In case you missed it

Items of interest this week:

• The Supreme Court decided Sinochem,  unanimously holding that forum non conveniens, like other threshold nonmerits issues, may be resolved before difficult issues of jurisdiction (both of the subject matter and the person).

• Benjamin Spencer posts a provocative article challenging some basic assumptions about the allocation of power between Congress and the courts. 

• The 10th Circuit holds that the district court "essentially ceded its duty to conduct factfinding to the advisory jury. As we have held, 'the findings of such a jury are, of course, merely advisory; the trial court must . . . make its own findings and ‘review on appeal is of the findings of the court as if there had been no verdict from an advisory jury.'"