The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were reflected in an unusual source: the justices’ 2020 financial disclosures, which the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts released (and Fix the Court posted online) on Friday. Unlike in previous years, the justices mostly stayed close to home, with only two justices reporting reimbursements for trips after the… Read More
Reading the tea leaves: Remaining cases as of June 8
Over the next three weeks or so, the Supreme Court is expected to issue 22 opinions in cases that were argued during the 2020-2021 term, on topics ranging from the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act to whether schools can regulate off-campus speech by students. There is no way to know when a particular decision… Read More
Justices grant state secrets case, won’t tackle male-only draft
The Supreme Court on Monday announced that it would add another case involving the state secrets privilege, which allows the government to block the release of sensitive national security information in litigation, to its argument calendar for next term. The court also turned down a challenge to the requirement that only men register for the… Read More
Real estate agents ask court to block eviction moratorium
A group of Alabama real estate agents asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to block a federal moratorium on evictions that was imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, a federal district judge agreed with the group that the Centers for Disease Control does not have the power to impose the policy, but she… Read More
Supreme Court’s spokesperson to step down after 38 years
The Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that Kathleen Arberg, the court’s longtime spokesperson, will retire on July 3. Arberg has spent 40 years working for the federal judiciary, with 38 of those years at the Supreme Court and 22 as the head of the court’s Public Information Office. Arberg came to the court in 1982… Read More
Gorsuch turns down Colorado churches’ request to block COVID restrictions
In the latest battle over restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Justice Neil Gorsuch rejected a request from two Denver-area churches to block the enforcement of Colorado’s disaster law. Denver Bible Church and Community Baptist Church had sought broad relief, asking the court not only to halt any COVID-19 restrictions based on the law that… Read More
Justices to tackle copyright dispute next term
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a copyright clash over a fashion design and declined to revisit the authority of police officers to enter homes without a warrant. In an order list from the justices’ May 27 private conference, the justices added just one new case to their docket for next term: Unicolors,… Read More
“Basically optimistic” Breyer on American government, missing RBG
Justice Stephen Breyer extolled the virtues of civics education and reaching out across ideological divides, arguing on Friday that when enough people want their elected officials to work together, they will do so. Breyer’s remarks, which the 82-year-old jurist made during a wide-ranging conversation with Jeffrey Rosen of the National Constitution Center, came on the… Read More
Court puts relief for Oklahoma inmate on hold amid uncertainty about scope of McGirt
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted a request by Oklahoma to allow the state to retain custody of a death-row inmate while the court considers whether to clarify the implications of last year’s decision holding that Oklahoma lacks jurisdiction over certain crimes committed on land reserved for Native Americans. The inmate, Shaun Bosse, was convicted… Read More
Justices won’t hear Missouri inmate’s request to choose firing squad over lethal injection
Over the objection of the court’s three liberal justices, the Supreme Court on Monday turned down a request from a Missouri death-row inmate who is contesting the state’s method of lethal injection and wants to propose the firing squad as a more humane method of execution. Ernest Johnson is missing nearly a fifth of his… Read More