Covering the Supreme Court and the Judiciary in (mostly) Plain English

Warning of “severe disruption,” including the possibility that some parents might withdraw their children from school if a federal district court’s order mandating that a transgender student who identifies as a boy be allowed to use the boys’ restroom takes effect, a Virginia school board today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put both the… Read More

There was no love for former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell personally at the Supreme Court today. His story was, according to Chief Justice John Roberts, a “tawdry” one “of Ferraris, Rolexes, and ball gowns.” But even though all eight Justices regarded McDonnell’s conduct (as well as that of his wife, Maureen) as “distasteful,” they could… Read More

The Court issued three opinions today, but those opinions don’t shed much additional light on which Justices might be writing in which cases. We have been waiting on two cases from the December sitting: Dollar General Stores v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. Chief Justice John Roberts… Read More

In 2015, the Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of inmate Kevan Brumfield, who was convicted of the fatal shooting of an off-duty police officer. A deeply divided Court held that Brumfield was entitled to have his claim that he could not be executed because he is intellectually disabled considered on the merits…. Read More

Since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13, the rate at which the Justices granted review in new cases has slowed significantly. But one new case that could make it on to the Court’s docket for next Term is Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools, in which the federal government recently filed a brief… Read More

The Court’s release of six (!) opinions on Monday kept us busy, and it also gave us a better idea of which Justices might – the key word here is “might” – be writing which of the remaining opinions, at least through the Court’s January sitting. This is because the Justices make a very strong… Read More

The battle over the accommodation offered to religious non-profits that object to complying with the Affordable Care Act’s birth-control mandate shifted back to the lower courts on Monday. In a brief, unsigned but unanimous opinion, the Justices essentially directed the Obama administration and the non-profits challenging the mandate to figure it out. But if they… Read More

In September 2014, former Virginia governor Robert McDonnell was sentenced to two years in prison for violating federal corruption laws. After a federal appeals court upheld his conviction and sentence, McDonnell asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow him to delay his prison sentence until after the Court had weighed in on his case. That… Read More

With the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada inside the Courtroom and thousands of demonstrators outside, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in the challenge to the policy known as “DAPA”: Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents. The Obama administration issued DAPA in November 2014 after efforts… Read More

For many years, the Supreme Court did not weigh in on, or otherwise get involved in, states’ efforts to draw their legislative districts. The results weren’t pretty: even as large numbers of people moved from rural areas to more urban ones, legislative boundaries remained the same. This meant that, compared with their suburban and urban… Read More