+ How courts judge intellectual disabilities at stake.

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The Daily Docket

The Daily Docket

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

 

By Caitlin Tremblay

Good morning. Today the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases, including a death penalty appeal. Plus, a set designer will ask the 2nd Circuit to revive his lawsuit against pop artist Jeff Koons; and AI earns high marks in law school grading. Italian cooking is poised for a new accolade: formal recognition as a cultural treasure. Talk about a fusilli of approval. We made it to midweek, let’s get going.

 

U.S. Supreme Court to review death row inmate's intellectual disability ruling

 

REUTERS/Micah Green

Today the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Alabama’s effort to reinstate the death sentence of a man deemed intellectually disabled.

Why it matters: The case could clarify how courts assess intellectual disabilities, particularly the use of multiple IQ scores and related evidence. The ruling, expected by the end of June, could impact death penalty standards nationwide.

Context: Joseph Clifton Smith was convicted of a 1997 murder and sentenced to death. A federal judge and the 11th Circuit found him intellectually disabled under the Supreme Court’s 2002 Atkins v. Virginia precedent, which bars executing such individuals. Alabama argues lower courts applied the wrong legal standard.

The lawyers: Alabama Principal Deputy Solicitor General Robert Overing for the state; DOJ attorney Harry Graver for the U.S. as amicus curiae; and WilmerHale’s Seth Waxman for Smith.

 

Follow up: Yesterday we highlighted a major campaign finance case involving the vice president that was set to go before the U.S. Supreme Court. Here’s a recap of the oral arguments.

 

Coming up today

  • The U.S. Supreme Court will also hear arguments in a case over whether Section 47(b) of the Investment Company Act creates an implied private right of action. The court’s ruling is expected to resolve a circuit split on the issue.
  • Set designer Michael Hayden will ask the 2nd Circuit to revive his lawsuit against pop artist Jeff Koons over Koons' use of his sculpture of a serpent wrapped around a rock in Koons' 1989 "Made in Heaven" series of artworks. A New York federal judge determined in February that Hayden waited too long to bring his 2021 lawsuit. Read that ruling here.
  • U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in D.C. will consider whether to issue a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by the National Weather Service Employees Organization seeking to stop the Trump administration from terminating collective bargaining rights for some federal employees. Read the motion.
  • The Michigan Supreme Court will consider, for a second time, the constitutionality of a mandatory life sentence for felony murder charges. Read the briefs.
  • Jontay Porter, the former Toronto Raptors forward who was banned from the NBA over a gambling scandal and pleaded guilty to a fraud charge, is scheduled to be sentenced in Brooklyn federal court. 
  • Jasveen Sangha, the Los Angeles drug dealer known as the "Ketamine Queen,” is scheduled to be sentenced today after pleading guilty to charges that she supplied the dose of ketamine that killed "Friends" star Matthew Perry. She faces up to 65 years in prison.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

 

More top news

  • Exclusive: Tax prosecutions plunge as Trump shifts crime-fighting efforts
  • Trump prosecutor Jack Smith to launch firm with ex-DOJ lawyers
  • Illinois enacts immigration protections amid Trump crackdowns
  • Hendrix classic albums under spotlight in UK rights battle with Sony
 
 

Industry insight

  • The U.S. Senate confirmed two conservative Mississippi Supreme Court justices to serve as federal trial court judges, despite what Democrats called their extreme stances on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and sentencing. Read more about the confirmations here.
  • Moves: Jason Sloan, former assistant general counsel at the U.S. Copyright Office, joined Pryor Cashman … Willkie added litigation partner Nathaniel Ward from Jones Day.
  • New partners: King & Spalding elected 27 new partners … Morrison Cohen appointed two to partner.
 

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"It's entirely possible that AI grades were actually more 'accurate' in evaluating the quality of exam answers than were human grades."

—University of Minnesota law professor Daniel Schwarcz, commenting on findings that OpenAI’s ChatGPT-5 produced grades “roughly approximate” to those of six law professors who put the AI's grading capabilities to the test. Read more about AI law school grading here.
 

In the courts