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Full-Text Articles in Law
Check The Invitation: The Trouble With Appeals Invited By Supreme Court Justices, Michael Gentithes
Check The Invitation: The Trouble With Appeals Invited By Supreme Court Justices, Michael Gentithes
Missouri Law Review
This Article proceeds in four Parts. First, it categorizes invited appeals into the two species discussed above, soft invitations and opinion-briefs, providing a growing catalogue of the latter. In the next two Parts, the Article normatively analyzes those invited appeals, concluding that, while soft invitations have many laudable qualities, opinion-briefs are extremely troubling. Lastly, the Article offers specific advice for practitioners who encounter opinion-briefs, like death penalty abolitionists determining their next move in the wake of Breyer’s Glossip opinion, arguing that they should not accept the authoring Justice’s invitation. Patience is more prudent than accepting an opinion-brief’s request for specific …
The Supreme Court Of Missouri Splashes With Precedent In Waterslide Injury Case, Joe Krispin
The Supreme Court Of Missouri Splashes With Precedent In Waterslide Injury Case, Joe Krispin
Missouri Law Review
This Note reviews the legal history of amusement park operator liability in Missouri, discusses the application of that law to a recent incident involving a young girl injured at a Kansas City waterpark, and analyzes the various applications of the law made by the Supreme Court of Missouri, the Missouri Court of Appeals, and the dissenting Supreme Court of Missouri judges. This Note concludes by discussing relevant public policy concerns.
Institutionalizing Press Relations At The Supreme Court: The Origins Of The Public Information Office, Jonathan Peters
Institutionalizing Press Relations At The Supreme Court: The Origins Of The Public Information Office, Jonathan Peters
Missouri Law Review
At the U.S. Supreme Court, the press is the primary link between the justices and the public, and the Public Information Office (“PIO”) is the primary link between the justices and the press. This Article explores the story of the PIO’s origins, providing the most complete account to date of its early history. That story is anchored by the major events of several eras – from the Great Depression policymaking of the 1930s to the social and political upheaval of the 1970s. It is also defined by the three men who built and shaped the office in the course of …
Anthony Lewis, Dahlia Lithwick
Anthony Lewis, Dahlia Lithwick
Missouri Law Review
Tony Lewis changed everything about Supreme Court reporting. He changed everything because he inserted himself directly into the conversation between the Justices of the Supreme Court and the American public. He wasn’t writing for the constitutional scholars; he wasn’t writing for the history books (although he might have been) and he wasn’t writing to impress the justices (although he did). Instead, Lewis was a translator, an ambassador, who in the Warren Court era fashioned himself as the People’s Solicitor General; he was the advocate for the little guy before the high court, and an advocate to his readers about what …
Supreme Court Decision On Juvenile Sentencing Results In Cruel And Unusual Difficulties For Missouri, Andrew Peebles
Supreme Court Decision On Juvenile Sentencing Results In Cruel And Unusual Difficulties For Missouri, Andrew Peebles
Missouri Law Review
Part II gives a brief background of the facts and circumstances surrounding the Hart decision. Part III discusses the history of the Eighth Amendment and explores the U.S. Supreme Court’s trend toward leniency in the imposition of punishments, culminating with a discussion of the Miller decision. Part IV delves into the Supreme Court of Missouri’s reasoning behind its decision in Hart and the temporary sentencing procedures the court provided. Finally, Part V comments on the many problems currently facing Missouri’s criminal justice system since the implementation of the Miller decision and the actions that will be required by the legislature …
In Defense Of Disparate Impact: Urban Redevelopment And The Supreme Court’S Recent Interest In The Fair Housing Act, Valerie Schneider
In Defense Of Disparate Impact: Urban Redevelopment And The Supreme Court’S Recent Interest In The Fair Housing Act, Valerie Schneider
Missouri Law Review
Twice in the past three years, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Fair Housing cases, and, each time, under pressure from civil rights leaders who feared that the Supreme Court might narrow current Fair Housing Act jurisprudence, the cases settled just weeks before oral argument. Settlements after the Supreme Court grants certiorari are extremely rare, and, in these cases, the settlements reflect a substantial fear among civil rights advocates that the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in cases such as Shelby County v. Holder and Fisher v. University of Texas are working to dismantle many of the protections of the …
