After a break in oral arguments that allowed several of the justices to get out on the town,
the Court is back in session today, and there are some important issues
before the justices, even though the subject matter of the cases the
Court will be hearing today won't exactly have the general public
lining up to get into the arguments.
On the calendar for today
are a mutual fund case, a case about state regulation of the federal
courts and a petition for habeas corpus. First up is Jones v. Harris Assoc.,
in which a shareholder of a mutual fund alleges that an investment
adviser overcharged for advice. The Court will have to decide whether
the 7th Circuit correctly decided that the claim is not cognizable
under the Investment Company Act of 1940 unless the shareholder shows that the adviser misled the directors who signed off on the fee.
After that, the Court moves on to Shady Grove Orthopedic Assoc. v. Allstate Ins. Co.,
which covers whether state legislatures can set procedure for federal
courts within the state, specifically whether they can ban federal
courts from using the class action device for state law claims.
Finally, the Court, in Beard v. Kindler,
will consider the habeas appeal of a man whose appellate claims
defaulted after he fled to Canada and the state court exercised its
discretion to dismiss his post-verdict motions. The question before
the Court is whether a discretionary state rule is automatically
inadequate under the adequate-state grounds
doctrine.
That's
all the Court has scheduled for today, but it's a busy week, with
arguments through Wednesday. Keep checking back for previews of each
day's cases, or go to FindLaw's collection of Supreme Court dockets to read ahead.