[NOTE: This post was updated with additional analysis at 2:17 p.m.] The Supreme Court ruled today in favor of Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker who refused to make a custom cake for a same-sex couple because he believed that doing so would violate his religious beliefs. This was one of the most anticipated decisions of… Read More

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bars employers from discriminating “because of” sex. On Tuesday, a New York sky-diving company asked the justices to review a ruling by a federal appeals court that the law applies to discrimination based on sexual orientation. The lower courts are divided on this question, which the company describes… Read More

In 1939, Congress enacted the Public Salary Tax Act, which allows state and local governments to tax federal employees as long as the tax does not discriminate against an employee “because of the source of the pay or compensation.” When the Supreme Court returns from its summer recess, one of the cases on its merits… Read More

The Supreme Court issued orders this morning from the justices’ private conference last week, and the big news out of today’s order list was what the justices did not do: They did not add any new cases to their merits docket for next term, and they did not ask the U.S. solicitor general to weigh… Read More

When two Virginia police officers searched for the motorcyclist who had eluded them by driving away at speeds of up to 140 miles per hour, they probably would not have imagined that the case would end up at the U.S. Supreme Court. But that’s exactly what happened, and today the justices ruled that the officers… Read More

In 1855, the Yakama Nation entered into a treaty with the federal government in which it gave up 10 million acres of land in Washington state in exchange for rights under the treaty, including the right (provided in Article III of the treaty) of the nation’s members “to travel upon all public highways.” That provision… Read More

It has been nearly 18 years since terrorists bombed the USS Cole while it was in port in Yemen, killing 17 U.S. service members and injuring 42 more. Yesterday the U.S. government recommended that the Supreme Court tackle a legal question arising out of efforts to hold the government of Sudan responsible for its role… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court added four new cases to its docket for next term, on topics ranging from federal pre-emption to the rules governing attorney’s fees for Social Security claimants. The justices once again did not act on a petition by the federal government to nullify a ruling that cleared the way for an… Read More

[NOTE: This post was updated with additional analysis at 3:30 p.m.] In 1925, Congress passed the Federal Arbitration Act, which (among other things) provides that an agreement to arbitrate a dispute “shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable.” Ten years later, Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act, which makes clear that employees have the right… Read More

When the justices return to the bench next fall after their summer recess, a case involving computer giant Apple may very well be on their merits docket. Last week the U.S. government recommended that the Supreme Court grant review in a case arising from allegations that the company has monopolized the market to distribute apps… Read More