QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims must ensure that the benefit-of-the-doubt rule in 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b) was properly applied during the claims process in order to satisfy 38 U.S.C. § 7261(b)(1), which directs the court to “take due account” of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ application of that rule. ★ Su…

Bufkin v. McDonough, Sec. of VAPor Supreme Court of the United States

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the Clean Water Act allows the Environmental Protection Agency (or an authorized state) to impose generic prohibitions in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits that subject permit-holders to enforcement for violating water quality standards without identifying specific limits to which their discharges m…

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether economic harms resulting from personal injuries are injuries to “business or property by reason of” the defendant’s acts for purposes of a civil treble-damages action under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether a visa petitioner may obtain judicial review when an approved petition is revoked on the basis of nondiscretionary criteria. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

San Francisco v. EPAPor Supreme Court of the United States

Medical Marijuana, Inc. v. HornPor Supreme Court of the United States

Bouarfa v. Mayorkas, Sec. of Homeland SecurityPor Supreme Court of the United States

QUESTION PRESENTED: (1) Whether the state’s suppression of the key prosecution witness’ admission that he was under the care of a psychiatrist and failure to correct that witness’ false testimony about that care and related diagnosis violate the due process of law under Brady v. Maryland and Napue v. Illinois; (2) whether the entirety of the suppre…

QUESTION PRESENTED: (1) Whether a party must obtain a ruling that conclusively decides the merits in its favor, as opposed to merely predicting a likelihood of later success, to prevail on the merits under 42 U.S.C. § 1988; and (2) whether a party must obtain an enduring change in the parties’ legal relationship from a judicial act, as opposed to a…

QUESTION PRESENTED: (1) Whether “a weapon parts kit that is designed to or may readily be completed, assembled, restored, or otherwise converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive” under 27 C.F.R. § 478.11 is a “firearm” regulated by the Gun Control Act of 1968; and (2) whether “a partially complete, disassembled, or nonfunctional …

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether exhaustion of state administrative remedies is required to bring claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in state court. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

QUESTION PRESENTED: (1) Whether a post-removal amendment of a complaint to omit federal questions defeats federal-question subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331; and (2) whether such a post-removal amendment of a complaint precludes a district court from exercising supplemental jurisdiction over the plaintiff’s remaining state-la…

Glossip v. OklahomaPor Supreme Court of the United States

Garland, Att'y Gen. v. VanDerStokPor Supreme Court of the United States

Lackey v. StinniePor Supreme Court of the United States

Williams v. WashingtonPor Supreme Court of the United States

Royal Canin U.S.A., Inc. v. WullschlegerPor Supreme Court of the United States

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether and if so to what extent does a former president enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

Trump v. United StatesPor Supreme Court of the United States

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the Supreme Court should stay the order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho enjoining the enforcement of Idaho’s Defense of Life Act, which prohibits abortions unless necessary to save the life of the mother, on the ground that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act preempts it. ★ Support this pod…

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether courts must evaluate the National Labor Relations Board’s requests for injunctions under Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act using the traditional, stringent, four-factor test for preliminary injunctions or some other more lenient standard. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★…

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether a consular officer's refusal of a visa to a U.S. citizen's noncitizen spouse impinges upon a constitutionally protected interest of the citizen; and whether, assuming that such a constitutional interest exists, notifying a visa applicant that he was deemed inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a) (A)(ii) suffices to provide…

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act requires district courts to stay a lawsuit pending arbitration, or whether district courts have discretion to dismiss when all claims are subject to arbitration. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the enforcement of generally applicable laws regulating camping on public property constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

Moyle v. United StatesPor Supreme Court of the United States

Dept. of State v. MunozPor Supreme Court of the United States

Starbucks Corp. v. McKinneyPor Supreme Court of the United States

City of Grants Pass v. JohnsonPor Supreme Court of the United States

Smith v. SpizzirriPor Supreme Court of the United States

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit violated this court’s precedents by employing a flawed methodology for assessing prejudice under Strickland v. Washington when it disregarded the district court’s factual and credibility findings and excluded evidence in aggravation and the state’s rebuttal when it reversed t…

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit erred in construing 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c), which prohibits obstruction of congressional inquiries and investigations, to include acts unrelated to investigations and evidence. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether Fourth Amendment malicious-prosecution claims are governed by the charge-specific rule, under which a malicious prosecution claim can proceed as to a baseless criminal charge even if other charges brought alongside the baseless charge are supported by probable cause, or by the “any-crime” rule, under which probable cause…

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether section 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B) criminalizes gratuities, i.e., payments in recognition of actions a state or local official has already taken or committed to take, without any quid pro quo agreement to take those actions. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

Thornell v. JonesPor Supreme Court of the United States

Fischer v. United StatesPor Supreme Court of the United States

Chiaverini v. City of NapoleonPor Supreme Court of the United States

Snyder v. United StatesPor Supreme Court of the United States

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the proceeds of a life-insurance policy taken out by a closely held corporation on a shareholder in order to facilitate the redemption of the shareholder’s stock should be considered a corporate asset when calculating the value of the shareholder’s shares for purposes of the federal estate tax. ★ Support this podcast on …

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the Constitution requires a jury trial and proof beyond a reasonable doubt to find that a defendant’s prior convictions were “committed on occasions different from one another,” as is necessary to impose an enhanced sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★…

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether respondents have Article III standing to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s 2016 and 2021 actions with respect to mifepristone’s approved conditions of use; whether the FDA’s 2016 and 2021 actions were arbitrary and capricious; and whether the district court properly granted preliminary relief. ★ Support this p…

Erlinger v. United StatesPor Supreme Court of the United States

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the 60-day deadline in 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(1)(A) for a federal employee to petition the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to review a final decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board is jurisdictional. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the Indian Health Service must pay “contract support costs” not only to support IHS-funded activities, but also to support the tribe’s expenditure of income collected from third parties. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the court should deny the motion by Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado for entry of a proposed consent decree that would resolve this dispute over the United States' claim as intervenors that New Mexico violated the Rio Grande Compact without the United States’ consent. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★…

QUESTION PRESENTED: (1) Whether the probable-cause exception in Nieves v. Barlett can be satisfied by objective evidence other than specific examples of arrests that never happened; and (2) whether Nieves is limited to individual claims against arresting officers for split-second arrests. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★…

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether an insurer with financial responsibility for a bankruptcy claim is a “party in interest” that may object to a plan of reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Por Austin Songer

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether in a prosecution for drug trafficking — where an element of the offense is that the defendant knew she was carrying illegal drugs — Federal Rule of Evidence 704(b) permits a governmental expert witness to testify that most couriers know they are carrying drugs and that drug-trafficking organizations do not entrust large …

QUESTION PRESENTED: Whether the First Amendment allows a government regulator to threaten regulated entities with adverse regulatory actions if they do business with a controversial speaker, as a consequence of (a) the government’s own hostility to the speaker’s viewpoint or (b) a perceived “general backlash” against the speaker’s advocacy. ★ Suppo…

QUESTION PRESENTED: (1) Whether respondents have Article III standing; (2) whether the government’s challenged conduct transformed private social media companies’ content-moderation decisions into state action and violated respondents’ First Amendment rights; and (3) whether the terms and breadth of the preliminary injunction are proper. ★ Support …