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
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
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
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
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
Alito and Gorsuch call for court to reconsider confrontation clause precedent
The Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause gives defendants in criminal cases the right to “be confronted with the witnesses against” them. The Supreme Court on Monday morning declined to decide when a statement that is made out of court to an agency responsible for making bail recommendations is the kind of “testimonial” statement to which the… Read More
Court weighs Louisiana redistricting with second majority-Black district
It was not clear at oral arguments on Monday how the Supreme Court will rule on a challenge to Louisiana’s latest redistricting plan. The state and a group of Black voters ask the justices to reinstate a congressional map, enacted by the Louisiana legislature last year, that created a second majority-Black district. A federal court… Read More
Effort to block second majority-Black district in Louisiana comes to Supreme Court
In 2022, the Louisiana legislature adopted a congressional map that included only one majority-Black district among the six allotted to the state, though a third of the state’s population is Black. The map was challenged in federal court as a dilution of the votes of Black residents and in 2024 the legislature drew another map,… Read More
Court rules for former Chicago alderman on “false statement” charges
The Supreme Court on Friday threw out a ruling by a federal appeals court in Chicago that upheld the conviction of Patrick Daley Thompson, who served four months in a federal prison for making false statements to bank regulators about loans that he took out but did not repay. In a unanimous opinion by Chief… Read More
Former clerk tapped for fall double jeopardy argument
The Supreme Court has tapped a former clerk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor to defend a lower court ruling in next term’s Barrett v. United States, a New York man’s challenge to his robbery convictions and sentences under two federal laws. The federal government, which prevailed in the lower court last May, has declined to defend… Read More