Articles Posted in US Supreme Court

In one of the most highly anticipated decisions of the term, the US Supreme Court held today that states may require sellers who have no physical presence within the state to collect and remit sales taxes on goods sold to buyers in the state. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion for the majority, and Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch joined. The decision overrules two prior cases in which the Court established and upheld the so-called "physical-presence rule" for sales tax, citing drastic changes in the reality of shopping and commerce.

On Tuesday, May 29, 2018, the United States Supreme Court denied Planned Parenthood's petition for a writ of certiorari in Planned Parenthood of Arkansas & Eastern Oklahoma v. Jegley (8th Cir. 2017). At issue is an Arkansas abortion law that requires doctors who provide medication abortions to contract with a second doctor who has hospital admitting privileges. Arkansas has three abortion clinics, two of which only offer medication abortions; only the abortion clinic in Little Rock offers surgical abortions. Arkansas would become the seventh state to have only one abortion clinic should the law stand.

In a 6-3 opinion, the US Supreme Court struck down a 1992 federal statute that prohibited most states from allowing sports betting. Ruling in favor of the State of New Jersey and against sports leagues including the NCAA, the Court found that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) contained provisions that violated a doctrine known as the anticommandeering rule under the 10th Amendment, meaning that the law represented an unconstitutional overreach into state sovereignty.

A new crowd sourcing effort lead by researchers at the University of Minnesota Michigan State has launched to transcribe the handwritten conference notes of US Supreme Court Justices.

The latest aligned US Supreme Court oral argument audio and transcripts are now up on Oyez.