April Session - Week 2

Monday, April 23

Radlax Gateway Hotel v. Amalgamated Bank, 11-166

  Tuesday, April 24 

Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band v. Patchak, 11-246

and

Salazar v. Patchak, 11-247        

(consolidated)

Wednesday, April 25

Arizona v. United States, 11-182

View the full April 2012 Calendar

Alphabetical Listing of 2011-2012 Supreme Court Cases

The PREVIEW editors will highlight 2 articles from each issue.

Following oral argument, check back for commentary from our authors.

Arizona v. United States

The state of Arizona enacted S.B. 1070 in order to address problems related to illegal immigration in the state. But the federal government claims that four provisions in S.B. 1070 intrude on and frustrate the purposes and objectives of the comprehensive federal immigration regulatory scheme. Under the Supremacy Clause, federal law preempts state law when federal law occupies the field or when state law stands as an obstacle to its purposes or objectives. The issue here is whether federal immigration law preempts four provisions of S.B. 1070.

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Dorsey v. United States and Hill v. United States

This case concerns whether defendants whose criminal conduct occurred before the enactment of the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) should nevertheless obtain the benefit of its reduced penalties for crack cocaine offenses. Edward Dorsey Sr. and Corey A. Hill both committed crack cocaine distribution offenses before, but were sentenced after, the FSA’s enactment. Both argued they should be sentenced in accordance with the FSA’s lower penalties. The district courts disagreed, and the Seventh Circuit upheld both sentences. The circuits are split 3-1-1 on the issue.

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