The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request from an Oklahoma death-row inmate to put his execution on hold while questions about the constitutionality of the state’s lethal-injection protocol are resolved. Bigler Jobe Stouffer has been sentenced to die on Thursday morning for the 1985 murder of schoolteacher Linda Reeves. Lawyers for the 79-year-old inmate… Read More
Separation of church and school? Justices will weigh Maine’s ban on funds for religious education
On Wednesday the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a challenge to a Maine program that pays for some students to attend private schools. Two families that want to send their children to Christian schools in the state argue that the state’s exclusion of schools that provide religious instruction from the program violates the… Read More
Majority of court appears dubious of New York gun-control law, but justices mull narrow ruling
This post was updated on Nov. 3 at 5:15 p.m. When Wednesday’s oral argument in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen drew to a close after roughly two hours of debate, it seemed likely that New York’s 108-year-old handgun-licensing law is in jeopardy. But the justices’ eventual ruling might be a narrow… Read More
In major Second Amendment case, court will review limits on carrying a concealed gun in public
The Second Amendment guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” On Nov. 3, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument on how that guarantee applies to carrying guns in public. The case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, involves a 108-year-old handgun-licensing law in New York – but… Read More
Court won’t block Texas abortion ban, fast-tracks cases for argument on Nov. 1
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Nov. 1 in a pair of cases challenging the Texas law that bans nearly all abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy. In two orders issued on Friday afternoon, the court granted requests by the Biden administration and a group of Texas abortion providers to leap-frog proceedings… Read More
Court adds two cases on Native American law and issues two opinions granting police officers qualified immunity
The Supreme Court on Monday morning added two new cases, both involving Native Americans, to its docket for this term. The justices also issued two unsigned decisions holding, without oral argument, that police officers are entitled to qualified immunity from lawsuits accusing them of using excessive force. The justices, however, did not act on several… Read More
Justices appear to favor reinstating death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber
The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Wednesday in the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three people and badly injured hundreds more. A jury sentenced Tsarnaev to death, but a federal appeals court threw out Tsarnaev’s death sentences last year. That prompted… Read More
Justices add five new cases to their docket from “long conference,” including Cruz campaign case
With only a few days remaining before the justices return to the courtroom for the start of the 2021-22 term, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued orders from the justices’ “long conference” on Monday, Sept. 27. The justices normally consider over a thousand cases at the long conference, which is the unofficial end to the… Read More
Abortion providers ask court to block Texas ban on abortion beginning at six weeks of pregnancy
A Texas law that bans abortions anytime a fetal heartbeat is detected will “immediately and catastrophically reduce abortion access in Texas” if it is allowed to take effect on Wednesday, a group of abortion providers told the Supreme Court on Monday. They asked the justices to intervene on an emergency basis and block the enforcement… Read More
Justices issue summer orders, add two new immigration cases to merits docket
The Supreme Court added two new immigration cases to its docket for the 2021-22 term on Monday morning, granting a pair of petitions filed by the federal government. The relatively rare mid-summer additions came as part of the court’s regularly scheduled summer order list, which also included a series of routine orders that (among other… Read More