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

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg announced Friday that she began treatment earlier this year for liver cancer. The 87-year-old justice, who has battled cancer on four previous occasions, indicated that chemotherapy is “yielding positive results,” and she emphasized that she remains “fully able” to do her job. In a statement released by the Supreme Court’s Public… Read More

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request by Florida voters and civil rights groups to reinstate a ruling that would have cleared the way for thousands of Florida residents who have been convicted of a felony to vote in the state’s upcoming elections. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the ruling, writing an opinion that… Read More

Two days after a flurry of late-night filings culminated in an early-morning order by the Supreme Court that allowed the federal government to proceed with the first federal execution in 17 years, the justices cleared the way early Thursday morning for a second execution. In a series of unsigned orders, the court permitted the government… Read More

Update, July 15: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been discharged from the hospital a day after being admitted for a possible infection, a Supreme Court spokesperson said Wednesday afternoon. “She is home and doing well,” the spokesperson said. The original post is below: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted Tuesday morning to a Baltimore hospital… Read More

In the early hours this morning, after a flurry of last-minute filings, a divided Supreme Court cleared the way for federal executions to resume for the first time in nearly 20 years. According to news reports, the federal government then moved quickly to carry out an execution that had been scheduled for Monday afternoon, executing… Read More

Today the Supreme Court released its calendar for the October argument session, which begins on Monday, Oct. 5, and continues through Wednesday, Oct. 14. The justices will hear 10 hours of oral argument over five days; they will not hear argument on Monday, Oct. 12, which is a federal holiday. All of the cases scheduled… Read More

This afternoon the Supreme Court issued a final set of orders – often called the “clean-up” orders – before its summer recess. The justices sent several cases back to the lower courts for another look in light of the court’s recent decisions holding that, for purposes of the federal Major Crimes Act, much of eastern… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited rulings in the battle over efforts to obtain financial records belonging to President Donald Trump. By a vote of 7-2, the justices sent a pair of cases challenging congressional subpoenas for the records back to the lower courts for another look, holding that subpoenas involving the president… Read More

With the deadline to register to vote in Florida’s August primary election 12 days away, a group of Florida voters and civil rights groups today asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a ruling by a federal trial court that struck down a state law that requires Florida residents who have been convicted of a felony… Read More

In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that a doctrine known as the “ministerial exception,” which bars ministers from suing churches and other religious institutions for employment discrimination, prohibited a lawsuit filed by a teacher at a Lutheran school who was also an ordained minister. Today, by a vote of 7-2, the court held that the… Read More