2025
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Stanley v. City of Sanford
US Sup.Ct. Slip Op. of June 20, 2025 Ruling: The Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§12101 et. seq., prohibits most employers from discriminating against disabled individuals who are otherwise qualified to perform the essential functions of the job they either have or else desire to have. 42 U.S.C. §12112(a) and §12111(8). In this case, Continue reading
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Hewitt v. United States
US Sup.Ct. Slip Op. of June 26, 2025 Ruling: The First Step Act, enacted by Congress in 2018, substantially reduces sentences that can be imposed for certain crimes that were committed before enactment, as long as final sentencing does not occur until after enactment. If a sentence for a pre-enactment crime has been vacated, either Continue reading
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McLaughlin Chiropractic Assoc. v. McKesson Corp.
US Sup.Ct. Slip Op. of June 20, 2025 Ruling: The validity of a Federal Communications Commission order that formally interprets a statute within that agency’s jurisdiction may be challenged in a federal District Court proceeding to enforce that statute, despite language in the Hobbs Act, at 28 U.S.C. §2342(1), giving federal Courts of Appeal “exclusive Continue reading
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Kennedy v. Braidwood Management
US Sup.Ct. Slip Op. of June 27, 2025 Ruling: All of the federal Constitution’s formal requirements for the valid appointment of “inferior Officers” of the United States, contained in the Appointments Clause of Article II, Section 2, are met by the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ appointment of members of the United States Preventative Continue reading
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Food and Drug Administration v. R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.
US Sup.Ct. Slip Op. of June 20, 2025 Ruling: When the federal Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) denies an application for legal authorization to sell a new kind of e-cigarette to consumers, a retail merchant who did not file the application but who wants to lawfully sell that kind of e-cigarette to his customers, Continue reading
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Oklahoma v. Environmental Protection Agency
US Sup.Ct. Slip Opinion of June 18, 2025 Ruling: When the federal Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) makes a localized or regional “determination” of fact or law that primarily drives a decision it makes under the federal Clean Air Act, the federal Court of Appeals having jurisdiction over that locality or region, and not the Continue reading
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Environmental Protection Agency v. Calumet Shreveport Refining
US Sup.Ct. Slip Opinion of June 18, 2025 RULING: When the federal Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) makes a “nationwide” “determination” of fact or law that primarily drives a decision it makes under the Clean Air Act but in a case of localized or regional interest only, the federal Court of Appeals for the District Continue reading
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Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas
US Sup.Ct. Slip Opinion of June 18, 2025 HOLDING: Only a formally recognized “party” to a licensing proceeding by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the “NRC”) may seek the review of the NRC’s ultimate licensing decision for alleged unlawfulness by a federal Court of Appeals. The Court held, by a 6-3 vote, that such formal recognition Continue reading
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Parrish v. United States
US Sup. Ct. Slip Opinion of June 12, 2025 Holding: Under federal appellate procedure, a Notice of Appeal that is prematurely filed with a well-grounded Motion to Reopen the time for an appeal, which has already expired, is sufficient, by itself, to perfect the appeal upon the subsequent approval, by the court, of the Motion Continue reading
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Rivers v. Guerrero
US Sup. Ct. Slip Opinion of June 12, 2025 Ruling: Once a state prisoner’s first petition for federal habeas corpus relief reach’s a final judgment on the merits in the federal trial court where it has been brought, any subsequent request for federal habeas corpus relief by the prisoner must comply with the stringent and Continue reading
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Esteras v. United States
US Sup. Ct. Slip Opinion of June 20, 2025: In any consideration of the “supervised release” of a criminal convict in federal court, the sentencing judge may not consider further imprisonment of the convict beyond the term of actual imprisonment that has been formally imposed. By a 7-2 majority, the Court held that Congress mandated Continue reading
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Riley v. Bondi
2024 Term of Court: Federal immigration law allows immigrants who are subject to an executive “order of removal” from the United States to appeal that order to a federal Court of Appeals, but the same law requires that they do so (if they want) “not later than 30 days after the date of the final Continue reading
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Gutierrez v. Saenz
2024 Term of Court: Article III of the federal Constitution sets out the limited jurisdiction of the federal courts created thereunder, beginning (but not ending) with the following words: The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or Continue reading
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Goldey v. Fields
2024 Term of Court: The United States Constitution provides that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” U.S. Const., Amendment VIII; see also U.S. Const., Amendment XIV, §1. The Constitution doesn’t say what happens when that provision, or any other provision of the Bill of Rights, Continue reading
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