In case you missed it

Items of interest this week:

• The Supreme Court decided Sinochem,  unanimously holding that forum non conveniens,like other threshold nonmerits issues, may be resolved before difficultissues of jurisdiction (both of the subject matter and the person).

• Benjamin Spencer posts a provocative article challenging some basic assumptions about the allocation of power between Congress and the courts. 

• The 10th Circuit holds that the district court "essentially ceded its duty to conduct factfinding to the advisory jury. As we have held, ‘the findings of such a jury are, of course, merely advisory; the trial court must . . . make its own findings and ‘review on appeal is of the findings of the court as if there had been no verdict from an advisory jury.’"