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, […]

Bloomberg Law and the SCOTUSblog are offering cash prizes to the top three student teams in a competition to predict the outcomes of six Supreme Court cases and six cert. petitions that will be considered by the Court in March.  First prize — $3,500; second prize — $1,500; third prize — $1,000.  There will be […]

Oral arguments are scheduled today (October 10) in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 631 F.2d 213 (5th Cir. 2011), cert. granted, 132 S. Ct. 1536 (Feb. 21, 2012).  The case is a challenge to UT Austin’s consideration of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions and will be the first time the Court […]

The United States Supreme Court’s new term begins today (October 1, 2012), the first Monday in October.  The 2012-2013 docket thus far includes at least one case of particular interest to members of the NYLS community:  In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, involving a challenge to the University of Texas at Austin’s consideration of […]

Congratulations to the students and faculty of the NYLS Racial Justice Project for completing and filing an amicus curiae brief in Fisher v. Univ. of Tex. at Austin, 631 F.2d 213 (5th Cir. 2011), cert. granted 132 S. Ct. 1536 (Feb. 21, 2012) (No. 11-345) a case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear in October.  The case is […]