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Details on today’s orders and opinions

In this morning’s orders the Court granted two new cases and denied – among others – all seven of the detainee cases.  (Lyle ‘s post on those denials is here.) The Court also issued one opinion in an argued case and one summary ruling.  It did not call for the views of the Solicitor General in any new cases.

Justice Thomas wrote the opinion for the Court in Elgin v. Department of Treasury. By a vote of six to three, the Court affirmed the decision of the First Circuit.  It held that the Civil Service Reform Act, which established a “comprehensive system for reviewing personnel action taken against federal employees,” provides the exclusive avenue to judicial review when a qualifying employee challenges an adverse employment action by arguing that a federal statute is unconstitutional. Justice Alito filed a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justices Ginsburg and Kagan.

The Court also issued a summary opinion in Parker v. Matthews.  In that case, it held that the decision of Sixth Circuit, which set aside two twenty-nine-year-old murder convictions, is a textbook example of what the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) proscribes: “using federal habeas corpus review as a vehicle to second-guess the reasonable decisions of state courts.”

New grants:

[PETITION]11-1085[/PETITION]

[PETITION]11-1327[/PETITION]

Recommended Citation: Kali Borkoski, Details on today’s orders and opinions, SCOTUSblog (Jun. 11, 2012, 10:55 AM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2012/06/details-on-todays-orders-and-opinions-8/