The AP is reporting that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed at his vacation home in the Carribean. The assailant was reportedly armed with a machete and stole $1,000 in cash. The full story can be read here.

Jennifer Pizer, the Legal Director for the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, tells TRNS that Prop 8 may not go to the Supreme Court after Tuesday’s ruling, despite much buzz to the contrary. [Audio clip: view full post to listen]

A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that a California constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The three-judge panel voted 2-1, upholding retired U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling that the law, better known as Proposition 8, unconstitutional. Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, wrote…

Today, the Supreme Court granted review of three separate cases challenging the constitutionality of the Obama Administration’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act. The Court set aside extensive time to hear oral arguments on the law, 5 ½ hours. Oral arguments will likely be heard in March, with…

The Supreme Court heard arguments today in United States v. Jones, a case that represents the evolution of modern technology in the face of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure. In September 2005, police planted a GPS device on the undercarriage of Antoine Jones’ vehicle. Jones, the…

The Supreme Court today heard arguments in two cases on whether a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel is violated when the defendant’s attorney provides deficient or erroneous advice during plea negotiations, resulting in a sentence at trial that is harsher than had the defendant accepted the plea offer….

Next week, the Supreme Court will begin its review of the various challenges to President Obama’s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act.  The Justices will meet on Thursday, November 10, to review the petitions filed by both opponents of the law and the Department of Justice on behalf of…

The Supreme Court Tuesday heard arguments that it is unconstitutional to strip search someone who is arrested without reasonable suspicion that the person might be carrying contraband. The case stems from a 2005 arrest of Albert Florence during a traffic stop. The police computer showed Florence as having an outstanding…

Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that politics plays less of a role in Supreme Court decisions than many in the public think. “When you put on the robes, you take off the politics,” Breyer, sitting alongside fellow Justice Antonin Scalia, said during a…

* Shift in focus from corporate law to criminal justice and First Amendment cases – and challenge to 2010 health care law, if they decide to hear it (likely) – will be huge, and could decide Obama’s re-election * Fun stuff to be decided: * Whether police need a warrant…