Nearly seven months after his inauguration, President Joe Biden announced that he has nominated Elizabeth Prelogar to serve as the U.S. solicitor general, the federal government’s top lawyer at the Supreme Court. Prelogar, who has served as the acting solicitor general since January, is widely respected in the legal community, but the Biden administration took… Read More
Students ask court to block Indiana University’s vaccine requirement
In the first test of COVID-19 vaccine requirements to arrive at the Supreme Court, a group of Indiana University students asked the justices on Friday afternoon to block the school’s requirement that all students be vaccinated against the virus. Both a federal district court in Indiana and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th… Read More
New York landlords ask court to block state eviction moratorium
Telling the justices that “the courthouse door has been barred to New York’s landlords” “for more than sixteen months and counting,” a group of New York landlords asked the Supreme Court to block a state moratorium on residential evictions put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. A federal district court dismissed the… Read More
Florida asks court to lift CDC restrictions on cruise industry
Less than a month after the Supreme Court refused to disturb a federal moratorium on evictions imposed by the Centers for Disease Control because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of Florida on Friday asked the justices to block the COVID-related restrictions that the CDC has outlined for cruise ships to follow before returning to… Read More
Looking ahead to the long conference – Part 1
When the justices meet for their next regularly scheduled conference, on September 27, they will face thousands of petitions for review. They will grant only a handful of those petitions – last year, seven new cases, for a total of four hours of argument time. Between now and the end of September, I will take… Read More
Cases on Boston Marathon bomber, CIA secrets headline October argument calendar
Although the Supreme Court only recently finished releasing opinions from its 2020-21 term, it is already looking ahead to the new term that will begin this fall. On Tuesday the court released the schedule for the justices’ October argument session, which begins on Oct. 4 and runs through Oct. 13. The justices will hear oral… Read More
Justices add one religious-rights case to docket but turn down another
Just before departing for their summer recess, the justices on Friday added 10 new cases to their docket for next term, including a high-profile dispute involving public funding for private schools that provide religious instruction. The busy order list was in some ways was a microcosm of the 2020-21 term as a whole. Although the… Read More
Divided court invalidates California donor-disclosure rules
This post was updated on July 1 at 6 p.m. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down California’s requirement that charities and nonprofits operating in the state provide the state attorney general’s office with the names and addresses of their largest donors. The 6-3 ruling in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta was a major… Read More
Court upholds Arizona voting restrictions, limits cases under Voting Rights Act
This post was updated on July 1 at 5:45 p.m. On the last day before its summer recess, the Supreme Court issued a major decision on voting rights that will make it more difficult to contest election regulations under the Voting Rights Act. By a vote of 6-3, the justices upheld two Arizona voting provisions… Read More
Divided court leaves eviction ban in place
The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request by a group of Alabama real estate agents to block a federal moratorium on evictions that was imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Justice Brett Kavanaugh provided the key vote to leave the moratorium in place, joining Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberal justices…. Read More