Tag Archives: SCOTUS

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a challenge to Republican-drawn electoral districts in Michigan that Democrats said were illegally configured to dilute their voting power, an action taken in the aftermath of major rulings by the justices in June prohibiting federal courts from hearing such claims. The Supreme Court’s action voided an order in April by …

Reuters reports: U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared divided over whether a landmark decades-old federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in the workplace protects gay and lesbian employees as they heard arguments in one of the biggest cases of their current term. Liberal justices signaled sympathy toward arguments that gay workers are covered under Title VII of the Civil Rights …

The New York Daily News reports: Some streets in Washington, D.C., had to be evacuated after a “suspicious package” was found in the area surrounding the Supreme Court building, Capitol Park Police confirmed Tuesday morning. Pro- and anti-LGBTQ rights protesters are planning to stage demonstrations in the nation’s capital to mark what’s being called the most significant legal case in …

Roll Call reports: The Supreme Court confronts a major civil rights issue Tuesday over how broadly the justices should read the word “sex” in a 55-year-old anti-discrimination law — and a key aspect is Congress’ current push to clarify that the law covers LGBT individuals. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits private companies from discriminating against …

NPR reports: The U.S. Supreme Court has jumped headlong back into the abortion wars. The court said Friday that it will hear arguments in a case from Louisiana that is nearly identical to a Texas case decided by the court three years ago. Like the Texas law that the court previously struck down, the Louisiana law requires any doctor performing …

CNBC reports: Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a filing to the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the company disagrees with President Trump’s decision to terminate DACA, the Obama-era program that shields some immigrants without documentation from being deported. ″We are distressed at the prospect of ripping our DACA colleagues from the fabric of our company,” Cook and HR head …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: After obtaining a perfunctory decision last year in her favor, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Washington State is back before the U.S. Supreme Court with a renewed call for a First Amendment ruling allowing her to refuse service to same-sex couples seeking floral arrangements for their weddings. In her 41-page petition for …

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to bar many Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the United States. The court said the administration may enforce new rules that generally forbid asylum applications from people who had traveled through another country on their way to the United States without being denied asylum …

Fox News is thrilled to report: The Supreme Court is considering an emergency appeal from the Justice Department that would allow them to enforce, for now, the Trump administration’s ban on asylum for anyone trying to cross the southern border by transiting through a third country. The Justice Department on Tuesday filed a supplemental brief with the justices, criticizing a …

The Associated Press reports: Justice Neil Gorsuch is following the path of Supreme Court colleagues-turned-authors in a new book in which he laments the loss of civility in public discourse. The 52-year-old justice wrote “A Republic, If You Can Keep It” because Americans should remember that their political opponents “love this country as much as we do,” Gorsuch said in …

Reuters reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pledged Tuesday that Republicans would fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2019 or 2020, arguing the dynamic is different now than when the party held open a seat in 2016. Asked during an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt if Republicans would support filing a vacancy on the Supreme Court in 2019 …

It seems like she’s just trolling the haters lately. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Saturday that she is on her way “to being very well” after receiving cancer treatment, adding that she will be prepared when the high court’s next term begins in October. “This audience can see that I am alive. And I am on my way …

CNN reports: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, making her first public appearance since it was announced that she had undergone recent treatment for pancreatic cancer, appeared strong Monday when she accepted an honorary degree from the University at Buffalo. The 86-year-old liberal icon stood as she made remarks and briefly referenced her health, which has again been the focus of public …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: The Trump administration took its hardest line yet to legalize anti-gay discrimination on Friday when it asked the Supreme Court to declare that federal law allows private companies to fire workers based only on their sexual orientation. An amicus brief filed by the DOJ weighs in on two cases involving gay workers and what …

NPR reports: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has just completed three weeks of radiation treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the U.S. Supreme Court disclosed Friday. The radiation therapy, conducted on an outpatient basis, began Aug. 5, shortly after a localized cancerous tumor was discovered on Ginsburg’s pancreas. The treatment included the insertion of a stent in …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: The Trump administration on Friday took one of its most aggressive steps yet to legalize anti-transgender discrimination by telling the Supreme Court that federal law allows firing workers solely for being transgender, arguing a Michigan funeral home could fire a transgender woman because she wanted to wear women’s clothing on the job. Although the …

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with plans to build a wall along parts of the Mexican border while litigation over paying for it proceeds. A trial judge had prohibited the administration from transferring $2.5 billion from the Pentagon’s budget to fund the effort, and an appeals court had …

NPR reports: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in an interview Tuesday that she does not favor proposals put forth by some Democratic presidential candidates who have advocated changing the number of Supreme Court justices if the Democrats win the presidency. “Nine seems to be a good number. It’s been that way for a long time,” she said, adding, “I think …

Iowa Starting Line reports: “I think we should have been a whole heck of a lot harder on [Mitch McConnell],” Biden said when asked if there was anything he and President Obama should have done differently on the Merrick Garland nomination. “I’d say, what are you doing, you’re setting a horrible precedent here. And the answer was, I know Joe, …

Former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman writes in a NYT op-ed: Members of the Republican Party are heirs to the legacies of Lincoln and Reagan. Our party should support people’s ability to reap the rewards of their labor — to earn a fair and honest living, and to work where they want to work. We are the party of economic freedom, …