Yesterday, in Abbott v. League of United Latin American Citizens (No. 25A608), a presumably 6-3 Court issued a short order allowing Texas’s new, and explicitly gerrymandered, congressional map to go into effect for the 2026 congressional election. In doing so, it stayed a split three-judge District Court’s decision that
Supreme Court Update
And Other Appellate Musings
The Supreme Court Update blog, published by Wiggin and Dana LLP, focuses on recent and significant developments in U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence. It covers a range of constitutional law issues including voting rights, criminal procedure, confrontation clause rights, and procedural aspects of federal and state court cases. The blog also previews upcoming Supreme Court arguments and analyzes the Court's docket trends, highlighting cases involving federal authority, civil rights, and high-profile cultural and legal disputes. It provides summaries and critical insights into decisions affecting election law, criminal justice, and constitutional protections.
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Latest from Supreme Court Update
Pitts v. Mississippi (No 24-1149)
In Pitts v. Mississippi (No 24-1149), the Nine summarily reversed a Mississippi Supreme Court decision that effectively ignored the Court’s decisions in Coy v. Iowa (1988) and Maryland v. Craig (1990), which require trial courts to make case-specific findings of necessity before precluding a criminal…
Clark v. Sweeney (No. 25.-52)
In Clark v. Sweeney (No. 25.-52), a unanimous Court chastised the Fourth Circuit for straying from the principle of party presentation in ordering a new trial for a habeas petitioner on grounds he hadn’t raised in his appeal.
Jeremiah…
Preview of October Arguments
The Supreme Court kicks off its October 2025 term today, with oral argument in two cases. Some of those cases are notable in and of themselves—we’ll preview them in a second—but this is also a good time to take a…
Supreme Court Update: October Term 2025
On October 9, please join Partners Tadhg Dooley and David Roth, authors of Wiggin and Dana’s Supreme Court Update blog, for a preview of the Supreme Court’s October Term.
The discussion will include:
A look back at the defining decisions of…
FDA v. Wages and White Lion Investments (No. 23-1038)
In 2021, after a multi-year regulatory process, the Food and Drug Administration denied more than a million applications from tobacco manufacturers seeking to sell various flavored e-cigarette products. After that process concluded, an en banc Fifth Circuit vacated the FDA’s…
City and County of San Francisco v. EPA (No. 23-753)
Under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), the EPA issues permits limiting the pollutants that regulated entities can discharge into federal waters. Those permits generally operate either by establishing effluent limitations for certain pollutants or by imposing narrative requirements, like requiring…
Thompson v. United States (No. 23-1095)
William Blake once observed that “a truth that’s told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent.” It turns out the Supreme Court agrees, at least for escaping liability under 18 U.S.C. § 1014. In Thompson v. United…
Delligatti v. United States (No. 23-825)
Federal law provides a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for a person who uses or carries a firearm during a “crime of violence.” In Delligatti v. United States (No. 23-825), the Supreme Court addressed whether a crime of…
Bufkin v. Collins (No. 23-713)
When a veteran seeks disability benefits, federal law provides that ties go to the applicant. But if the Veterans Administration decides it’s not a tie—that is, the preponderance of the evidence comes out against the veteran—then it has no occasion…