The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to quickly resolve another dispute related to the 2020 census and citizenship – this one involving whether people living in the country illegally must be included in the apportionment of congressional seats. Last year, the court dealt a blow to the administration’s efforts to include a… Read More
Potential nominee profile: Amy Coney Barrett
President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he would nominate a woman to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. According to news reports, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a judge on the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, is on the shortlist of candidates whom the president… Read More
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, feminist pioneer and progressive icon, dies at 87
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a trailblazer who fought for gender equality as a lawyer and became a beloved hero of the progressive movement as a justice, died on Friday of complications from pancreatic cancer. When she was confirmed to the court in 1993, Ginsburg was a reserved and relatively unknown court of appeals judge, but during… Read More
Justices release December calendar
The Supreme Court on Wednesday released the calendar for the December argument session, which will include the clash between the Department of Justice and the House Judiciary Committee over the committee’s efforts to obtain secret materials from the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Over six days between Nov. 30 and Dec. 9, the court… Read More
Justices to hear October arguments by phone
The Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it will start its new term in October by hearing oral arguments the same way that it did at the end of its previous term: remotely, with the justices and lawyers participating by telephone as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Members of the public will once again… Read More
Trump releases new list of potential Supreme Court nominees
With just under two months remaining before the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump on Wednesday released a new list of potential Supreme Court nominees – his fourth such list since 2016. The announcement of the new list fulfilled a promise that the president made in a tweet in June, when Trump pledged not only… Read More
Physicians tell justices not to disturb lower-court ruling that eased access to abortion pill during pandemic
Lawyers for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to leave in place a lower-court order that allows patients, during the coronavirus pandemic, to avoid a requirement that they visit a medical office in order to obtain a pill used to induce abortion in the early stages of pregnancy…. Read More
Looking ahead to the “long conference” – Part 1
In 25 days, the justices will meet for their “long conference” – their first regularly scheduled conference since July, at which they will consider the petitions for review (roughly 1,800 of them) that have accumulated since the justices began their summer recess. Over the next few weeks, I will take a look at some of… Read More
Court allows government to proceed with execution of Native American inmate
The Supreme Court on Tuesday night declined to block the execution, scheduled for Wednesday, of Lezmond Mitchell, the only Native American on federal death row. The justices, without any noted dissents, denied two emergency requests from Mitchell seeking to postpone the execution. Mitchell had argued that he should be given the opportunity to interview his… Read More
Justices will hear argument in ACA case one week after Election Day
The Supreme Court on Wednesday released the calendar for the November argument session, which will include the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act and a clash between religious liberty and LGBTQ rights. Over five days between Nov. 2 and Nov. 10, the justices will hear eight hours of oral argument in nine cases. On… Read More