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

The Supreme Court on Monday appeared sympathetic to the argument by a Catholic Charities chapter that Wisconsin violated the Constitution when it refused to give the group the same exemption from the state’s unemployment tax that it provides to churches, religious schools, and some religious groups. Justices from both sides of the ideological spectrum seemed… Read More

Under the federal law governing efforts by state prisoners to seek post-conviction relief in federal courts, prisoners who lose at the trial level can only appeal that decision if they can show that reasonable judges could disagree with the ruling or that the case should be allowed to move forward. The Supreme Court declined on… Read More

With most of the 2024-25 term behind them, the justices’ final stretch of oral arguments is stacked with all three religious rights cases of the year. All three cases look to the justices to take up an expansive view of the Constitution’s religious protections. The first of those cases, on Monday, could significantly shift the… Read More

Eight states, led by California, on Friday urged the Supreme Court to leave in place an order by a federal judge in Massachusetts that requires the Department of Education to restore more than $65 million in grants, intended to address teacher shortages, that it ended in February because the funded programs included diversity, equity, and… Read More

The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Friday morning, asking the justices to allow it to enforce an executive order that directs government officials to quickly remove, without a hearing, noncitizens who are designated as members of a Venezuelan gang. The order relies on a 1798 law that until now has only been… Read More

The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, asking the justices to pause an order by a federal judge in Massachusetts that requires the Department of Education to reinstate more than $65 million in training grants meant to address teacher shortages that it terminated in February because they funded programs that have… Read More

The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed poised to uphold the federal program that provides schools, libraries, and underserved areas with access to affordable telephone and high-speed internet services. A conservative consumer advocacy group challenged the program, arguing it violated the Constitution by outsourcing Congress’s power to the Federal Communications Commission and a private nonprofit corporation… Read More

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Biden-era rule regulating so-called “ghost guns” – untraceable weapons without serial numbers, assembled from components or kits that can be bought online. By a vote of 7-2, the justices held that the Gun Control Act of 1968 allows the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to regulate… Read More

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday in a major challenge to the federal “E-rate program,” which subsidizes telephone and high-speed internet services in schools, libraries, rural areas, and low-income communities in urban areas. The stakes are high, not only because of the program’s size but also because the theory at the center… Read More

The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Monday morning, asking the justices to pause an order by a federal judge in San Francisco that would require the federal government to immediately reinstate more than 16,000 probationary employees who were fired from six agencies in February. The ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge William… Read More