Last night the Supreme Court declined to block the execution of Texas inmate Abel Revilla Ochoa, which was scheduled for yesterday. Ochoa was convicted and sentenced to death after he shot and killed his wife and two daughters, along with two other family members, in 2002. There were no recorded dissents from the ruling. Ochoa… Read More
Justices issue March argument calendar
This morning the Supreme Court issued the calendar for its March argument sitting, which begins on March 23 and continues through April 1. When they announced late last year that they would take up three disputes over access to President Donald Trump’s financial records, the justices indicated that the cases would be set for oral… Read More
Government gets green light to implement “public charge” rule pending appeals
Today a divided Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request for permission to enforce a rule known as the “public charge” rule, governing the admission of immigrants to the United States. The government had argued that it would suffer “effectively irreparable harm” if it could not implement the new rule while it appeals a pair… Read More
Abortion debate returns to the Roberts Court
When he ran for president in 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump promised that, if elected, he would appoint “pro-life” Supreme Court justices, which would result in the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing a woman’s right to an abortion. In the three years since taking office, Trump has put two new justices… Read More
No new grants today
The Supreme Court released orders this morning from the justices’ private conference last week. The justices once again did not act on several high-profile petitions for review that they considered at last week’s conference, including a case involving whether the state of Washington violated a florist’s constitutional rights by requiring her to provide flowers for… Read More
Justices divided in Montana school-choice case
This morning the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the latest chapter of the battle over the use of public funding for religious schools. Supporters of such funding argue that the government should not be allowed to discriminate against religious families and schools, while opponents warn that requiring the government to allow public funds to… Read More
Court will not fast-track ACA petitions
Today the Supreme Court issued orders from the justices’ private conference last week. The court added three new hours of argument to its calendar on Friday and were not expected to grant any new cases today, and they did not. But this morning’s order list nonetheless contained big news: The justices denied a motion to… Read More
Justices to consider dispute over tax credits for scholarships
Two and a half years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that Missouri’s policy of excluding churches from a program to provide grants to resurface playgrounds violated the Constitution. In a footnote in their opinion in Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, the justices emphasized that their decision was limited to the facts before them and did “not… Read More
Justices tackle convictions arising from “Bridgegate” scandal
It has been nearly six and a half years since allies of Chris Christie, then the governor of New Jersey, created gridlock on the streets of Fort Lee by eliminating two of the three lanes on the George Washington Bridge reserved for drivers accessing the bridge from the New Jersey city. William Baroni, whom Christie… Read More
Justices issue more orders, but no action on high-profile cases
This morning the Supreme Court issued additional orders from the justices’ private conference last Friday. After granting three new petitions for review last week, the justices did not add any new cases to their merits docket for the fall. They called for the views of the federal government in three cases, but they did not… Read More