The Supreme Court officially begins its new term on Monday, but the unofficial start to the term came on Friday morning, when the justices issued an initial set of orders from their “long” conference – the first conference since mid-July, when they began their summer recess. The justices granted seven new cases, for a total… Read More
South Carolina election officials, GOP ask justices to reinstate witness requirement for absentee ballots
Election officials and South Carolina Republicans went to the Supreme Court on Thursday, asking the justices to reinstate a state law that requires voters to sign absentee-ballot envelopes in the presence of a witness. The dispute is the latest in a series of election-law battles to come to the Supreme Court since the COVID-19 pandemic… Read More
Pennsylvania GOP leaders ask justices to block order on counting absentee ballots after Election Day (updated)
Telling the Supreme Court that there is a “very real possibility that the final presidential election results” could rest on the outcome of voting in Pennsylvania, Republicans in the state asked the justices on Monday to block a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that would require election officials to count absentee ballots received within… Read More
Trump nominates Barrett to Supreme Court
Shortly after he appointed then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, President Donald Trump reportedly told his advisers that he was “saving” Judge Amy Coney Barrett, another of the finalists for the Kennedy slot, in case Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stepped down from… Read More
Trump administration asks court to act quickly on census appeal
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to quickly resolve another dispute related to the 2020 census and citizenship – this one involving whether people living in the country illegally must be included in the apportionment of congressional seats. Last year, the court dealt a blow to the administration’s efforts to include a… Read More
Potential nominee profile: Amy Coney Barrett
President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he would nominate a woman to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. According to news reports, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a judge on the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, is on the shortlist of candidates whom the president… Read More
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, feminist pioneer and progressive icon, dies at 87
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a trailblazer who fought for gender equality as a lawyer and became a beloved hero of the progressive movement as a justice, died on Friday of complications from pancreatic cancer. When she was confirmed to the court in 1993, Ginsburg was a reserved and relatively unknown court of appeals judge, but during… Read More
Justices release December calendar
The Supreme Court on Wednesday released the calendar for the December argument session, which will include the clash between the Department of Justice and the House Judiciary Committee over the committee’s efforts to obtain secret materials from the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Over six days between Nov. 30 and Dec. 9, the court… Read More
Justices to hear October arguments by phone
The Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it will start its new term in October by hearing oral arguments the same way that it did at the end of its previous term: remotely, with the justices and lawyers participating by telephone as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Members of the public will once again… Read More
Trump releases new list of potential Supreme Court nominees
With just under two months remaining before the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump on Wednesday released a new list of potential Supreme Court nominees – his fourth such list since 2016. The announcement of the new list fulfilled a promise that the president made in a tweet in June, when Trump pledged not only… Read More