Today at the Court

This morning at 10 a.m., the Court is expected to issue orders from its conference last Friday.  Then the Justices will hear oral argument in two cases:

~10 a.m. — At issue in Rent-A-Center v. Jackson (09-497) is whether a district court is in all cases required to determine claims that an arbitration agreement subject to the Federal Arbitration Act is unconscionable, even when the parties to the contract have assigned this issue to the arbitrator for decision.  Stanford Law School student Aaron Tang previewed the case yesterday for SCOTUSblog.

~11 a.m. — In Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co. (09-448), the Court will consider whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act provides a district court with discretion to award attorney’s fees only to a prevailing party and, if so, under what circumstances a party who secures ERISA benefits is a prevailing party within the meaning of the statute.