Today a divided Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment generally does not bar states from taking a blood sample from an unconscious drunk-driving suspect without a warrant. The issue came to the Supreme Court in the case of Gerald Mitchell, whom police found six years ago on a beach in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Mitchell was… Read More

The justices now have eight more opinions to release, on topics ranging from partisan gerrymandering and the constitutionality of Tennessee’s residency requirement for retail liquor licenses to the dispute over the Trump administration’s decision to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. Here are brief summaries of those eight cases, in the order… Read More

[This post updates my earlier posts to account for the cases decided on Friday, June 21, and Monday, June 24.] The justices now have just eight cases left to decide this term, but we’re still waiting on what are likely to be some of the biggest cases of the term. We have no way of… Read More

Today the justices will take the bench to release more opinions. They are expected to issue 12 more opinions, on topics ranging from partisan gerrymandering and the constitutionality of a ban on scandalous or immoral trademarks to the dispute over the Trump administration’s decision to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. Here… Read More

The justices aren’t back on the bench until tomorrow, but early Friday morning they cleared the way for an Alabama execution to proceed. I cover last week’s order and look ahead briefly at next week at the court in this week’s podcast.

Last month the Supreme Court cleared the way for Alabama to execute a Muslim inmate after denying the inmate’s request to have an imam at his side in the execution chamber, even though the prison would allow a Christian chaplain to be present in the chamber. But tonight the justices blocked the state of Texas… Read More

Last week the Supreme Court was officially in its winter recess, but there was still plenty of action at One First Street, including in cases asking the justices to intervene in cases involving the death penalty and abortion. I cover these events and more in this week’s podcast.

Last week the Supreme Court announced that it would no longer hear oral argument on February 19 in a dispute over evidence in a challenge to the Trump administration’s decision to bring a question about citizenship back to the 2020 census. That announcement came after a federal district court in New York barred the government… Read More

UPDATE: On Sunday evening, Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked the district court’s order requiring the foreign corporation to comply with the grand jury subpoena or pay penalties. In a brief order, the chief justice directed the government to respond by noon on December 31 and indicated that the district court’s order would remain on… Read More

Last month President Donald Trump blasted a ruling by a federal judge in San Francisco that blocked the government from enforcing a rule that would prohibit immigrants who enter the country illegally from requesting asylum. Trump criticized U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, who issued the order, as an “Obama judge” and predicted that the government… Read More