Key U.S. Supreme Court Cases
on the Docket for 2012
January 12, 2012
Presented by Brian Craig:
Legal Program Chair
GEN Online Division
About the Presenter
Education:
BA in political science, Brigham Young University (UT)
Juris Doctor, University of Idaho
Academic Positions:
Legal Program Chair, Globe Univ., 2005-present
Adjunct Faculty, Univ. of Minn. Law School, 2007-2008
Professional Experience:
Attorney at Thomson-Reuters, 2002-2008
Legal editor, Wolters Kluwer (legal publishing)
Judicial law clerk, Idaho District Court
Legislative aide, CA State Legislature
Publications:
Author of Cyberlaw: The Law of the Internet and Information Technology
About the U.S. Supreme Court
Created by Article III of the U.S. Constitution - Nine Justices
John G. Roberts., Jr. – Current Chief Justice (below)
SCOTUS – acronym for Supreme Court of the United States
2011-2012 Term
Terms runs from October 2011 – June 2012
Key cases often released in July
Court decides about 80-90 cases per term
Key Cases Decided in 2011
First Amendment:
Court ruled in favor of funeral protestors, makers of violent video
games, and politicians who decline public financing
Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn
First Amendment bars a state from restricting
sale of violent video games to minors
First Amendment requires tolerance of
offensive speech
First Amendment Wall at the Newseum (right)
74–foot–high marble facade
Cases Already Decided in Jan. 2012
Smith v. Cain - Criminal Procedure
Perry v. New Hampshire - Due Process
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v.
EEOC – Religious Freedom
Criminal Procedure
Smith v. Cain, No. 10–8145 (2012)
Held: Accused entitled to new murder trial because the State, in
violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U. S. 83 (1963), did not disclose
that the eyewitness who identified Smith at trial stated shortly after
the murders that he could not identify any of the perpetrators
Government must turn over evidence favorable to a defendant
Chief Justice Roberts (right) wrote the majority
Opinion
Justice Thomas wrote a dissenting opinion
Eyewitness Identification
Perry v. New Hampshire, No. 10-8974 (2012)
Held: The Due Process Clause does not require an inquiry into the
reliability of an eyewitness identification when the identification was
not procured under unnecessarily suggestive circumstances by law
enforcement.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (right) wrote the
majority opinion in Perry v. New Hampshire
Ginsburg (age 78) is the oldest member of the
Supreme Court – some have questioned whether
she will retire soon
Religious Freedom
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, No.
10-553 (2012)
Held: By imposing an unwanted minister, the state infringes the Free
Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group's right to shape its
own faith and mission through its appointments
Ministerial exception provides that ministers cannot sue churches for
employment discrimination
Key Cases in 2012
ObamaCare Cases
Death Row Mistake
Television Indecency and the FCC
Electronic Surveillance and GPS tracking devices
Prison Strip Searches
Life without parole for minors
Arizona Immigration Bill
U.S. Supreme Court chambers (right)
ObamaCare Cases
Consolidated Cases:
Florida v. Dep't of HHS (No. 11-400)
National Federation of Independent
Business v. Sebelius (No. 11-393)
Oral Arguments: Mar. 28, 2012
5.5 hours of oral arguments scheduled
Affordable Care Act
Issue: Whether Congress exceeded its authority
in enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act
One of the biggest issues to be decided
by Supreme Court in decades
Likely to impact 2012 elections
Death Row Mistake
Issue: Whether a defendant is prohibited from arguing in
federal court that his death sentence is unconstitutional
because his lawyer missed a filing deadline in state court
Maples v. Thomas (No. 10-63)
Oral arguments: October 4, 2011
Television Indecency
Issue: Whether the Federal Communications
Commission's standards for indecency on television are
too vague to be constitutional
FCC v. Fox (No. 10-1293)
Oral arguments: January 10, 2012
Electronic Surveillance
Issue: Whether the Constitution allows police to put a
tracking device on a car without either a warrant or the
owner's permission violates the Fourth Amendment
United States v. Jones (No. 10-1259)
Oral Arguments: Nov. 8, 2011
Prison Strip Searches
Issues: Whether the Fourth Amendment permits a jail to
conduct a suspicionless strip search whenever an individual is
arrested, including for minor offenses
Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders (No. 10-945)
Oral Arguments: Oct. 12, 2011
Life without Parole for Minors
Issue: Whether sentence of life without possibility of
parole on an offender who was fourteen at the time he
committed capital murder constitutes cruel and unusual
punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment
Jackson v. Hobbs (and Miller v. Alabama) (No. 19-9647)
Oral Arguments: Mar. 20, 2012
Arizona Immigration Bill
Issue: Whether federal immigration laws preclude
Arizona's efforts at cooperative law enforcement and
impliedly preempt four provisions of S.B. 1070 on their
face
Arizona v. United States (No. 11-182)
Oral Arguments: No Date Yet
Internet Resources
U.S. Supreme Court:
www.supremecourt.gov
SCOTUS Blog:
www.scotusblog.com
Fantasy SCOTUS (Supreme Court Fantasy League):
www.fantasyscotus.net
Additional Questions
Brian Craig
bcraig@msbcollege.edu