Tag: supreme court decision

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 State Farm Fire & Casualty Co v United States, ex rel. Rigsby, et al., 580 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that failing to satisfy the False Claims Act’s (FCA) seal requirement does not automatically warrant dismissal of the c...

The U.S. Supreme Court handed federal prosecutors another significant win. In Shaw v United States, 580 U. S. ____ (2016), the justices rejected the defendant's arguments that the federal bank fraud statute, which covers schemes to deprive a bank of ...

Puerto Rico is having a bad month, at least as far as the U.S. Supreme Court is concerned. In Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v Franklin California Tax-Free Trust 579 U.S. ___ (2016), the justices struck down a law that would have allowed public utilitie...

The 4-4 Supreme Court Punts in Zubik v Burwell The U.S. Supreme Court declined to address the merits of Zubik v. Burwell, at least for this term. Instead, the Court’s per curium opinion on the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate directs ...

In Wearry v. Cain, 577 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the prosecution’s failure to disclose material evidence violated the petitioner’s due process rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Accordingly, the justices orde...

In Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court held that Texas’ specialty license plate designs constitute government speech. Accordingly, Texas was entitled to refuse to issue a confederate flag license pla...