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

Less than three months after the Supreme Court unanimously struck down his conviction on federal corruption charges, today the Department of Justice announced that it would not seek to retry either former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell or his wife, Maureen, who was convicted on similar charges. In a terse three-sentence statement, the Department of Justice… Read More

UPDATED:  Today Justice Elena Kagan asked the state to file a response to the request by Ohio Democrats.  The response is due on Thursday, September 8, by 3 p.m. Eastern. One day after the Supreme Court rejected North Carolina’s request to allow the state to enforce parts of its controversial election law, including the requirement that… Read More

The Supreme Court released its November argument calendar today. The Justices will hear ten hours of oral argument over six days: two hours each on Monday and Tuesday, followed by one hour on Wednesday, during the two weeks of the sitting. All of the cases in the November sitting (which begins on October 31) were… Read More

A closely divided Court today denied North Carolina’s request to allow the state to enforce three provisions of its controversial 2013 election law when voters go to the polls for this fall’s general elections. The state needed five of the eight Justices to agree to halt a lower court’s ruling that blocked the law, but… Read More

Urging the Justices to resolve the dispute over the use of school bathrooms by trangender students “once and for all,” today a Virginia school board asked the Supreme Court to examine a decision by a federal appeals court in favor of a transgender student who identifies as a boy and wants to be allowed to… Read More

Earlier this year, the Court threw out former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell’s conviction on federal corruption charges and sent the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Both sides then asked the court of appeals to put the case on hold for thirty days. The court of appeals agreed, instructing… Read More

Earlier this month, North Carolina asked the Justices to halt a lower-court ruling that blocked the implementation of its controversial 2013 election law – including provisions requiring voters to present a government-issued photo ID, reducing the number of days when voters can go to the polls before Election Day, and eliminating preregistration for young voters…. Read More

Arguing that not only its own voter identification law but virtually all others could be endangered if a lower-court decision is permitted to stand, yesterday North Carolina asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block part of that ruling. Now represented by former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, the state filed an emergency appeal seeking to… Read More

This fall the Court will hear oral arguments in a dispute that began as a battle over a playground – or, to be precise, the surfaces of the playground at the daycare and preschool operated by a Missouri church. The church argues that its exclusion from a state program that provides grants to help non-profits… Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court stepped into the dispute between a Virginia school board and a transgender student who identifies as a boy. In June, a federal district court in Virginia ordered the Gloucester County School Board to allow “G.G.” to use the boys’ bathroom at Gloucester High School until the case can be fully litigated…. Read More