Ronald J. Mann Posts

Opinion analysis: Justices toe hard line in affirming reservation status for eastern Oklahoma

On July 9, 2020 the Supreme Court of the United States held that land in northeastern Oklahoma reserved for the Creek Nation since the 19th century remains a reservation for the purpose of a federal statute that gives the federal government exclusive jurisdiction to try certain major crimes committed by “[a]ny Indian” in “the Indian country.”

Opinion analysis: Sharply divided bench rejects Georgia’s copyright in annotations of Georgia statutes

The decision this morning in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org resolves a technical question of copyright law, the extent to which governmental authorities can copyright (and profit from) the materials that they create. The specific question here is the copyrightability of annotations that summarize, but are not part of, the state’s body of enforceable statutes.

Argument Analysis: Justices Debate Ability of Business That Did Not Sign Arbitration Agreement to Compel Arbitration

GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA is the Supreme Court’s first arbitration case of the 2019 term. For observers familiar with the arbitration docket in recent years, this case will seem unusual, because so few of the justices seem predisposed to compel arbitration.