The Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked 11-11 along party lines on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer, who plans to retire from the Supreme Court this summer. Despite the tie vote on Monday, Jackson’s nomination can still go to the Senate floor using a procedure known as a discharge petition… Read More
Jackson’s confirmation expected by end of week after committee deadlocks along partisan lines
Justices add three new cases, including challenge to animal-welfare law and Warhol copyright dispute
The Supreme Court on Monday issued orders from the justices’ private conference last week, adding three new cases to next term’s docket. The new cases involve a challenge to an animal-welfare law in California, a death-penalty issue in Arizona, and a copyright dispute over an Andy Warhol work. The justices also turned down a request… Read More
Justices mull purpose of Hague Convention in international dispute over child custody
On Tuesday the justices considered what obligations, if any, U.S. courts have to consider measures that might reduce the risk of harm if a child who has been abducted is returned to the country where she lives. The oral argument in Golan v. Saada was the latest case asking the justices to interpret the Hague… Read More
Court allows Department of Defense to reassign unvaccinated Navy SEALs
The Supreme Court on Friday gave the Pentagon the go-ahead to consider whether some members of the elite Navy SEALs are vaccinated against COVID-19 when making operational decisions. With three justices noting dissents, the court temporarily blocked an order by a federal trial court that U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said would commandeer “the Navy’s… Read More
Thomas is discharged from hospital; court gives no details on diagnosis or treatment
After nearly a week in the hospital, Justice Clarence Thomas was released on Friday morning, the Supreme Court announced. The court’s public information office did not provide any additional information about the health of the 73-year-old jurist. Thomas was hospitalized on the evening of Friday, March 18, with what the Supreme Court described as “flu-like… Read More
Court bars Texas from executing inmate unless it allows pastor’s touch and audible prayer
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a man on death row in Texas can have his pastor touch him and pray out loud while he is being executed. The decision in Ramirez v. Collier was the latest chapter in the nearly three-year-long dispute over the presence of spiritual advisers at executions, and the justices… Read More
College board’s censure of one of its members didn’t violate First Amendment, justices rule
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a community college board did not violate the First Amendment when it censured one of its trustees. The unanimous ruling was the latest episode in a long-running drama that pitted the Houston Community College System against David Wilson, a trustee and outspoken critic of the board. Wilson was… Read More
Court remains silent on Thomas’ condition after he entered the hospital last week
Five days after Justice Clarence Thomas was admitted to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., with “flu-like symptoms,” the Supreme Court is providing no updates on his condition. For the third consecutive day, the 73-year-old justice was not on the bench when the justices heard oral argument; the court’s only comment on Thomas’ status Wednesday… Read More
Justices reverse Wisconsin court ruling that increased majority-Black districts in state legislature
The Supreme Court on Wednesday threw out a ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court that adopted a redistricting plan submitted by the state’s governor, Democrat Tony Evers, for seats in the state’s legislature. The state court’s plan would have increased the number of majority-Black districts in the Wisconsin State Assembly from six to seven, but… Read More
With Thomas in hospital, eight justices hear N.C. Republicans’ plea to intervene in voter-ID lawsuit
With all eyes focused on the nomination hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, selected by President Joe Biden to succeed the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, the Supreme Court was back to work on Monday morning. In Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, the justices heard oral argument on whether two Republican leaders… Read More