2014 Supreme Court Preview, September 19th-20th

The Institute of Bill of Rights Law at William & Mary School of Law marks the commencement of the new term of the United States Supreme Court each fall with its Supreme Court Preview. Now in its 27th year, the Preview brings together leading Supreme Court journalists, advocates, legal scholars, and federal court judges for a day and a half to discuss and analyze the Court’s upcoming term.

 The Supreme Court Preview is nationally recognized for providing unique insights into the upcoming term, often from the very advocates slated to argue the cases before the Court.  The Preview opened on Friday, September 19, 2014 at 5 pm with a Moot Court on one of the most visible cases for which the Court had granted certiorari by the summer of 2014.

 Twelve of the 2014 participants have argued more than 300 cases before the Supreme Court, including former Solicitors General, Paul Clement, Gregg Garre, and Walter Dellinger.  Other prominent advocates included Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Beth Brinkmann, Carter Phillips (Sidley, Austin), Paul Smith (Jenner & Block), Tom Goldstein (Goldstein and Howe), and Lisa Blatt (Arnold & Porter.)  The Federal bench was represented by Diane Wood (7th Circuit) and J. Harvie Wilkinson III (4th Circuit).  Other participants included Supreme Court correspondents from the New York Times, The Washington Post, The LA Times, and USA Today.

 The Moot Court debated U.S. v Jones, testing whether there are constitutional limits on police officers’ use of GPS to track the travels of criminal suspects.  Jeffrey Fisher of Stanford Law School and Andrew Pincus, Mayer Brown, argued the case.