US Supreme Court issues 3 decisions
The United States Supreme Court issued three opinions today:
India Mission v. New York City - foreign governments are not immune to being sued to force them to pay local property taxes on residences for their diplomats at the United Nations. 7-2 decision, authored by Justice Thomas.
Davenport v. Washington Education Association The First Amendment does not prohibit a state to bar a labor union representing government employees from using non-union workers' due for political causes if those workers have not explicitly consented. The result was unanimous, the primary opinion was authored by Justice Scalia with 3 partially concurring votes.
Bowles v. Russell - The Court holds that a petitioner's untimely notice of appeal, which was filed in reliance upon an erroneous district court, did not vest jurisdiction in a federal appellate court. More specifically, the defendant failed to file a timely notice of appeal from the federal district court's order denying his habeas corpus petition. The petitioner moved to reopen the filing period under FRAP 4(a)(6), which allows a district court to grant a 14-day extension under certain conditions. The district court granted the motion, but mistakenly gave him 17 days to file the notice of appeal. He filed the notice of appeal within the 17 day period, but after the 14 day period provided for by NRA 4. The Court held, in 5-4 decision authored by Justice Thomas, that the taking of an appeal in a civil case (habeas is civil in this context) within the time prescribed by statute is "mandatory and jurisdictional" and that because the appeal was not filed within the jurisdictional time limit, it must be dismissed. The Court also found that the "unique circumstances" doctrine did not apply as the Court had no authority to create equitable exceptions to jurisdictional requirements.
The next opinion release day is Monday, June 18.
Many thanks to Scotusblog for links to the opinions and the early summaries.