Turning to the nation's highest court, SCOTUS issued 3 signed opinions today, including
- a ruling that establishes a deferential standard on review of a trial court's decision whether to remove a potential juror from a death case based on his or her views of capital punishment,
- another ruling that reverses the Eleventh Circuit (in a case involving a nude peace sign display), holding that attorneys' fees under Section 1988 cannot be awarded if the plaintiff wins the preliminary injunction battle, but loses the lawsuit war,
- and an opinion holding that the standard for finding a "willful" violation of the notice obligation under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (which entitles the plaintiff to additional damages, including punitives) includes not just knowing violations, but also reckless disregard of the notice obligation.
The Ninth Circuit was on the losing end of both the capital punishment case and the FCRA case (even though the court correctly interpreted the willfulness standard).
The Court also...
- dismissed (and ordered the circuit court opinion vacated in) a case that was to address whether it was unreasonable for a court to depart from the guidelines even where there were no extraordinary circumstances, because the petitioner died, and
- summarily reversed a dismissal of a prisoner's Eighth Amendment claim because the court's determination that the prisoner's pro se complaint was too "conclusory" to be sustained "departs in so stark a manner from the pleading standard mandated by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure" that the Court found it necessary to grant cert, grant in forma pauperis status, and vacate and remand for further proceedings.
More details at SCOTUSBlog.
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