MetaFilter posts tagged with supremecourt and ussupremecourt

“I think it’s bad, long-term, if people identify the rule of law with how individual justices vote.”

ibmcginty — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:09:02 -0800

Chief Justice John Roberts, decrying “the personalization of judicial politics,” describes his efforts to increase comity on the Supreme Court and to decide more cases unanimously. In Roberts' first term as chief justice, “while a relatively large number of the Court’s decisions” were unanimous, “several important, closely divided cases” were decided by 5-4 votes, with Roberts joining the more conservative justices.

U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider anti-homosexual laws

pardonyou? — Mon, 02 Dec 2002 14:49:01 -0800

On September 17, 1998, in response to an armed robbery call, Houston police burst in to the home of John Lawrence. The police didn’t find a robber (nor would they – the call was deliberately false), but they did find Lawrence having sex with another man, Tyrone Garner. Lawrence and Garner were promptly charged with “engaging in homosexual conduct,” a misdemeanor under Texas law. They paid their fine and began a long legal challenge to Texas’ anti-sodomy law. That challenge has finally reached the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, which today agreed to hear their appeal early next year. Standing in the way is the Court’s own 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, in which it held that anti-sodomy laws are constitutional. That may be about to change.

Postroad — Tue, 26 Feb 2002 06:49:44 -0800

In a small Ohio town, a fight over the right to knock on doors You are a Supreme Court Justice. How would you rule on this case?

holgate — Tue, 12 Dec 2000 19:45:00 -0800

Bush, by a technicality. They've run out the clock. Oh dear. This could be messy.