Category: Current

In Thompson v. Clark, 596 U.S. ____ (2022), the U.S. Supreme Court held that to demonstrate a favorable termination of a criminal prosecution for purposes of the Fourth Amendment claim under 42 U.S.C. §1983 for malicious prosecution, a plaintiff ne...

In Houston Community College System v. Wilson, 595 U.S. ____ (2022), the U.S. Supreme Court held that an elected trustee did not have an actionable First Amendment claim arising from his Board’s purely verbal censure. The Court’s decision was un...

The recent disclosure of Justice Samuel Alito’s decision purporting to overturn Roe v. Wade is arguably the most significant breach in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. However,  it is not the first time that a landmark abortion decision was...

In Ramirez v. Collier, 595 U. S. ____ (2022), the U.S. Supreme Court held that Texas can’t execute a man death row unless it allows his pastor to pray and lay hands on him while he is executed. The Court specifically held that Ramirez is likely to...

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in four cases last week, with Justice Clarence Thomas participating remotely after being discharged from the hospital. The Federal Arbitration Act took center stage in two of the four cases. Other issues b...

When U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in four cases last week, it was missing hospitalized Justice Clarence Thomas.  The issues before the Court included challenges to North Carolina’s voter ID law, the waiver of arbitration agreements...

In Federal Bureau of Investigation v. Fazaga, 595 U.S. ____ (2022), the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the relationship between the “state secrets” privilege and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). The court unanimously ...

In Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P., 595 U. S. ____ (2022), the U.S. Supreme Court held that, under the safe harbor provision of 17 U.S.C. 411(b)(1)(A), a copyright registration is valid even though it contains a mistake of law ...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently returned to the bench for its February sitting. The justices heard oral arguments in three cases. The issues before the Court involved Native American law and immigration. Below is a brief summary of the cases befo...

In Merrill v. Milligan, 595 U. S. ____ (2022), a divided U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to implement a congressional redistricting map that includes only one district with a majority of Black voters. While a lower court agreed with challengers t...