Amy Howe

Mar 31 2025

Supreme Court likely to embrace expanded tax exemption for religious charities

The Supreme Court on Monday appeared sympathetic to the argument by a Catholic Charities chapter that Wisconsin violated the Constitution when it refused to give the group the same exemption from the state’s unemployment tax that it provides to churches, religious schools, and some religious groups. Justices from both sides of the ideological spectrum seemed… Read More

Mar 31 2025

Justices decline to hear post-conviction relief dispute in Missouri capital case

Under the federal law governing efforts by state prisoners to seek post-conviction relief in federal courts, prisoners who lose at the trial level can only appeal that decision if they can show that reasonable judges could disagree with the ruling or that the case should be allowed to move forward. The Supreme Court declined on… Read More

Mar 28 2025

Supreme Court considers Catholic charity group’s bid for tax exemption

With most of the 2024-25 term behind them, the justices’ final stretch of oral arguments is stacked with all three religious rights cases of the year. All three cases look to the justices to take up an expansive view of the Constitution’s religious protections. The first of those cases, on Monday, could significantly shift the… Read More

Mar 28 2025

States call on justices to leave restored teacher training funds in place

Eight states, led by California, on Friday urged the Supreme Court to leave in place an order by a federal judge in Massachusetts that requires the Department of Education to restore more than $65 million in grants, intended to address teacher shortages, that it ended in February because the funded programs included diversity, equity, and… Read More

Mar 28 2025

Trump asks justices to intervene on Alien Enemies Act removals

The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Friday morning, asking the justices to allow it to enforce an executive order that directs government officials to quickly remove, without a hearing, noncitizens who are designated as members of a Venezuelan gang. The order relies on a 1798 law that until now has only been… Read More

Mar 27 2025

Trump asks Supreme Court to allow cancellation of grants to teachers

The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, asking the justices to pause an order by a federal judge in Massachusetts that requires the Department of Education to reinstate more than $65 million in training grants meant to address teacher shortages that it terminated in February because they funded programs that have… Read More

Mar 27 2025

Justices appear likely to uphold FCC telecom access subsidy

The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed poised to uphold the federal program that provides schools, libraries, and underserved areas with access to affordable telephone and high-speed internet services. A conservative consumer advocacy group challenged the program, arguing it violated the Constitution by outsourcing Congress’s power to the Federal Communications Commission and a private nonprofit corporation… Read More

Mar 26 2025

Supreme Court upholds “ghost guns” regulation

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Biden-era rule regulating so-called “ghost guns” – untraceable weapons without serial numbers, assembled from components or kits that can be bought online. By a vote of 7-2, the justices held that the Gun Control Act of 1968 allows the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to regulate… Read More

Mar 25 2025

Supreme Court to hear “nondelegation” challenge to telecom access program

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday in a major challenge to the federal “E-rate program,” which subsidizes telephone and high-speed internet services in schools, libraries, rural areas, and low-income communities in urban areas. The stakes are high, not only because of the program’s size but also because the theory at the center… Read More

Mar 25 2025

Trump asks justices to block ruling on rehiring federal employees

The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Monday morning, asking the justices to pause an order by a federal judge in San Francisco that would require the federal government to immediately reinstate more than 16,000 probationary employees who were fired from six agencies in February. The ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge William… Read More

Amy L Howe
Until September 2016, Amy served as the editor and reporter for SCOTUSblog, a blog devoted to coverage of the Supreme Court of the United States; she continues to serve as an independent contractor and reporter for SCOTUSblog. Before turning to full-time blogging, she served as counsel in over two dozen merits cases at the Supreme Court and argued two cases there. From 2004 until 2011, she co-taught Supreme Court litigation at Stanford Law School; from 2005 until 2013, she co-taught a similar class at Harvard Law School. She has also served as an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law and Vanderbilt Law School. Amy is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a master’s degree in Arab Studies and a law degree from Georgetown University.
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Recent ScotusBlog Posts from Amy
  • Venezuelan TPS recipients tell justices to let status stand
  • Government asks justices to allow DHS to revoke parole for a half-million noncitizens
  • Supreme Court allows Trump to ban transgender people from military
More from Amy Howe

Recent Posts

  • Court appears to back legality of HHS preventative care task force
  • Justices take up Texas woman’s claim against USPS
  • Supreme Court considers parents’ efforts to exempt children from books with LGBTQ themes
  • Justices temporarily bar government from removing Venezuelan men under Alien Enemies Act
  • Court hears challenge to ACA preventative-care coverage
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