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

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request from a Kentucky utility company to temporarily block an Environmental Protection Agency rule governing the disposal of coal ash while a challenge to it moves forward in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The denial came just under six months after the… Read More

At oral arguments on Monday it was not clear how the Supreme Court will rule in the case of a Philadelphia-area government contractor found guilty of fraud after it failed to comply with a contract provision intended to promote diversity. In Kousisis v. United States, the justices are considering whether the federal wire fraud laws… Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday morning declined to take up several hot-button issues, including a challenge by parents to a school district’s plan to provide support for transgender and non-binary students, a dispute over the admissions policy used during the 2021-22 school year for three of Boston’s elite public high schools, and the case of… Read More

The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon agreed to decide whether a 2019 law that seeks to give U.S. courts the power to hear claims by victims of terrorism against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of fair treatment. Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization and United States v. Palestine… Read More

During almost two-and-a-half hours of debate on Wednesday, nearly all of the court’s conservative majority expressed skepticism about a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender teenagers. Three transgender teens, their families, and a Memphis physician, along with the Biden administration, contend that the law violates the Constitution’s guarantee of… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday appointed a former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts to defend a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in an immigration case after the Biden administration declined to do so. The announcement that the court had appointed Stephen Hammer, an associate in the Dallas office… Read More

A long-running dispute reached the Supreme Court again on Tuesday over efforts by survivors of the Hungarian Holocaust to receive compensation for property that was seized by the Hungarian government during its extermination campaign in collaboration with the Nazis. The survivors and their heirs brought their suit in U.S. court. At issue in the case… Read More

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a challenge to a Tennessee law that bans the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender teens. The dispute could be one of the most significant decisions of the term. And with similar laws in 23 other states, the court’s ruling is likely to have broader… Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday morning heard oral arguments in a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s rejection of two companies’ applications to sell fruit-, candy-, and dessert-flavored liquids for use in e-cigarettes. A lawyer for the FDA urged the justices to leave the denials in place, citing the health and addiction risks of… Read More

It has been nearly 80 years since World War II officially ended in Europe. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the latest chapter in efforts by the victims of the war’s atrocities to recover confiscated property. At issue is whether a lawsuit by survivors of the Hungarian Holocaust, seeking to recover… Read More