The Supreme Court late Wednesday night granted requests from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and two Orthodox Jewish synagogues to block enforcement of a New York executive order restricting attendance at houses of worship. Both the diocese and the synagogues claimed that the executive order violated the right to the free exercise of religion… Read More
Court releases January calendar (updated)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued the calendar for its January argument session. The session will be a relatively quiet one, with only five hours of argument over four days. The justices will not hear argument on two days: Jan. 18, which is a federal holiday observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Jan. 20,… Read More
Case preview: Justices to review Trump’s plan to adjust census data used for congressional apportionment
Joe Biden has been declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election and is scheduled to be sworn into office on Jan. 20, 2021. Ten days before Biden’s inauguration, President Donald Trump is scheduled to send a report to Congress that contains the number of people living in each state and indicates how many seats… Read More
No new grants from Friday’s conference
After adding two new cases to their merits docket for the current term on Friday, the justices did not grant any new petitions for review in an order list released on Monday morning. The justices declined to hear the case of Calvin McMillan, who is one of 32 people on death row in Alabama sentenced… Read More
New York tells justices not to intervene in conflict over attendance limits at worship services
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged the Supreme Court on Friday to stay out of the state’s battle with two Orthodox Jewish synagogues in New York City over an executive order that limits attendance at houses of worship as part of an effort to combat the coronavirus. Cuomo told the justices that because of “continued… Read More
Court shelves oral argument in dispute over Mueller materials, grants two new cases
The Supreme Court announced on Friday morning that it would postpone oral argument in Department of Justice v. House Committee on the Judiciary, the dispute over access to secret materials from the Mueller investigation that had been scheduled for Dec. 2. The news came as part of the orders released from the justices’ private conference… Read More
Court issues new circuit assignments
A little less than a month after the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court on Friday issued a new set of circuit justice assignments, which take effect immediately. Barrett was assigned to the 7th Circuit, where she served as a judge for three years before becoming a justice. Two other justices, Sonia… Read More
House Committee on the Judiciary asks court to put off oral argument on Mueller materials
The House Committee on the Judiciary on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to remove its dispute with the Department of Justice over secret materials from the Mueller investigation from the court’s December argument calendar. The committee told the justices that once a new Congress and President-elect Joe Biden take office in January, it “will have… Read More
New York synagogues ask justices to lift attendance limits (updated)
Four days after the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn asked the justices to block enforcement of a New York executive order restricting attendance at houses of worship, two Orthodox Jewish synagogues came to the Supreme Court to make a similar request. Arguing that their neighborhoods and religious institutions had been “targeted,” the challengers – which… Read More
Court denies plea from Texas inmates to restore coronavirus safety measures pending appeal
The Supreme Court on Monday afternoon rejected a request from two inmates at high risk for complications from COVID-19 to reinstate an order by a federal district court that would require Texas prison officials to take basic safety precautions to combat the virus. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from that ruling, penning an 11-page opinion –… Read More