Justices Deny Benefits to In-Vitro TwinsBy JESS BRAVINStaff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.22 May 2012(Copyright (c) 2012, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that children conceived by in-vitro fertilization after their father's death are not automatically entitled to Social Security survivors insurance benefits, resolving a question posed by modern fertility methods that has divided the lower courts.Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Congress intended the benefit not to assist "needy persons" in general, but for the more specific purpose of alleviating a family's hardship upon a breadwinner's death.To that end, the Social Security Administration was entitled to rely on state inheritance law to determine which survivors are entitled to benefits. And in the case of ... Continue reading →

This coming Tuesday, May 15, Jeffrey Rosen (professor of law at George Washington University and legal affairs editor of the New Republic) and I will be discussing the question “What is Judicial Activism?” The Wall Street Journal’s Jess Bravin will moderate the discussion. The free event, which includes lunch, will take place in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2226, from noon to 1:30. It’s sponsored by the Capitol Hill lawyers chapter of the Federalist Society. RSVP to CapitolHill@Fed-Soc.org. Continue reading →

Gay-Marriage Cases Pose Legal Tests for Administration By JESS BRAVINStaff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.13 May 2012Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.President Barack Obama last week cast his support for same-sex marriage as a personal view on policy, not a constitutional imperative. But because the Supreme Court long has defined the right to marriage as a "fundamental freedom," legal analysts say his administration is sure to face pressure to weigh in on the marriage question when it reaches the Supreme Court.That pressure could mount as early as this fall, if the challenge to California's Proposition 8, a voter-approved initiative that barred gay marriage, reaches the final stages.If that happens, Mr. Obama "will surely be asked by advocates for LGBT [lesbian, ... Continue reading →

Voting Cases Could Shape Debate Over Alito --- Court Nominee's Views on Warren-Era Reapportionment Decisions Puzzle Some ScholarsBy JESS BRAVINStaff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.21 November 2005(Copyright (c) 2005, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)IN HIS 1985 JOB APPLICATION for the Reagan Justice Department, Samuel Alito asserted "disagreement with Warren Court decisions, particularly in the areas of criminal procedure, the Establishment Clause and reapportionment." The first two areas -- where a liberal Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren imposed rules to deter police misconduct and struck down state-directed prayers -- are familiar targets of conservatives.But reapportionment is a chapter of Warren Court jurisprudence rarely disputed since the 1960s, when Southern states fought decisions that effectively ended rules that had diluted the voting power of ... Continue reading →

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AMC Scene from “Mad Men.” Editor’s note: Every Sunday after the newest episode of “Mad Men,” lawyer and Supreme Court advocate Walter Dellinger will host an online dialogue about the show. The participants include Columbia University history professor Alan Brinkley, Stanford Law Professor Pam Karlan, and Columbia theater and television professor Evangeline Morphos. Dellinger will post his thoughts shortly after each episode ends at 11 p.m., and the others will add their commentary in the hours and days that follow. Readers are invited to join in with their thoughts in the comments. Gwen Orel (Recapper) Pete begins an affair with the wife of his commuter buddy Howard, whom he knows has a girlfriend. He drives Beth home from the city when she’s locked her keys ... Continue reading →

Chaos at Sept. 11 Hearing Signals Case Will Take YearsBy JESS BRAVINStaff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.6 May 2012Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.After a chaotic effort to restart the Sept. 11, 2001, conspiracy case, the Obama administration perhaps could take solace in one result: The military judge set a tentative trial date of May 2013, pushing an array of legal and political risks into the president's final term—or into Republican hopeful Mitt Romney's lap.Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants face potential death sentences if convicted in the plot that saw four airliners hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.But a routine arraignment—the reading of charges, appointment of counsel, entry of pleas—devolved ... Continue reading →

World NewsGuantanamo Judge Grapples With Disruptive Terror SuspectsBy JESS BRAVINStaff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.6 May 2012Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.FORT MEADE, Md.—The Sept. 11, 2001, conspiracy case began at Guantanamo Bay on Saturday as a battle of wills between a military judge and the five defendants, thwarting government efforts to quickly get the prosecution under way.Hearings will be resumed next month under an order by Col. James Pohl, the presiding military judge in the proceedings being held at the U.S. Naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Closed-circuit feeds were provided to several military installations on the mainland, including this Army installation near Washington.The arraignment dragged into the night as lawyers for some of the terror suspects demanded a ... Continue reading →

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Speak for the Trees: Today, Ft Meade theater shows #KSM's #9/11 arraignment, live from #GTMO. Tomorrow: "The Lorax." http://t.co/imM2t93C Continue reading →