Not much of interest in criminal law in the Supreme Court today. The Court decided an original jurisdiction case, New Jersey v. Delaware, involving a long-running dispute between those states regarding jurisdiction over the Delaware River. The only point of interest for us is that Justice Ginsburg wrote the opinion. See sudoku update, below.

In the orders list, the Court granted two civil First Amendment cases. No hot button criminal cases are in the denied list. Update: There is a criminal-related case that probably qualifies as "hot button." The Court turned down the Justice Department's certiorari petition regarding return of the materials seized in a search of Congressman William Jefferson's office. Robert Barnes reports here for the WaPo. DC Circuit opinion here. Cert. petition here. Curiously, the named party is not Congressman Jefferson but his office, Room 2113 in the Rayburn Building. I've heard of an office with prestige, but an office with standing is a new one to me.

Sudoku Update: The premise of SCOTUS sudoku is explained here. Since that previous post, we have had Medellin from the October sitting, written by Chief Justice Roberts, Hall Street from the November sitting, written by Justice Souter, and today's NJ v. Del from the December sitting, written by Justice Ginsburg. If the premise is correct, then United States v. Santos, the money laundering case, is being written by Justice Breyer or Justice Alito. Given the slowness of this opinion's emergence, I would bet on Breyer, who obviously spent a lot of time on his treatise dissent in Medellin. From November, United States v. Williams, the kiddie porn vagueness case, is being written by Justice Scalia or Justice Alito, probably not a good sign for the defendant. The biggie, Boumediene v. Bush, the Gitmo detainee case, is now down to Justice Kennedy or Justice Souter. Stay tuned.