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

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination “because of sex.” Today the Supreme Court, by a vote of 6-3, ruled that even if Congress may not have had discrimination based on sexual orientation or transgender status in mind when it enacted the landmark law over a half century ago, Title… Read More

This morning federal death-row inmates asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block a lower-court ruling that upheld new federal regulations for carrying out the death penalty. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is scheduled to go into effect tomorrow, would allow the federal government to resume… Read More

The Supreme Court has been parsimonious in granting review recently, adding only a handful of new cases to its merits docket for next term since the beginning of March. Last year the justices closed out June with a flurry, adding 13 new cases (for a total of 11 hours of argument) to their docket for… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued just one opinion, in the prisoner litigation case Lomax v. Ortiz-Marquez. At this point in the year, we would normally expect the court to issue all of its remaining decisions over the next three-and-a-half weeks. But because the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the court to cancel its March and April… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued orders from the justices’ private conference last week. The court added one new case to its merits docket for the term that begins in October. The justices once again did not act on two groups of high-profile petitions – one involving gun rights and the other involving qualified immunity… Read More

Last week the Supreme Court rejected a request by the federal government to temporarily block an order that could have required the release or transfer of over 800 inmates from a federal prison in Ohio where nine inmates have died from COVID-19. But the court’s ruling suggested that it was largely based on procedural grounds,… Read More

Under normal circumstances, we would expect that there would be less than a month remaining before the Supreme Court starts its summer recess. Because the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the court to cancel its March and April argument sessions and hold a rare May argument session, it’s not clear whether the justices will issue all of… Read More

This morning the Supreme Court issued orders from the justices’ private conference last Thursday. The justices did not add any new cases to their merits docket for the fall. They did not act on the group of cases challenging federal and state gun restrictions or the group of cases asking the justices to reconsider immunity… Read More

In 2016, Congress passed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). The law created a seven-member board tasked with bringing financial stability back to the island. But when the board began proceedings in federal court to restructure Puerto Rico’s massive debt, a hedge fund that had invested in distressed Puerto Rico bonds… Read More

Last night the Supreme Court declined to intervene in challenges by churches in southern California and the Chicago area to stay-at-home orders issued as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The churches had asked the justices earlier this week to lift restrictions on crowds in time for them to hold services on Sunday, when Christians… Read More