Covering the Supreme Court and the Judiciary in (mostly) Plain English

The Supreme Court heard oral argument this morning in a dispute over immunity for the International Finance Corporation, an international organization that makes loans to private businesses to finance projects in developing countries. The plaintiffs in the case, a group of farmers and fishermen, live near a power plant in India that was financed in… Read More

Next week the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Russell Bucklew, a Missouri death-row inmate who argues that the state’s plan to execute him by lethal injection violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment because he suffers from a rare medical condition that could lead to his gagging on… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued additional orders from last Friday’s conference. The justices had announced three new grants from that conference on Friday, and (as expected) they did not add any more cases to their merits docket today. The justices asked the U.S. solicitor general to weigh in on two cases, and Justice Sonia… Read More

The Supreme Court was not in session last week, but there was still sad news: Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor announced that she has been diagnosed with dementia and will no longer participate in public life. I cover O’Connor’s announcement and other news from the court in my latest podcast.

This afternoon the justices announced that they had granted review in three new cases, involving issues ranging from patent and bankruptcy law to the federal law governing sex offenders. The justices did not act on several high-profile petitions for review, including a dispute over a cross on public land in the Washington, D.C., suburbs and… Read More

In recent years, Supreme Court has cut back drastically on lawsuits that seek to hold corporations responsible in U.S. courts for alleged human rights violations abroad. Next week the justices will hear oral argument in a case involving immunity for international organizations, like the United Nations and the World Bank, that could also limit similar… Read More

UPDATE: This post has been updated to include statements from the eight associate justices and three retired justices. Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, announced today that she has been diagnosed with dementia, “probably Alzheimer’s disease,” and that as her “condition has progressed,” she is “no longer… Read More

The Supreme Court gave the federal government a partial victory tonight in a dispute over discovery in the challenge to the government’s decision to reinstate a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. Without any publicly recorded objections, the justices kept on hold plans to depose Wilbur Ross, the Secretary of Commerce, about the decision…. Read More

The Supreme Court has once again been asked to weigh in on the case of a baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex marriage celebration because doing so would violate the baker’s religious beliefs. Less than five months ago, the justices issued a narrow ruling in the case of Jack Phillips, a… Read More

During the week of October 15, things were fairly quiet at the Supreme Court, where the justices issued orders but did not take the bench. But Chief Justice John Roberts gave a speech in Minnesota, seeking to assuage concerns that the court is a political institution. I cover the Roberts speech and the rest of… Read More