(This post was updated at 3:13 p.m. to account for the court’s September 25 order granting motions for divided argument by the U.S. solicitor general and the National Labor Relations Board.) When the justices return to the bench on Monday, October 2, they will hear arguments in a trio of consolidated cases – Epic Systems… Read More
Argument preview: Reconciling class waivers and the National Labor Relations Act (UPDATED)
Francisco confirmed as solicitor general
By a vote of 50-47 that broke down almost completely on party lines, the Senate today confirmed Noel Francisco to serve as the solicitor general, the government’s top lawyer in the Supreme Court. Francisco’s confirmation comes less than two weeks before the court’s new term is scheduled to start, with a number of important cases… Read More
Challengers ask Supreme Court to speed up Texas redistricting cases
Early this week, the Supreme Court – over the dissent of the court’s four more liberal justices – granted Texas’ request to put on hold two lower-court orders that had invalidated two of the state’s federal congressional districts and the state’s maps for the lower house of the Texas legislature. The two courts’ orders had… Read More
Hawaii responds in latest travel-ban dispute
The state of Hawaii fired back this morning, urging the Supreme Court to stay out of the most recent skirmish in the battle over President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order, often known as the “travel ban.” Yesterday the Trump administration went to the justices to ask them to block a ruling by the U.S…. Read More
Trump administration returns to the Supreme Court, gets temporary stay on travel ban refugee ruling
In late June, the Supreme Court agreed to review decisions by two lower courts blocking the Trump administration from implementing the president’s March 6 executive order. That order, often known as the “travel ban,” put a freeze on new visas for travelers from six Muslim-majority countries – Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Yemen –… Read More
Wedding cakes v. religious beliefs?: In Plain English
Colorado’s anti-discrimination law bars places of public accommodation – that is, businesses that sell to the public – from discriminating based on (among other things) sexual orientation. In 2012, Charlie Craig and David Mullins went to Masterpiece Cakeshop, a Denver-area bakery, to order a cake to celebrate their upcoming wedding. But the couple left empty-handed… Read More
The 10th Amendment, anti-commandeering and sports betting: In Plain English
Most Americans are familiar with some parts of the Bill of Rights, such as the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech and the Second Amendment’s protection of the right to bear arms. Other provisions, however, are less well known – for example, the 10th Amendment, which provides that the “powers not delegated to the United… Read More
The justices tackle partisan gerrymandering again: In Plain English
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has suggested that it might be the most important case of the upcoming term. On October 3, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Gill v. Whitford, a challenge to the redistricting plan passed by Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature in 2011. A federal court struck down the plan last year, concluding… Read More
The justices return to cellphones and the Fourth Amendment: In Plain English
In 1976, in United States v. Miller, the Supreme Court ruled that the bank records of a man accused of running an illegal whiskey-distilling operation were not obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, even though law-enforcement officials did not have a warrant, because the bank records contained “only information voluntarily conveyed to the banks… Read More
No stay for Ohio executions
Over a dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor that was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court last night declined to block the executions of three Ohio men. One of the inmates, Ronald Phillips, is scheduled to be put to death today for the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend’s daughter. Phillips and… Read More