Chaotic Last Decisions Delivered

By Lottie Watts

The Supreme Court delivered its final decisions on Thursday in the cases of Medellin v. Texas and Boumediene v. Bush. Justice Ginsberg delivered the decision in Medellin and Justice Kennedy attempted to explain the chaos surrounding Boumediene, which was essentially a victory for the Bush Administration.

Medellin v. Texas was a 6-3 victory for the petitioner. In the opinion, “the court refutes the notion that the President has the authority to order the state courts to follow the ICJ’s Avena ruling.” Justices Kennedy, Stevens, Thomas, Souter and Scalia joined Ginsberg in the opinion. Justice Roberts dissented and Justice Alito joined the dissent. Justice Souter joined the dissent in part.

The Final Episode of the 316

The final episode of The 316 has been recorded and can be found here.

Ben and I woudl like to thank you for listening all semester and for those that appeared on our show.  Have a safe and happy holidays.

Zack Glick

A wild decision in Boumediene v. Bush

The Supreme Court today was unable to deliver an opinion of the court today in the case of Boumediene v. Bush.  The vote was a split of 4-1-4 as the two groups split on the two different questions in the case.  This was not the definitive conclusion on the issue of detainee rights that either side was looking for.  Stay tuned to The 316 for further coverage of the case. 

Medellin v. Texas decision released

Today was the final day of the current Supreme Court term and Justice Ginsburg read the decision from the bench in Medellin v. Texas.  It was a 6-3 decision with Justice Roberts writing the dissenting opinion and Justices Alito and Sutter joining him.

Justice Ginsburg’s decision can be downloaded here

Official opinion released in Planed Parenthood v. Rounds and Crawford v. Marion County

On Tuesday SUNN posted the first information from the courtroom as decisions were released in Planed Parenthood v. Rounds and Crawford v. Marion County.  Tonight we have received the official opinions from the justices.

•  The Planed Parenthood v. Rounds decision by Justice Breyer can be downloaded here.
•  The Crawford v. Marion County Board of Elections by Justice Kennedy can be downloaded here

Stay tuned to our final episode of The 316 this weekend to wrap up your coverage of this Supreme Court Term.

Two Decisions Delivered Today

By Lottie Watts

The Supreme Court delivered two decisions from the bench today.

They read opinions in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board and in Planned Parenthood v. Rounds. Both were 5-4 decisions.

Supreme Court Decides Planned Parenthood v. Rounds

Today the Supreme Court decided the case of Planned Parenthood v. Rounds and in a 5-4 decision decided to strike down the South Dakota law mandating speech that doctors were forced to make to their patients. Justice Brier wrote the majority opinion focusing on the language in the statue that says “a fetus is a separate and full human being”. Justices Sutter, Kennedy, Ginsberg and Stevens joined this opinion. Justice Scalia wrote the main dissenting opinion with stating that the majority ignored a vast majority of the precedent on the issue, including mentioning Roe v. Wade in his opinion. Justices Roberts and Alito would sign onto this opinion except for this statement. Justice Thomas would write a separate dissenting opinion focusing on the fact that the government shouldn’t force speech but that he agrees with the rest of the statue

Decision Released in Crawford v. Marion County

SUNN was in the court room today as decisions were released in Crawford v. Marion County.  The court ruled in a split decision of 5-4 in favor of the petitioner and striking down the voting statue.  The opinion mostly focused on the unnecessary burden of getting an ID to vote and that the law was most likely targeting a specific majority.  The dissenting opinion focused on the partisanship of the case, that if the case is brought by the Democratic National Committee with no specific example.  Stay tuned to SUNN for continuing coverage of this and all of the decisions for this term.

Last Case Heard by Supreme Court

By Lottie Watts

The Supreme Court heard its last case of the term Thursday, November 15, 2007.

The case of Boumediene v. Bush, which deals with the constitutionality of military tribunals, was the final case heard this term.

William Denis represented the petitioner, Lakhdar Boumediene, and the office of the Solicitor General represented President Bush.

Third Case Heard by Supreme Court

By Lottie Watts

The Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in Medellin v. Texas.   It was the second to last case that the court will hear before the term ends and decisions are handed down.

The case concerns the constitutionality of President Bush’s order to Texas courts to grant relief in a death penalty case involving the Vienna Convention on Consular relations.

The justices asked many questions of both the petitioner and the respondent.