Oral Argument Schedule for January through March 2010

The Supreme Court has set the oral argument schedule for January, February and March of this year.  Among the standout cases are:

• Briscoe v. Virginia, No. 07-11191 (argument date January 11th)    In Briscoe, the Court will be confronted with the question of what procedure is required by the Confrontation Clause with regard to lab reports and whether its ruling just last Term in Melendiaz-Diaz v. Massachusetts, No. 07-591, should be reconsidered.  
• American Needle v. NFL, No. 08-661 (argument date January 13th)  The question in this case is whether the NFL has violated anti-trust legislation through its exclusive licensing agreement with Reebok. Virtually every major sports league in the country has sided with the NFL. 
• Skilling v. United States, No. 08-1394 (argument date March 1st)   The case involves two issues:  (1) whether former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling’s actions constituted federal honest services fraud; (2) whether the pre-trial publicity surrounding the case violated Skilling’s right to a fair trial.
• McDonald v. City of Chicago, No. 08-1521 (argument date March 2nd)  Perhaps the biggest case of the year will decide whether the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies with equal force to state law.  In McDonald, the Court could reconsider a notorious nineteenth century ruling.
• Kiyemba v. Obama, No. 08-1234 (argument date March 23rd)     The Court will decide whether habeas corpus courts can release Guantanamo Bay prisoners from custody, and specifically, release from custody inside the United States. 

Overall for the Term, 75 argument slots have been filled (this includes Citizens United, No. 08-205, which is a carryover from last Term) and all but three of the cases granted for this Term have been scheduled for argument.