Summary: This week the court issued three opinions, two statements regarding a denial of certiorari and heard six cases in oral arguments. We begin this week with the a review of the oral arguments in United States v. Jones, which considers whether police need a warrant to attach a GPS device to a suspect's car in order to track its movements. We next review the three short opinions issued by the court this week. We then listen to and review excerpts of the oral arguments in National Meat Assn. v. Harris, wherein the Supreme Court considers whether federal law preempts a California statute that prevents the slaughter, sale and inhumane treatment of cows, pigs and other livestock at slaughterhouses, when the animal can no longer stand or walk without assistance. We then review two statements issued by justices of the court regarding the denial of certiorari in Buck v. Thaler, which concerns the testimony of an expert witness in Texas whose testimony that race is a legitimate factor in determining the future dangerousness of a defendant in a capitol cases has led the State of Texas to admit error in six cases in which the prejudicial testimony was sought. Finally, we consider the oral arguments in M.B.Z. v. Clinton, which considers the political question doctrine and whether the federal courts may even consider a challenge to a congressional law which in 2002 declared jerusalem the capitol of israel and directed the State Department to reflect this fact on consular documents, which the Executive Branch under Bush and now Obama refused to do. OPINION (click to download) KPMG LLP v. Cocchi (10-1521) Bobby v. Dixon (10-1540) Greene v. Fisher (10-637) DISSENT FROM DENIAL OF CERTIORARI (click to download) Buck v. Thaler (Sotomayor) Buck v. Thaler (Alito) ORAL ARGUMENT TRANSCRIPTS AND AUDIO (click to download) M.B.Z. v. Clinton (10-699) Audio Transcript Kawashima v. Holder (10-577) Audio Transcript United States v. Jones (10-1259) Audio Transcript Smith v. Cain (10-8145) Audio Transcript National Meat Assn. v. Harris (10-224) Audio Transcript Kurns v. Railroad Friction Products Corp. (10-879) Audio Transcript
