Yesterday the Supreme Court issued two opinions: One (covering three argued cases) holding that federal employment discrimination laws protect LGBT employees, and another holding that the U.S. Forest Service had the power to grant a right-of-way for a natural gas pipeline through lands traversed by the Appalachian Trail. As of today, the justices have 16… Read More

The Supreme Court has been parsimonious in granting review recently, adding only a handful of new cases to its merits docket for next term since the beginning of March. Last year the justices closed out June with a flurry, adding 13 new cases (for a total of 11 hours of argument) to their docket for… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued just one opinion, in the prisoner litigation case Lomax v. Ortiz-Marquez. At this point in the year, we would normally expect the court to issue all of its remaining decisions over the next three-and-a-half weeks. But because the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the court to cancel its March and April… Read More

Under normal circumstances, we would expect that there would be less than a month remaining before the Supreme Court starts its summer recess. Because the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the court to cancel its March and April argument sessions and hold a rare May argument session, it’s not clear whether the justices will issue all of… Read More

Last night the Supreme Court declined to intervene in challenges by churches in southern California and the Chicago area to stay-at-home orders issued as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The churches had asked the justices earlier this week to lift restrictions on crowds in time for them to hold services on Sunday, when Christians… Read More

Earlier this year, a divided Supreme Court gave the Trump administration the green light to enforce the “public charge” rule, which governs the admission of immigrants into the United States, while the government appeals orders by district courts in New York and Illinois that blocked it from doing so. Tonight the justices turned down pleas… Read More

In an emergency filing arising from the COVID-19 crisis, the Republican National Committee and Wisconsin Republicans tonight asked the Supreme Court to block a lower-court order that extended the deadline for Wisconsin voters to submit absentee ballots in the state’s upcoming primary election until April 13 – six days after the election, which is scheduled… Read More

It has been less than two weeks since a federal judge in Washington, D.C., issued an order blocking the executions of four federal inmates. This evening the federal government asked the Supreme Court to lift the lower court’s order and allow the executions – the first of which is scheduled for next week – to… Read More

UPDATED: The Supreme Court’s Public Information Office reported on Sunday afternoon that Ginsburg had been discharged from the hospital; she is “home and doing well.” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Friday night. The Supreme Court announced tonight that the 86-year-old Ginsburg, who has been treated for cancer… Read More

When the Supreme Court hears oral argument early next year in the challenge to the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s leadership structure, the CFPB itself will not be defending statutory restrictions on the president’s ability to remove the CFPB director from office. Before the justices granted review last week, the CFPB had agreed… Read More