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

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday in a dispute over whether and when plaintiffs who obtain temporary relief in a civil rights case can later be reimbursed for their attorney’s fees. Although the issue in Lackey v. Stinnie may sound like a technical one, it has drawn considerable attention, with lawyers on… Read More

Twice in the past decade the Supreme Court has blocked Oklahoma from executing Richard Glossip. Now the state has joined Glossip to argue that newly uncovered evidence shows prosecutors violated his rights at trial. But even with the Oklahoma’s rare confession of error, both the state’s highest court for criminal cases and the state’s pardon… Read More

The Supreme Court on Friday turned down a request from Republican-led states and industry groups to block a rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that imposes more stringent standards on emissions of hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired power plants. At the same time, the justices turned down a similar request from Oklahoma and industry groups… Read More

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments early next year in a case involving a member of one of Chicago’s most prominent political dynasties, a relatively rare capital case, and Mexico’s lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers. In a short list of orders, the justices on Friday added 15 new cases to their docket for the… Read More

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument next week in a challenge to a 2022 federal rule that seeks to regulate “ghost guns” – firearms without serial numbers that, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives says, almost anyone can quickly assemble with parts that they purchase, often in a kit online or through… Read More

The Supreme Court on Friday denied a request from the campaign committee for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to reinstate him to New York’s ballot for the 2024 presidential election. Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and endorsed former President Donald Trump. A New York court had ordered the state’s board of elections to strike him… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to block the execution of Marcellus Williams, who in 2001 was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1998 stabbing murder of Felicia Gayle. None of the forensic evidence found in Gayle’s house tied Williams to the scene and his lawyers argued there was reason to believe he was… Read More

The Supreme Court on Friday left in place a ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court that keeps the Green Party off the state’s ballot for the 2024 general election. The Green Party had asked the justices to vacate the ruling while it appealed that decision, but in a brief unsigned order, the justices declined to… Read More

An Alaska man was arrested on Wednesday after he was indicted on charges of threatening to kill and injure six Supreme Court justices and two of their family members, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday. Over a 16-month period between March 2023 and July 2024, Panos Anastasiou allegedly sent more than 465 messages through… Read More

At her swearing-in ceremony to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2013, Ketanji Brown Jackson quipped to the group assembled, “It takes a village to raise a judge.” Jackson’s new memoir, “Lovely One” – the English translation of her first and middle names, Ketanji Onyika – pays homage to many of… Read More