Tag Archives: Supreme Court

SCOTUS Upholds Social Media Age Law (For Now)

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused for now to block enforcement of a Mississippi law aimed at regulating the use of social media by children, an issue of growing national concern. The justices rejected an emergency appeal from a tech industry group, NetChoice, that is challenging laws passed in Mississippi and other states that require social …

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Kavanaugh: Supreme Court Shouldn’t Explain Rulings

The New York Times reports: Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said on Thursday that the Supreme Court should be wary of providing detailed explanations for its rulings on emergency applications like those arising from challenges to the Trump administration’s efforts to transform the federal government. “There can be a risk, in writing the opinion, of a lock-in effect, of making a …

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Rand Paul Hopes SCOTUS Stops Trump On Tariffs

“They’re a cost, they’re a tax. And it’s something that will elevate the prices of things that you tariff. So if you put a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum, the people who buy steel and aluminum inevitably are going to pay more. I don’t think there’s enough votes to rein in executive authority. It’s funny how when there’s a …

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Maxwell Begs Supreme Court To Hear Her Appeal

CNN reports: Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, urged the Supreme Court on Monday to take up her pending appeal and overturn her sex-trafficking conviction, claiming she was covered by an agreement Epstein made with federal authorities that shielded her from prosecution. “This case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did,” Maxwell’s attorneys told the …

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NYT Board: SCOTUS Won’t Explain Deference To Trump

From the New York Times editorial board: When judges show their work, the public can assess it by the standards the judiciary sets for itself — reasoning grounded in law and judicial precedent. Without that, judges risk their legitimacy. Clear explanation is especially important for the Supreme Court, which sets national rules that lower courts must follow. When the court …

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SCOTUS: Trump Can Fire Product Safety Commissioners

NBC News reports: The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed President Donald Trump to fire members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a federal agency set up by Congress to be independent of political pressures. The justices, granting an emergency request filed by the Trump administration, blocked a Maryland-based federal judge’s ruling that reinstated Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka …

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SCOTUS Allows Trump To Gut Education Department

USA Today reports: An ideologically divided Supreme Court on July 14 allowed the Trump administration to fire hundreds of workers from the Education Department and continue other efforts to dismantle the agency. The court’s three liberal justices opposed the order, the latest win for President Donald Trump at the high court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority handed Trump the …

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Supreme Court Denies Florida On Anti-Migrant Law

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to revive an aggressive Florida immigration law that had been blocked by lower courts. The law would let state officials prosecute unauthorized migrants who enter the state. The court’s one-sentence order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. There were no noted dissents. …

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SCOTUS Lifts Block On Slashing Federal Workforce

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for President Donald Trump’s administration to resume carrying out mass job cuts and the restructuring of agencies, elements of his campaign to downsize and reshape the federal government. The justices lifted San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Susan Illston’s May 22 order that had blocked large-scale federal layoffs called “reductions …

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SCOTUS Okays Shipping Migrants To South Sudan

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the government to deport eight men who have spent more than a month held under guard on an American military base on Djibouti to South Sudan, granting a request from the Trump administration. The order allows the government to immediately send the men, who hail from countries around the …

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SCOTUS To Hear Hate Preacher’s “Free Speech” Case

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court said Thursday it will consider whether to revive a lawsuit from a man barred from evangelizing outside a small-town Mississippi amphitheater after authorities say he shouted insults at people over a loudspeaker. Gabriel Olivier, an evangelical Christian, says restricting him from public property violated his religious and free speech rights. The city of …

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SCOTUS To Hear Cases On Transgender Athletes Bans

NBC News reports: The Supreme Court on Thursday waded into the legal fight over state laws that ban transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s school and college sports, taking up cases from West Virginia and Idaho. The court will hear cases involving two transgender students, Becky Pepper-Jackson and Lindsay Hecox, who challenged state bans in West Virginia and …

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SCOTUS To Hear Challenge To Campaign Finance Limits

ABC News reports: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up Vice President Vance and GOP committees’ bid to strike down federal limits on political parties’ spending made in coordination with campaigns. It sets the stage for a major campaign finance battle during the court’s next annual term, which begins in October. Twenty-four years ago, the Supreme Court upheld …

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SCOTUS Upholds Texas Law On Porn Age Verification

USA Today reports:  The Supreme Court on June 27 upheld a Texas law requiring pornographic websites verify users are at least 18, in a case that pitted concerns about protecting minors against worries about violating the First Amendment rights of adults. The court split 6-3 along ideologically grounds with the three liberal justices dissenting. Eighteen other, largely conservative states have enacted similar laws in …

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Supreme Court Rules For Haters On LGBTQ Books

From an April Washington Post report: The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared poised to side with a group of religious parents seeking to pull their children from public school lessons with LGBTQ+-themed books — a significant expansion of the long-standing practice of allowing opt outs for reproductive health classes. The lawsuit over story time and books with titles such as …

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SCOTUS Rules For Trump On Birthright Citizenship

NBC News reports:  The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Trump administration to take steps to implement its contentious proposal to end automatic birthright citizenship. The court granted a request by the Trump administration to narrow the scope of nationwide injunctions imposed by judges so that they apply only to groups and individuals that sued. That means the birthright citizenship …

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Retired Supreme Court Justice: “Democracy Is At Risk”

Politico reports: Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy warned Thursday that acrimonious political discourse and threats to judges are eroding the ability of the United States to serve as an example of democracy worldwide. “Many in the rest of the world look to the United States to see what democracy is, to see what democracy ought to be,” Kennedy said …

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Supreme Court: States Can Defund Planned Parenthood

The Guardian reports: The Supreme Court has paved the way for South Carolina to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program over its status as an abortion provider, a decision that could embolden red states across the country to effectively “defund” the reproductive healthcare organization. The case, Medina v Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centers around a 2018 executive order …

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SCOTUS Lets Trump Deport Migrants To Third Countries

CNN reports: The Supreme Court on Monday granted President Donald Trump’s emergency request to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their homeland, including places like South Sudan, with minimal notice. The decision is a significant win for the Trump administration, which had argued that a lower court usurped its authority by ordering the Department of Homeland Security to provide …

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Florida AG Asks SCOTUS To Let Cops Arrest Migrants

The Hill reports: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow the state to enforce its new immigration law as an appeal plays out in a lower court. The new law, SB 4-C, makes it a state crime for people to enter Florida after arriving in the U.S. illegally and evading immigration authorities. “Illegal …

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