United States case had been rented by Supreme Court justices. Then all of the justices might have ...
- 949
22
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Have draft SCOTUS opinions been leaked before?
A draft opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson has been leaked. Cathi Herrod of the Center for Arizona Policy has claimed:
It is totally unprecedented for a draft opinion to be leaked.
Is it unprecedented, or ...
- 806
0
votes
0
answers
39
views
How likely would H.R.6930 - Asset Seizure for Ukraine Reconstruction Act be to hold up in SCOTUS?
The bill in question creates an extrajudicial mechanism for asset seizure which seems to directly violate the 8th amendment and extremely similar to the situation deemed unconstitutional in Austin v. ...
2
votes
3
answers
146
views
What is the justification for supreme courts being able to overrule/overturn their own past decisions?
It can’t overturn the constitution in most countries for example which gives the past apparent supremacy over the present. But between different eras of Supreme courts I guess the present takes ...
- 5,071
2
votes
1
answer
82
views
What is the SCOTUS's standard of *dangerousness* in decisions of involuntary psychiatric commitment?
It seems that the standard of immediacy/imminence of the dangerousness was not ever that well defined by the SCOTUS.
This is the best, most comprehensive reference on the matter that I've been able to ...
- 55
2
votes
2
answers
158
views
What is the name of a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that government cannot conspire with private companies to censor protected speech?
There was a supreme court decision that said that the government can't conspire with private companies to censor. Can anyone tell me the name of the case?
- 43
13
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Does the Supreme Court simply rubberstamp the prevailing social consensus?
In Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857) the US Supreme Court ruled that slavery was legal.
In Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation was ...
- 1
6
votes
1
answer
653
views
How do states sue each other?
As I understand it one of Scotus jobs is to mediate inter-state litigation. Did this happen with equal regularity over the years or was this something that happened mainly when the union was new?
Is ...
- 2,958
1
vote
1
answer
82
views
Projectors, White Boards & Electronic devices in judicial courts
Are Projectors, White boards and other electronic devices viz Monitor screens, Laptops,Scanners, Recording & Playback devices etc available or allowed in courts?
As a example, the lawyer of either ...
- 115
0
votes
2
answers
126
views
Why can't we go back to the required supermajority for things in the Senate if they abolished it once in the past?
I read in the news that the Senate had abolished the required supermajority to confirm Supreme Court justices.
Why can't the Senate vote to re-instate the required supermajority? I understand it is ...
- 164
1
vote
1
answer
39
views
How to cite a supreme court opinion in author-year format
I'm citing the U.S. Supreme Court opinion Brown v Board of Education 347 U.S. 483 in an academic article that uses author-year in text citations. Hence I must deviate from the Bluebook style and ...
- 113
1
vote
1
answer
114
views
How can a court in the U.S. overcome eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, LLC and order mandatory injunction?
Law*
In Ebay Inc. v. Mercexchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388, 126 S. Ct. 1837 (2006) (“EBay”), the Court restated that:
“The traditional four-factor test applied by courts of equity when considering ...
- 3,303
-4
votes
1
answer
95
views
Where is the audio record of the Gorsuch remarks on flu deaths in Biden v. Missouri before the Supreme Court?
As news broke, an initial transcript of the hearing included the alleged statement of Justice Gorsuch stating “he believes the flu kills “hundreds of thousands of people every year”.
This transcript ...
- 3,303
1
vote
2
answers
203
views
Panel of Judges in Supreme Court - Odd number?
In Supreme Court, the panel of judges will always be a odd number? 3,5,7,9 so the decision in terms of votes count verdict will always outcome a result and not a tie?
- 115
1
vote
0
answers
109
views
In Roe v Wade, why was it ruled that the US government has an interest in protecting prenatal life?
I'm reading the Wikipedia article on Roe v Wade. It says that:
Texas's lawyers had argued that total bans on abortion were
justifiable because "life" began at the moment of conception, and
...
- 589
1
vote
2
answers
154
views
Are US appeals court decisions binding on nonparties to a case?
To what extent do the decisions of appellate courts in the US (both Federal and State), and particularly decisions of the US Supreme Court, bind those who were not parties to the case? And to what ...
- 102k
1
vote
3
answers
126
views
Can constitution amendment interpretation be negated by the Supreme Court in the US by citing unconstitutional during judicial review?
I am curious that, when the constitution is amended, can the Supreme Court reject the amendment via the judicial review process by citing the amendment is unconstitutional and says the negation (by ...
0
votes
2
answers
92
views
How does Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health compare to previous decisions which reaffirmed Roe v. Wade? [closed]
How does Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health compare to previous cases which reaffirmed Roe v. Wade—e.g., Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989), Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)?
- 806
1
vote
1
answer
145
views
What 2012-2015 SCOTUS decisions make "letter[s] from the grave" inadmissible into evidence?
I've read this interesting bit:
In a 2008 trial where a man was accused of poisoning his wife with antifreeze, Schroeder allowed into evidence a letter the wife wrote a neighbor accusing the husband ...
- 2,828
19
votes
4
answers
5k
views
How willing is the US Supreme Court to declare itself wrong?
In comments on this answer User Suprcat wrote (in part)
I think a big problem is that Marbury v. Madison has been applied in a way that ignores a major caveat: a court's job is to say what the law is,...
- 102k
3
votes
4
answers
312
views
Why is the US Constitution so open to interpretation compared to constitutions of European countries?
Why is the US Constitution so open to interpretation compared to constitutions of European countries? Supreme Court justices are de-facto unelected policymakers in the US, whereas in western European ...
- 1,122
-10
votes
3
answers
277
views
Why has there not been a SCOTUS interpretation of this?
While reading the constitution I came across this:
“No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to ...
-1
votes
1
answer
131
views
Why can't the Supreme court overturn Texas abortion law if abortion during the first semester is a constitutional right?
Texas designed its law in a unique way to allow abortions to be banned
without a court intervening, by authorizing any private citizen to sue
doctors and clinics who perform abortions on women more ...
- 4,966
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Are children allowed to pray at goverment schools?
I was once told on the internet that there is no actual ban on religion at government schools in the US. The issue is actually that public school teachers are considered agents of the state and are ...
- 2,958