Today in Supreme Court History: November 13

United States v. Bormes, 568 U.S. 6 (decided November 13, 2021): dismissing lawyers’ class action re: Fair Credit Reporting Act violation of privacy (federal court filing receipts display last four digits and expiration date of lawyer’s credit card): sovereign immunity not waived

Ayers v. Belmontes, 549 U.S. 7 (decided November 13, 2006): no error in judge not specifically instructing jury to consider future mitigating circumstances in sentencing (here, that defendant would lead a constructive life if incarcerated as opposed to executed), where evidence and argument was presented by defense counsel; death sentence reinstated (defendant, who during a burglary unexpectedly encountered the 19-year-old victim and hit her head 15-20 times with a dumbbell, went up to the Court again on an ineffective assistance of counsel argument in 2009; eventually died on death row of natural causes in 2017) (so did those extra years end up being “constructive”?)

In re Amendments to Rules 1 and 10, 108 U.S. 1 (decided November 13, 1882): Waite amends Court rules as to costs for a copy of the record; he gifts us with a history of the clerk’s practices under the old rule (this boring disquisition suited Waite’s literary talents; as Frankfurter tactfully put it, “the stuff of the artist was not in him”)