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

Prosecutors on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to allow Donald Trump’s sentencing in his New York hush money case to go ahead as scheduled on Friday morning. Emphasizing that Trump’s conviction rests on conduct for which he is not entitled to immunity, that Trump can attend Friday’s hearing “by video at the trial court’s invitation… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear the case of a former Chicago alderman, who served four months in a federal prison for lying to federal financial regulators about loans he took out from a local bank and failed to pay. Patrick Daley Thompson, a member of the city’s most famous political dynasty, hopes that… Read More

President-elect Donald Trump came to the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, asking the justices to halt the criminal sentencing scheduled for Friday morning in his New York hush money case. In a 40-page filing signed by John Sauer, Trump’s intended nominee for solicitor general, Trump urged the court to put the proceedings on hold to… Read More

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week in a dispute over whether  a Florida woman who retired from her job as a firefighter can bring a lawsuit against her former employer under the Americans with Disabilities Act alleging discrimination in how benefits are provided in the years after she left her job. Karyn… Read More

One week ahead of oral arguments in its challenge to a federal law that would require social-media giant TikTok to shut down in the United States unless its parent company can sell it by Jan. 19, the Biden administration filed its reply brief on Friday, urging the justices to allow the law to go into… Read More

The federal courts will not refer complaints that Justice Clarence Thomas violated ethics laws to the Department of Justice for investigation. The national policymaking body for the federal courts on Thursday rejected Democratic lawmakers’ request to refer to the attorney general claims that Thomas violated the law when he failed to disclose luxury travel, the… Read More

The Biden administration came to the Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon, asking the justices to let it enforce an anti-money-laundering law while the government appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and, if necessary, the Supreme Court. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that an order by a federal… Read More

At the end of an eventful year at the Supreme Court that included a ruling giving former President Donald Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution for his conduct while in office, reporting that controversial flags had flown at the homes of Justice Samuel Alito, and an ethics inquiry from Senate Democrats that found more gift… Read More

The Biden administration on Friday afternoon urged the Supreme Court to leave in place a federal law that would require TikTok to shut down in the United States unless its parent company can sell off the U.S. company by Jan. 19. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that the social media giant “collects… Read More

The Supreme Court on Wednesday morning agreed to take up a dispute over whether a South Carolina woman can bring a lawsuit challenging that state’s decision to end Planned Parenthood’s participation in its Medicaid program. The court’s announcement that it will hear arguments next spring in Kerr v. Planned Parenthood came at approximately 11 a.m…. Read More