Category: Homepage post

In Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., 586 U. S. ____ (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a commercial sale to a third party who is required to keep the invention confidential may place the invention “on sale�...

In Murdock v Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (1943), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a municipal ordinance that taxed the door-to-door sale of religious merchandise. According to the divided Court, such a tax violated the First Amendment’s Free Exer...

In Blockburger v United States, 284 U.S. 299 (1932), the U.S. Supreme Court clarified when two offenses are the same for purposes of Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause. Under the “same elements” test, a defendant may be convicted of two ...

In Stokeling v United States, 586 U.S. ____ (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court held by a vote of 5-4 that the Armed Career Criminal Act’s (ACCA) elements clause encompasses a robbery offense that, like Florida’s law, requires the criminal to overcom...

In Cohen v California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibits states from criminalizing the public display of a single four-letter expletive, without a more specific and compelling reason th...

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed oral arguments this week as she recovers from surgery to remove cancerous growths from her lungs. She will, however, still participate in the cases by reading the briefs and transcripts of oral arguments. The re...

The U.S. Supreme Court had a busy first week of the year as the justices returned to the bench to kick off 2019. The week’s oral arguments included two high-profile copyright cases. Below is a brief summary of issues before the Court last week:...

In United States v Stitt, decided on December 10, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the term “burglary,” as used in the federal Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), includes the burglary of any “structure or vehicle that has been adapted or ...

When they return to the bench in January, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will consider their first case involving the 21st Amendment in more than a decade. Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Clayton Byrd involves the co...