The Debate On Whether Life Sentences Should Be Considered: Will Missouri's Proportionality Review Remain Meaningful, Alexandra E. Wilson-Schoone
The Debate On Whether Life Sentences Should Be Considered: Will Missouri's Proportionality Review Remain Meaningful, Alexandra E. Wilson-Schoone
Missouri Law Review
This Law Summary will address the Supreme Court of Missouri's proportionality review jurisprudence, the rationales of two opinions in Deck," and the relationship of the Deck opinions to precedent and public policy. Additionally, this Summary will address the court's subsequent application of and debate about proportionality review as well as the legislative response. Finally, this Summary will conclude that for proportionality review to serve a meaningful function, the court must consider all affirmed, factually similar capital cases that resulted in either life imprisonment or a death sentence because only considering factually similar cases which resulted in the death penalty essentially …
Mavericks, Moderates, Or Drifters - Supreme Court Voting Alignments, 1838-2009, Christine Kexel Chabot, Benjamin Remy Chabot
Mavericks, Moderates, Or Drifters - Supreme Court Voting Alignments, 1838-2009, Christine Kexel Chabot, Benjamin Remy Chabot
Missouri Law Review
We introduce a new data set recording the vote of every Justice in 18,812 Supreme Court cases decided between 1838 and 1949. When combined with existing data sets, our new data allow us to examine votes in all cases through 2009. We use this data to address previously unanswerable questions about the president's ability to appoint Supreme Court Justices of similar ideology. Surprisingly, history shows that the president's odds of appointing a Justice who sides with appointees of his party have been no better than a coin flip. We find no evidence that divided government at the time of nomination …
Do I Own This Car - The Supreme Court Creates A Standard For Bapcpa Car Ownership, Anne Benton Hucker
Do I Own This Car - The Supreme Court Creates A Standard For Bapcpa Car Ownership, Anne Benton Hucker
Missouri Law Review
The case was Ransom v. FIA Card Services, N.A., and the dispute was whether, under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), Appellant Jason Ransom should be able to claim a vehicle ownership expense for purposes of Chapter 13 bankruptcy for the unencumbered car that he owned. Practitioners in the bankruptcy field had been watching the progression of this case and were eager to learn the Court's resolution of the issue. The interest was due to two reasons. First, the outcome of the case would affect approximately 250,000 Chapter 13 petitioners. Second, the case would resolve …
Ongoing Confusion Over Ongoing Royalties, The, Mark A. Lemley
Ongoing Confusion Over Ongoing Royalties, The, Mark A. Lemley
Missouri Law Review
In eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., the United States Supreme Court correctly concluded that courts had both the power and the responsibility to decide whether a successful patent owner needed injunctive relief and whether the imposition of that relief would unduly harm either the defendant or the public. The Court's application of the traditional four-factor equity test led, for the first time, to a significant number of cases in which courts found patent infringement but refused to enjoin continued infringement. That, in turn, has raised the question "what happens then?" As a matter of policy, the basic answer seems clear: …
Unconditional Acceptance: The Supreme Court Of Missouri's Interpretation Of Missouri Revised Statutes Section 167.131, Missy Mccoy
Unconditional Acceptance: The Supreme Court Of Missouri's Interpretation Of Missouri Revised Statutes Section 167.131, Missy Mccoy
Missouri Law Review
The unaccredited St. Louis Public School District had an average daily attendance of approximately 23,550 students in 2009, more than ten times the average attendance of the neighboring Clayton School District. In Turner v. School District of Clayton, the Supreme Court of Missouri faced the novel issue of interpreting Missouri Revised Statues section 167.131 as it related to children who resided in the currently unaccredited St. Louis Public School District but wished to attend schools in the accredited Clayton School District. After determining that the unaccredited district was responsible for the tuition of students who attended accredited schools, the majority …
On The Contemporary Meaning Of Korematsu: Liberty Lies In The Hearts Of Men And Women, David A. Harris
On The Contemporary Meaning Of Korematsu: Liberty Lies In The Hearts Of Men And Women, David A. Harris
Missouri Law Review
