In 2015, California lawmakers enacted the Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency Act. The law, known as the Reproductive FACT Act, responded to concerns that crisis pregnancy centers – nonprofit organizations, often affiliated with Christian groups, that are opposed to abortion – were posing as full-service reproductive health clinics and providing pregnant women with… Read More
Justices take on First Amendment challenge to state abortion disclosure laws: In Plain English
No new grants today
After adding seven new cases to their merits docket on Friday, the justices issued additional orders from last week’s conference. They did not add any more new cases to their docket, but they did deny review in a high-profile case in which they had been asked to decide whether a federal civil rights law barring… Read More
Court blocks DACA discovery orders – at least for now
Tonight a divided Supreme Court put on hold a set of lower-court orders that would require the federal government to turn over additional documents related to the Trump administration’s decision to end the policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – a Obama-administration program that allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the United States… Read More
Court adds seven new cases to merits docket
The Supreme Court issued a preliminary set of orders from its conference today, adding seven new cases to its merits docket for the term. The new cases include a high-profile Maryland gerrymandering case, a dispute over federal sentencing laws and an effort to limit successive class actions. In October, the justices heard oral argument in… Read More
Argument analysis: Conservative majority leaning toward ruling for Colorado baker (UPDATED)
[Note: This post was updated at 2:49 p.m. to provide expanded analysis of the argument.] Lines began forming outside the Supreme Court last week for one of the biggest oral arguments of the year, in the case of a Colorado man who says that requiring him to create custom cakes for same-sex weddings would violate… Read More
Argument analysis: Subdued justices parse immunity law
These days, the Supreme Court is known as a “hot bench”: Lawyers who argue there usually have to respond to a barrage of questions from all sides. That fast and furious questioning can make it hard for advocates to advance their arguments, but it also makes it easier for both the attorneys and spectators to… Read More
Justices allow full travel ban to go into effect while government appeals
This afternoon the Supreme Court granted the federal government’s request to allow it to enforce the full set of restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump’s September 24 proclamation, often known as the “travel ban.” The proclamation limits the entry into the United States of nationals from eight countries – Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Syria… Read More
Argument analysis: Justices seem to side with state on sports betting
The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in New Jersey’s challenge to a 1992 federal law that bars states from allowing sports gambling such as UFABET ฟุตบอลและกีฬา. New Jersey and members of the state’s horse-racing industry told the justices that the law violates the Constitution, which the Supreme Court has interpreted to prohibit the federal… Read More
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to intervene in DACA document dispute
Last night the federal government asked the Supreme Court to step into a dispute over documents related to the Trump administration’s decision to end the policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – a Obama-administration program that allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to apply for protection from deportation…. Read More
Court grants review in state-action immunity case
This afternoon the Supreme Court issued an initial order list from today’s conference. The justices added one new case to their merits docket for the term: Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District v. SolarCity Corp., in which they will decide a technical but important question: When can a state or local government appeal… Read More