When a meddling judge breaks the rules by giving a criminal defendant a little advice, must a subsequent guilty plea be vacated, or does the defendant have to demonstrate that he was prejudiced?
It was a closely watched case that came to a dramatic and unexpected conclusion of questionable precedential value. Now attorneys are left pondering what effect, if any, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend will have on class-action certifications.
A consumer class action should not have been certified because the plaintiffs’ expert testimony failed to establish that the case was susceptible to awarding damages on a class-wide basis, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4.
Police engaged in a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when they used a drug-sniffing dog on a homeowner’s porch to investigate the contents of the home, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4.
During heated arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court over California’s voter-approved constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the justices verbally tussled with attorneys arguing over the law’s constitutionality — but also hinted that the case could have a surprise ending.
Can an employer, faced with a purported class action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, avoid litigation by immediately offering a settlement to the sole plaintiff before a class is certified?
When it comes to getting something named for you before you are dead and buried, being on the Supreme Court isn’t a bad choice.
A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that a seminal Sixth Amendment rights case is not retroactive has provided clarity for attorneys while dashing the hopes of thousands of defendants.
Exactly two weeks after Gov. Scott Walker proposed expanding DNA collection efforts in Wisconsin for those arrested on felony charges, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in a related case Justice Samuel Alito Jr. called “perhaps, the most important criminal procedure case that this court has heard in decades.”
The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared reluctant Wednesday to make a federal case out of a legal malpractice claim arising from a patent suit.
During oral arguments that included a rare comment from Justice Clarence Thomas, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether a state’s failure to give money to court-appointed counsel for a murder defendant should be weighed against the state in determining whether speedy trial rights were violated.
The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared unwilling Wednesday to allow police to take blood samples from suspected drunk drivers without a warrant.
The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court this week considered whether the Class Action Fairness Act allows plaintiffs to avoid removal to federal court by promising to seek less than the monetary damages threshold.
Gay marriage supporters see 41 reasons to fret over the Supreme Court’s decision to take up the case of California’s ban on same-sex unions.
Can an employer, faced with a purported class action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, avoid litigation by immediately offering a settlement to the sole plaintiff before a class is certified?
The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court tussled on Wednesday over the issue of whether a plain error sentencing appeal must be decided according to the law in effect at the time of sentencing or at the time of appeal.
You may not expect to see one of the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in the pages of a glossy fashion magazine. After all, their clothes are usually obscured by those black robes. But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg graces the pages of the latest issue of Glamour.
The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court tackled a tough question on Tuesday, considering what consequences result under the Double Jeopardy Clause from an acquittal that was caused by a judge’s error.
Oral arguments in two Fourth Amendment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday focused on a common question: just what does a dog’s nose know?
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn’t let a couple of cracked ribs break her stride as the U.S. Supreme Court finished one of its biggest terms in recent history.
Just in time to celebrate the beginning of her 20th year on the Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is being honored with a bobblehead doll.
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that unions must give nonmembers an immediate chance to object to unexpected fee increases or special assessments that all workers are required to pay in closed-shop situations.
The Confrontation Clause does not bar an expert from testifying at a criminal trial that a DNA profile produced by an outside laboratory matched the defendant’s state lab DNA profile, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a fractured opinion.
The Supreme Court has ruled that sales representatives for pharmaceutical companies do not qualify for overtime pay under federal law, a big victory for the drug industry.
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a rape conviction over objections that the defendant did not have the chance to question the reliability of the DNA evidence that helped convict him.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to clearly answer the question of whether plaintiffs can bring First Amendment-based retaliatory arrest claims despite the existence of probable cause.
The Merit Systems Protection Board provides the exclusive avenue of judicial review for federal employees’ adverse employment action challenges, even when those employees argue that a federal statute is unconstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
An informal vote taken by jurors before deliberations conclude and later reported to a judge in court does not amount to an acquittal, and therefore a retrial does not violate a defendant’s Double Jeopardy rights, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
A U.S. Supreme Court justice stands in his august chambers concentrating on his latest project while a law clerk looks on in admiration. Is the subject a petition for certiorari that seeks to upend decades of constitutional precedent? Hardly.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that three families cannot sue a mortgage company for allegedly charging them a loan discount fee without giving them a lower interest rate.
