Prof. Douglas Godfrey discusses Florida v. Jardines, a Fourth Amendment case and the second of two cases heard by the Court this week concerning drug-detecting police dogs.
The Supreme Court today granted review in two same-sex marriage cases. The Court will consider a challenge to the Federal Defense of Marriage Act and California's ban on same-sex marriages (commonly known as Prop. 8). The Court could decide the cases several ways, but it will consider whether the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection clause requires that states permit same-sex marriage.
At their conference today, the justices of the Supreme Court are considering which of several cases challenging restrictions on same-sex marriage the Court will review, setting the stage for what will likely be the most watched, and potentially most influential, decision this term. SCOTUSblog has an excellent overview of the cases the Court is considering, and the different questions each presents.
The Court on Friday agreed to review the Voting Rights Act, a landmark piece of legislation originally passed during the civil rights era. The Court will focus on whether a core provision of the act, requiring certain states with a history of racial discrimination to submit any changes in election laws to the Federal government for review, exceeds Congress' authority.
Oyez has posted audio recordings and transcripts of the opinion announcements from the bench for every case in the 2011 term. The collection includes the announcements and dissents from the bench in the momentous cases involving the Affordable Care Act and the Arizona immigration law.
With the momentous opinions this week in the Affordable Care Act cases and the Arizona immigration case, we've already received requests to post the bench statements by the justices. Unfortunately, the Court does not release recordings of these sessions to the National Archives until the beginning of the following term, usually sometime in October. We will transcribe and post the announcement recordings when we receive them later this year.