A few big decisions were handed down at the Supreme Court today - Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts and Safford v. Redding among them. The Ricci case, the one involving the firefighters in New Haven, was not handed down today, and will be released on Monday. Now, I'm no legal expert, but I will attempt to break down the big ones. I can't get open PDFs on this computer at the library, so I will go with the information I have been able to get.
Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts deals with defendants being able to cross-examine forensic analysts who prepare the lab reports at trial. In a 5-4 decision, with the majority including Scalia, Thomas, Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg, the court found that a defendant has a constitutional right to cross-examine the forensic analysts. A lab chemist must be called to testify in order to admit the lab results as evidence at trial.
Safford v. Redding deals with a 13-year-old girl who was strip-searched by school authorities who were looking for ibuprofen pills in her underwear. The court, in a very convoluted, effectively 8-1 decision that featured justices concurring in part and dissenting in part all over the place, found that the strip search was illegal but that school officials were not financially liable.
There were other decisions handed down as well today, and I will update this diary when (a) I get home to my PDF-friendly computer and (b) I read all the decisions.