The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Water Rights Settlement Act ratifies that the Tribe has a federally reserved water right up to 20,000 acre-feet per year of groundwater from the Indio Subbasin that is held in trust by the U.S. for the Tribe and individual allottees. The Tribe would also have surface water rights in Tahquitz Creek, Andreas Creek, and Whitewater Ranch, held in trust by the U.S.

California’s requirement of background checks for buyers of firearms ammunition was revived Monday, at least for now, when a federal appeals court blocked an earlier ruling that the 2019 law was unconstitutional. 

This article examines how oral argument time has evolved at the Supreme Court over nearly seven decades, using data from Oyez (procured with the help of Jack Truscott) covering the period from the 1955-56 term through the current one. What emerges is the story of a precipitous decline in total argument time since the 1960s, followed by a recent uptick in average argument length per case as the court’s docket has shrunk.

Legal scholars have long debated the role and influence of academic writing on judicial decisionmaking. The optimistic view holds that scholarship provides courts with rigorous analysis, empirical data, historical context, and normative frameworks that improve legal reasoning.