Tag Archives: Supreme Court

ProPublica reports: In early January 2000, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was at a five-star beach resort in Sea Island, Georgia, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. After almost a decade on the court, Thomas had grown frustrated with his financial situation, according to friends. At the resort, Thomas gave a speech at an off-the-record conservative conference. He found …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether a defendant arrested in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol can be charged with obstructing an official proceeding in a dispute with potential implications for one of Republican former President Donald Trump’s four criminal cases. The justices took up an appeal by a Jan. …

NPR reports: The U.S. Supreme Court reentered the abortion debate Wednesday, agreeing to review a lower court decision that would make mifepristone, the commonly used abortion pill, less accessible. The court’s action sets up a collision between the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year study and supervision of the abortion pill, and the circumstances under which it can be prescribed. The …

Newsweek reports: Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas is facing pressure to recuse himself from a case determining whether Donald Trump can claim presidential immunity from prosecution in a federal indictment against him. Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, suggested Thomas “think twice” about the case. “There’s been enough information raised about Mr. Thomas and his spouse that he ought …

Courthouse News reports: The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to review a fast-tracked petition asking if Donald Trump can use his status as a former president to claim immunity from criminal charges related to his effort to overturn the 2020 election. The order came only hours after Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the justices to expedite consideration of Trump’s presidential …

CNN reports: Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked the Supreme Court to decide whether Donald Trump has any immunity from criminal prosecution for alleged crimes he committed while in office – the first time that the high court will weigh in on the historic prosecution of the former president. The extraordinary request is an attempt by Smith to keep …

The Christian Post reports: The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal filed by a Christian therapist against Washington state’s ban on “gay conversion therapy,” allowing the law to remain in effect. In an orders list released Monday morning, the high court declined without comment a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case of Brian Tingley …

Ars Technica reports: Elon Musk yesterday appealed to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to terminate his settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk has claimed he was coerced into the deal with the SEC and that it violates his free speech rights, but the settlement has been upheld by every court that’s reviewed it so far. In …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday is set to hear a challenge by President Joe Biden’s administration to the legality of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement, a deal that if approved would shield its wealthy Sackler family owners from lawsuits over their role in the country’s opioid epidemic. Purdue’s owners under the settlement would receive immunity in …

CBS News reports: Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who blazed a trail as the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, died Friday, the Supreme Court said. She was 93 years old. O’Connor died of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness, the court said in a statement. She withdrew from public life in 2018 …

NBC News reports: The justices, in their regular private meeting to discuss which new cases to take up, are scheduled to consider three different appeals brought by defendants Joseph Fischer, Edward Lang and Garret Miller. The three men are seeking to dismiss a charge accusing them of obstructing an official proceeding, namely the certification by Congress of President Joe Biden’s …

Politico reports: Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo’s consulting firm received $21 million in 2022 from a group that is a pillar of Leo’s aligned nonprofit network, according to a new tax filing. That group, The 85 Fund, is part of an umbrella of nonprofits under investigation by the Washington, D.C. attorney general for potentially violating tax laws. The tax filing, …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of his conviction for the murder of George Floyd during a 2020 arrest, which sparked widespread protests against police brutality and racism. The justices turned away Chauvin’s appeal that he filed after a Minnesota appellate court upheld his 2021 murder …

Florida Politics reports: When it comes to the last Republican President’s Supreme Court picks, Ron DeSantis’ verdict is in. They don’t measure up to real conservatives like Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, he said Saturday in Pella, Iowa. The Governor noted that contrary to liberal picks from the past, Trump’s “Republican appointees are not in lockstep.” He saw Brett Kavanaugh …

NBC News reports: The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Florida’s bid to enforce statewide a contentious law that targets drag show performances that, challengers say, imposes unlawful restrictions on free speech. The court, divided 6-3 with three conservatives dissenting, turned away an emergency request from Florida officials after lower courts blocked the law statewide. The majority did not explain its …

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court is adopting its first code of ethics, in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices. The policy was issued by the court Monday. The justices, who have hinted at internal deliberations over an ethics code, last met Thursday in their private conference room at …

The Washington Post reports: The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared inclined to uphold a federal statute that forbids people who are the subject of domestic-violence restraining orders from possessing firearms. Justices on both sides of the court’s ideological divide seemed to think the Second Amendment does not keep legislatures from restricting firearm possession after some sort of court finding that …

NBC News reports: Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee announced plans Monday to seek subpoenas for three influential conservatives who have been a key focus of the panel’s investigation into Supreme Court ethics. In a joint statement, Committee Chairman Dick Durbin of Illinois and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who chairs the panel’s subcommittee on federal courts and oversight, said previous …

The New York Times reports: The terms of the private loan were as generous as they were clear: With no money down, Justice Clarence Thomas could borrow more than a quarter of a million dollars from a wealthy friend to buy a 40-foot luxury motor coach, making annual interest-only payments for five years. Only then would the principal come due. …

Courthouse News reports: Florida appealed to the Supreme Court on Tuesday in an effort to enforce restrictions on drag shows throughout the state. The state wants the justices to limit a lower court order blocking the Protection of Children Act, which bans children from “adult live performances.” A federal judge found the law was aimed at drag shows, barring it …