Category: Current

In Weaver v Massachusetts, 582 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that “structural error” requires a showing of prejudice when raised via an ineffective assistance claim. The decision provides clarity regarding the intersection of the...

In Jae Lee v United States, 582 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Korean immigrant received ineffective assistance of counsel when his attorney erroneously advised him that pleading guilty to a drug charge would not result in dep...

In Maslenjak v United States, 582 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that trivial misstatements made during naturalization proceedings can’t serve as grounds for revoking citizenship. Rather, the illegal act must have playe...

The U.S. Supreme Court again delved into the controversy surrounding the Trump Administration’s travel ban. The Court denied the Government’s motion seeking clarification of its June 26, 2017 order. However, it stayed the district court’s order...

In McWilliams v Dunn, 582 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a death penalty sentence imposed more than 30 years ago. By a vote of 5-4, the majority held that Alabama failed to provide access to the kind of expert assistance from a ...

In a per curium opinion in Hernandez v Mesa, 582 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and remanded the case for further proceedings. The closely-watched case involves the fatal s...

In Pavan v Smith, 582 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court reversed an Arkansas State Supreme Court decision that prevented same-sex married couples from having both spouses’ names listed on their children’s birth certificates. The Court’s...

The U.S. Supreme Court will allow part of President Donald Trump’s travel ban to proceed. In Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project, 582 U. S. ____ (2017), the Court held that individuals from affected countries who have “a credible c...

Now that it’s back at full strength, the Supreme Court is no longer shying away from the blockbusters. The justices recently agreed to consider Gill v. Whitford, which involves partisan gerrymandering.   The term “gerrymander” dates ...

In Packingham v. North Carolina, 582 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a North Carolina law prohibiting registered sex offenders from accessing social media runs afoul of the First Amendment. The Court’s decision, which hig...