PER CURIAM. A death sentence imposed by a Kentucky trial court and affirmed by the Kentucky Supreme Court has been overturned, on habeas corpus review, by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. During the jury selection process, the state trial court excused a juror after concluding he could not give sufficient assurance of neutrality or impartiality in considering whether the death penalty should be imposed. The Court of Appeals, despite the substantial deference it must accord to state-court rulings in federal habeas proceedings, determined that excusing the juror…
Year: 2015
DIRECTV, INC., PETITIONER v. AMY IMBURGIA, ET AL.
JUSTICE GINSBURG, with whom JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR joins, dissenting. It has become routine, in a large part due to this Court’s decisions, for powerful economic enterprises to write into their form contracts with consumers and employees no-class-action arbitration clauses. The form contract in this case contains a Delphic provision stating that “if the law of your state” does not permit agreements barring class arbitration, then the entire agreement to arbitrate becomes unenforceable, freeing the aggrieved customer to commence class-based litigation in court. This Court reads that provision in a manner most protective of…
DIRECTV, INC., PETITIONER v. AMY IMBURGIA, ET AL.
JUSTICE THOMAS, dissenting. I remain of the view that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U. S. C. §1 et seq., does not apply to proceedings in state courts. See Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos. v. Dobson, 513 U. S. 265, 285-297 (1995) (dissenting opinion); see also Preston v. Ferrer, 552 U. S. 346, 363 (2008) (same); Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna, 546 U. S. 440, 449 (2006) (same); Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U. S. 444, 460 (2003) (same); Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. Casarotto, 517 U. S. 681, 689 (1996) (same). Thus, the FAA does not require state courts to order arbitration. Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment of the California…
DIRECTV, INC., PETITIONER v. AMYIMBURGIA, ET AL.
JUSTICE BREYER delivered the opinion of the Court. The Federal Arbitration Act states that a “written provision” in a contract providing for “settle[ment] by arbitration” of “a controversy . . . arising out of” that “contract . . . shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.” 9 U. S. C. §2. We here consider a California court’s refusal to enforce an arbitration provision in a contract. In our view, that decision does not rest “upon such grounds as exist . . . for…
DIRECTV, INC. v. IMBURGIA ET AL.(2015)
Petitioner DIRECTV, Inc., and its customers entered into a service agreement that included a binding arbitration provision with a class-arbitration waiver. It specified that the entire arbitration provision was unenforceable if the “law of your state” made class-arbitration waivers unenforceable. The agreement also declared that the arbitration clause was governed by the Federal Arbitration Act. At the time that respondents, California residents, entered into that agreement with DIRECTV, California law made class-arbitration waivers unenforceable, see Discover Bank v. Superior Court, 36 Cal. 4th 148, 113 P. 3d 1100. This Court subsequently held in AT&T Mobility…
SHAPIRO ET AL. v. MCMANUS, CHAIRMAN, MARYLAND STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS, ET AL. (2015)
United States Supreme Court SHAPIRO ET AL. v. MCMANUS, CHAIRMAN, MARYLAND STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS, ET AL.(2015) No. 14-990 Argued: November 04, 2015Decided: December 08, 2015 Since 1976, federal law has mandated that a “district court of three judges shall be convened . . . when an action is filed challenging the constitutionality of the apportionment of congressional districts . . . ,” 28 U. S. C. §2284(a), and has provided that “the judge [presented with a request for a three-judge court] shall, unless he determines that three judges are not required, immediately notify the chief judge of the circuit,…
ARIE S. FRIEDMAN, ET AL. v. CITY OF HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOISrt
United States Supreme Court ARIE S. FRIEDMAN, ET AL. v. CITY OF HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS(2015) No. 15-133 Argued:Decided: December 07, 2015 The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. JUSTICE THOMAS, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. “[O]ur central holding in” District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. 570 (2008), was “that the Second Amendment protects a personal right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, most notably for self-defense within the home.” McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U. S. 742, 780 (2010) (plurality opinion). And in McDonald, we recognized that the Second Amendment applies fully against…
LLOYD RAPELJE, WARDEN v. JUNIOR FRED BLACKSTON (2015)
United States Supreme Court LLOYD RAPELJE, WARDEN v. JUNIOR FRED BLACKSTON(2015) No. 15-161 Argued:Decided: November 30, 2015 The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. JUSTICE SCALIA, with whom JUSTICE THOMAS and JUSTICE ALITO join, dissenting from denial of certiorari. A criminal defendant “shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” U. S. Const., Amdt. 6. We have held that this right entitles the accused to cross-examine witnesses who testify at trial, and to exclude certain out-of-court statements that the defendant did not have a prior opportunity to cross-examine. Crawford v. Washington, 541 U. S. 36,…
NEW HAMPSHIRE RIGHT TO LIFE v. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (2015)
United States Supreme Court NEW HAMPSHIRE RIGHT TO LIFE v. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES(2015) No. 14-1273 Argued:Decided: November 16, 2015 The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. JUSTICE THOMAS, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U. S. C. §552, requires federal agencies to “make [agency] records promptly available to any person” who requests them, unless the information that they contain falls under a specifically enumerated exemption. §§552(a)(3)(A), (b). One of those exemptions, Exemption 4, authorizes agencies to withhold documents that contain…
CHADRIN LEE MULLENIX v. BEATRICE LUNA, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF ISRAEL LEIJA, JR., ET AL. (2015)
United States Supreme Court CHADRIN LEE MULLENIX v. BEATRICE LUNA, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF ISRAEL LEIJA, JR., ET AL.(2015) No. 14-1143 Argued:Decided: November 09, 2015 PER CURIAM. On the night of March 23, 2010, Sergeant Randy Baker of the Tulia, Texas Police Department followed Israel Leija, Jr., to a drive-in restaurant, with a warrant for his arrest. 773 F. 3d 712, 715-716 (CA5 2014). When Baker approached Leija’s car and informed him that he was under arrest, Leija sped off, headed for Interstate 27. 2013 WL 4017124, *1 (ND Tex.,…