Tag Archives: Supreme Court

CNN reports: The North Carolina congressional map drawn by state judges would likely give Democrats at least another seat in Congress next year. The court — over the noted dissents of Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch — turned away an emergency request from Republican legislators to use a different map that would be more favorable to their …

Bloomberg News reports: The U.S. Supreme Court refused to reinstate Bill Cosby’s conviction for sexually assaulting a Temple University employee in 2004, rejecting an appeal by Pennsylvania prosecutors. The justices without comment left intact a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that the state reneged on an agreement not to prosecute Cosby, violating his constitutional rights. Cosby, now 84, was released from …

NBC News reports: The Supreme Court on Friday reimposed the death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, reversing a federal appeals court ruling that had voided it. The 6-3 decision rejected defense claims that the judge at Tsarnaev’s 2015 trial improperly restricted the questioning of prospective jurors and was wrong to exclude evidence of a separate crime two years …

NBC News reports: The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 on Thursday that Kentucky’s Republican attorney general can pick up the legal fight over a restrictive abortion law that the state’s Democratic governor no longer wishes to defend. Already this term, the court has allowed a Texas abortion law, the strictest in the nation, to remain in force. And it has yet …

The Washington Post reports: Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson will begin on March 21, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday, a timetable that could put President Biden’s first pick for the nation’s most influential court on track to be confirmed by mid-April. The announcement came as Jackson, currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals …

Via email from hate group leader Tony Perkins: Ketanji Brown Jackson also made a name for herself striking down President Trump’s executive orders and shielding a Hillary Clinton aide during her private email scandal. Johnson also pointed to her career before becoming a federal judge, in which Jackson worked for the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) on an amicus …

The Associated Press reports: In Jackson, Biden delivers on a campaign promise to make the historic appointment and to further diversify a court that was made up entirely of white men for almost two centuries. He has chosen an attorney who would be the high court’s first former public defender, though she also possesses the elite legal background of other …

CNN reports: President Biden has selected Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to the Supreme Court, according to a source who has been notified about the decision, setting in motion a historic confirmation process for the first Black woman to sit on the highest court in the nation. Jackson, 51, currently sits on the US Court of Appeals for the …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday brought a formal end to former President Donald Trump’s request to block the release of White House records sought by the Democratic-led congressional panel investigating last year’s deadly attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. The court’s decision to formally reject Trump’s appeal follows its Jan. 19 order that …

ABC News reports: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new clash involving religion and the rights of LGBT people. The high court said Tuesday it would hear the case of Colorado-based web designer Lorie Smith. Smith offers graphic and website design services and wants to expand to wedding website services, but she says her religious beliefs would lead …

The Hill reports: The Supreme Court on Friday denied a request from a group of New York City public school teachers seeking to block a vaccine mandate for employees who were not given a religious exemption. Their appeal was directed to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who handles cases from that region. She rejected an earlier challenge, filed in October, to the …

CNN reports: The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, allowed a congressional map drawn by Alabama Republicans to remain in place Monday, freezing a lower court ruling that said the map likely violates the Voting Rights Act. The lower court had ordered a new map to be drawn, which could have led to Democrats gaining another seat in the House …

Roll Call reports: A Michigan man who initiated a standoff near the Capitol with police in October returned to the same spot on Thursday, the same morning President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and several members of Congress were delivering remarks nearby to the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol Visitor Center. Dale Paul Melvin, 55, of Kimball, Mich., …

Mediaite reports: Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday promoted the highly unlikely idea that President Joe Biden will nominate Vice President Kamala Harris to the Supreme Court, filling outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat. “I think there is a chance they name Kamala to the court, in part because they can’t stand her. And one of the virtues of naming …

Politico reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday broke with several of his Republican colleagues by seemingly expressing support for President Joe Biden’s pledge to nominate the first-ever Black woman to the Supreme Court. In an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Graham (R-S.C.) — a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee — also appeared to endorse J. Michelle Childs, a …

The Hill reports: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned President Biden on Thursday not to “outsource” his Supreme Court nominee to the “radical left” following the retirement announcement of Justice Stephen Breyer. “Looking ahead — the American people elected a Senate that is evenly split at 50-50. To the degree that President Biden received a mandate, it was to …

Posted to Franklin Graham’s Facebook page: “Deliberate speed.” Those are the words Senator Chuck Schumer used when describing how the Senate would confirm the next Supreme Court justice nomination under President Biden. Justice Stephen Breyer is planning to retire this year, and we need to pray for the next Supreme Court appointment. Many issues hang in the balance, including cases …

The New York Times reports: President Biden will formally announce the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer on Thursday, White House officials said, a step that will kick off a weekslong political clash on Capitol Hill as Mr. Biden seeks to put his imprint on the Supreme Court. Officials said the president would deliver his remarks at 12:30 p.m., flanked by …

Maine Public Radio reports: Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins says there is no need to rush the vetting process for a potential successor to retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer as the Senate gears up for another likely confirmation fight. During the process to fill the last two Supreme Court vacancies, Collins was often in the national spotlight as then-President …

Kyle Mantyla reports at Right Wing Watch: As soon as the news broke that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire at the end of the current session, right-wing activists began declaring that Breyer had been “bullied” into stepping down and therefore Republicans must do everything they can to block whomever President Joe Biden nominates to fill that seat. Carrie …