Breyer, Stephen G

Justice Jackson, a Former Law Clerk, Returns to a Transformed Supreme Court

Less than two hours after the Supreme Court ended a wrenching term last month, it welcomed a new member. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who had been waiting in the wings since she was confirmed by the Senate in April, took two oaths of office — and joined a court in turmoil. “She’s entering the court […]

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Supreme Court Debates Limits of Ruling for Tribes in Oklahoma

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who dissented in McGirt, asked Edwin S. Kneedler, a lawyer for the federal government, whether criminal laws in Oklahoma were being adequately enforced. “Is it a sustainable situation?” Justice Alito asked. “Is the federal government going to be able to provide enough federal agents, enough federal prosecutors, enough federal judges, […]

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The Problem of ‘Personal Precedents’ of Supreme Court Justices

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices, like most people, like to appear to be consistent. No one wants to be thought to be a flip-flopper, an opportunist or a hypocrite. That means justices try not to disavow earlier legal views, even ones that appeared in dissents, in opinions they wrote as appeals court judges, in academic […]

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Jackson Vows to Be Independent on Supreme Court if Confirmed

WASHINGTON — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Monday emphasized “my duty to be independent” if confirmed as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, as Republican senators almost immediately began previewing attack lines accusing her of being lenient on crime. On the first day of her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge […]

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