We are nearing the end of September and that means the new Supreme Court term is right around the corner!  Every year, the first Monday in October marks the beginning of a new term.  This year’s term begins on Monday, October 2. As of now, the Court has agreed to hear 32 cases.  Justices will […]

If you can’t make it to the U.S. Courthouse in Foley Square to attend oral arguments before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, next month you’ll be able to access audio recordings of them from the court’s own website.  See the court’s announcement here or here. The recordings will become available on August 15, 2016, […]

The passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia created a vacant seat on the nation’s highest court. Article II section 2 of the Constitution provides the mechanism to fill that seat, stating that the President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Judges of the Supreme Court.”  […]

On November 2, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Foster v. Chatman, No. 14-8349, revisiting the issue once thought settled by the 1986 decision in Batson v. Kentucky, which held it unconstitutional to strike potential jurors based on race.  A transcript of the oral argument in Foster is available here.  The Court will post […]

The first Monday in October marks the opening day of the new Supreme Court term, and this year is no different! The term begins on October 5, and ten cases have been set for oral argument over the first two weeks. The Court will hear arguments about defendants’ Eighth Amendment rights in four death penalty […]

Governor Andrew Cuomo has nominated Justice Leslie Stein to replace Judge Victoria Graffeo on the New York Court of Appeals. A Democrat, Justice Stein currently sits in the Appellate Division’s Third Department, where she had been appointed by former Governor Eliot Spitzer in 2008. Cuomo’s decision to replace Graffeo, a Republican, has the potential to […]

Finding federal court records online has always seemed more difficult than it should be!  While Westlaw and LexisNexis provide access to the federal docket sheets that list the filings for each case, the filed documents themselves are not always available.  Instead, a service called “PACER” (an acronym for “Public Access to Court Electronic Records”) became […]

SCOTUSblog, a popular blog providing comprehensive coverage of the United States Supreme Court, recently announced the availability of a FREE iOS app. The new app provides mobile access to the content available on SCOTUSblog, access to its Twitter feed, and notifications alerting users to breaking Supreme Court news.  It will also “be rolling out new […]

The first Monday in October marks the opening day of the new Supreme Court term, and this year is no different. During its first week, the Court will hear arguments about federal age discrimination claims, class actions in securities litigation, and ineffective assistance of counsel. It will also hear a major campaign finance case, McCutcheon […]

On February 1, the New York Court of Appeals launched a free online document database called Court-PASS. Practitioners will be able to upload court papers and the database will serve as permanent digital archive of all cases filed after January 1, 2013. Researchers will be able to search or browse Court-PASS and view decisions, briefs, […]