In just a few years, seven decades will have passed since the United States Supreme Court's decision in Korematsu v. United States, one of the most reviled of all of the Court's cases. However, similarities between the World War II era and our own have instigated a re-evaluation of Korematsu. When the Court decided Korenatsu in 1944, the United States was at war with the Japanese empire, which created considerable suspicion of anyone who shared the ethnicity of these foreign enemies. Since September 11, 2001, America has faced another external threat - from the al Qaeda terrorists - and there …
Strict In Theory, But Accommodating In Fact, Ozan O. Varol
Strict In Theory, But Accommodating In Fact, Ozan O. Varol
Missouri Law Review
As law students quickly learn, the strict-scrutiny test governs challenges under the Equal Protection Clause to the government's use of suspect classifications and infringement on certain fundamental rights. To survive strict scrutiny, the government bears the heavy burden of showing a compelling interest in drawing a suspect classification or infringing on a fundamental right and narrowly tailored means to achieve that interest. Over the years, strict scrutiny has expanded to serve as a bulwark against government intrusions on many fundamental rights and liberties in the United States Constitution - including the right to vote, marry, access the courts, and freedom …
Slurred Speech And Double Vision: Missouri's Supreme Court Is Unsteady On Dwi Standard, Alison K. Spinden
Slurred Speech And Double Vision: Missouri's Supreme Court Is Unsteady On Dwi Standard, Alison K. Spinden
Missouri Law Review
Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart observed that "[t]he art of being a judge, if there is such an art, is in announcing clear rules in the context of... infinitely varied cases, rules that can be understood and observed by conscientious government officials. This might be excellent advice for Missouri's judges to consider. After nearly fifteen years of struggling to formulate the proper standard for appellate review of a trial court's finding of probable cause, courts appear to be as unsettled on the issue as ever. In no context is this clearer than in cases involving charges of driving while intoxicated …
Lifting The Veil: Justice Blackmun's Papers And The Public Perception Of The Supreme Court, Tony Mauro
Lifting The Veil: Justice Blackmun's Papers And The Public Perception Of The Supreme Court, Tony Mauro
Missouri Law Review
The starting point of any discussion of the public perception of the United States Supreme Court is the liklihood that no public perception exists. By and large, the Supreme Court operates at the very outer edges of public awareness; for years, polls have indicated that many more Americans know the names of the three Stooges than any three Supreme Court justices.
Politics And Judgment, Suzanna Sherry
Politics And Judgment, Suzanna Sherry
Missouri Law Review
Two hundred years after its most famous invocation in Marbury v. Madison, judicial review has apparently lost its luster. Despite its global spread, it is in disrepute in its country of origin. The mainstream American academic attitude toward judicial review as practiced by the modem Supreme Court ranges from open hostility to a position similar to Winston Churchill's on democracy: It is the worst way to implement a Constitution, except for all the rest. In this essay, I want to explain the source of the hostility, defend judicial review against its critics, and make a few suggestions for improvement.
Why Do Supreme Court Justices Succeed Or Fail - Harry Blackmun As An Example, Lawrence S. Wrightsman, Justin R. La Mort
Why Do Supreme Court Justices Succeed Or Fail - Harry Blackmun As An Example, Lawrence S. Wrightsman, Justin R. La Mort
Missouri Law Review
At present, 108 Justices have served on the United States Supreme Court. Some have clearly been successes as judges, while a few have clearly not, and a large number are cast into that middle, "satisfactory" or "average," category. The purpose of this paper is to propose, examine, and evaluate specific factors as determinants of judicial success, and then to consider Justice Harry Blackmun's place on a continuum of successes and failures. The paper is divided into three sections. First, it reviews several ideal qualities and examines the results of several surveys of experts, which classify the Justices into categories based …
Introduction: The Difficult First Amendment, Christina E. Wells
Introduction: The Difficult First Amendment, Christina E. Wells
Missouri Law Review
The First Amendment looks easy. After all, its proscriptions are expressed in fewer than forty-five words. It further embodies a concept elegant in its simplicity: "Everyone has the right to say what they believe and to believe what they want." Yet even a superficial glance at modern Supreme Court jurisprudence reveals that, from its inception, the First Amendment was never easy. DEspite the Amendment's express mandate that Congress "make no law," the Court has never inerpreted it as an absolute. Instead, the court has embarked upon a delicate and sometimes treacherous balancing act attemping to determine when free speech or …