On Tuesday, the justices will hear oral argument in Golan v. Saada, a case involving the interpretation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, an international agreement adopted in 1980 to deal with international child abductions during domestic disputes. Under the convention, children who are wrongfully taken from the country… Read More
In North Carolina voter-ID case, another question of intervention driven by partisan tension
For the third time this term, the Supreme Court will weigh in on whether someone can stage an intervention – the legal kind, that is. On Monday, in Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, the justices will consider an effort by two Republican leaders of the North Carolina legislature to join a… Read More
April argument calendar features cases on Trump-era asylum policy and praying football coach
After a relatively quiet March argument session, the Supreme Court will finish its blockbuster 2021-22 term with a bang. The court on Tuesday released the argument calendar for the term’s final session, in April. The justices will hear argument in 10 cases over six days, including the challenge to the Biden administration’s efforts to unwind… Read More
Justices decline to reinstate GOP-backed congressional voting maps in North Carolina, Pennsylvania
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block orders by courts in North Carolina and Pennsylvania that threw out the congressional maps enacted by the states’ Republican legislatures and replaced them with maps drawn by the trial courts. The justices’ rulings mean that the states’ 2022 congressional elections will go ahead using the court-drawn maps…. Read More
Justices decline to review Pennsylvania ruling that overturned Bill Cosby’s conviction
The Supreme Court on Monday morning issued orders from the justices’ private conference last week. Although they did not grant any new cases, the justices denied review in two high-profile cases: the sexual-assault case involving disgraced comedian Bill Cosby and a lawsuit seeking to hold Facebook accountable for sex trafficking. In Pennsylvania v. Cosby, justices… Read More
Pentagon seeks relief from lower-court order that blocked redeployment of unvaccinated Navy SEALs
The Biden administration on Monday afternoon asked the Supreme Court to allow it to consider whether some members of the elite Navy SEALs are vaccinated against COVID-19 when making operational decisions. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar asked the justices to temporarily block an order by a federal trial court that she says “usurps the Navy’s… Read More
Government can invoke state secrets privilege in lawsuit alleging unlawful surveillance
The Supreme Court on Friday dealt a blow to a lawsuit filed by three Muslim men who claim that they were targeted by an FBI counterterrorism investigation because of their religion. In a narrow but unanimous ruling, the justices held that a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act does not trump the “state secrets”… Read More
In 6-3 ruling, court reinstates death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber
Nearly nine years after bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three people and badly injured hundreds more, the Supreme Court on Friday reinstated the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted for his role in the 2013 attacks. By a vote of 6-3, the justices reversed a 2020 ruling by… Read More
Fractured majority allows government to withhold information on torture at CIA black sites
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that information about the federal government’s post-9/11 torture program at CIA “black sites” is protected by the “state secrets privilege,” a doctrine that allows the government to withhold information in litigation when disclosing it would compromise national security. The fractured decision in United States v. Zubaydah, written by Justice… Read More
Justices allow Kentucky’s attorney general to take over legal defense of state’s abortion law
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Kentucky’s attorney general should have been allowed to intervene to defend a state law restricting abortion after another state official declined to do so – even when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit had already struck down the law. The 8-1 decision in Cameron v…. Read More