Category: Supreme Court Decisions

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a Georgia death row inmate should be able to continue his effort to reopen his case. In its per curium opinion in Tharpe v Sellers, 583 U. S. ____ (2018), the Court noted that the defendant faced long odds i...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted the federal government’s request to fully implement President Donald Trump’s September 24 proclamation while the federal appeals courts continue to consider legal challenges. More commonly referred to as th...

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its first full opinion of the October 2017 term in Hamer v Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, 583 U.S. ____ (2017). While the decision is not a blockbuster, it addresses a key jurisdictional issue in the federal c...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided Kernan v Cuero, 583 U.S. ____ (2017). In its per curium opinion, the Court held that the defendant was not entitled to specific performance of a plea agreement later withdrawn by prosecutors. Facts of Kernan v ...

In BNSF Railway v Tyrrell, the Court addressed when courts have jurisdiction over corporate defendants. It held that “the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause does not permit a state to have an out-of-state corporation before its courts wh...

In Advocate Health Care Network v Stapleton, 581 U. S. ____ (2017), the Supreme Court held that church-affiliated hospitals qualify as a “church plan” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The Court’s decision, whi...

In Bristol-Myers Squibb Co v Superior Court of California, San Francisco County, 582 U.S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court tightened the requirements for exercising personal jurisdiction. It held that California courts lacked specific jurisdictio...

In Turner v United States, 582 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant new trials to several defendants convicted of the brutal 1984 murder of Catherine Fuller in Washington, D.C. The defendants had argued that prosecutors withhel...

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...