The Supreme Court on April 9 temporarily paused two lower court rulings that blocked President Donald Trump from firing members of independent labor boards. The order came mere hours after the Trump administration filed an emergency application in Trump v. … Continue reading Supreme Court pauses orders forcing Trump admin to rehire labor board members
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 7 agreed to consider whether a prisoner’s murder conviction should be set aside because he was prevented from discussing his testimony with his lawyer during an overnight recess. The court’s decision to approve the … Continue reading Supreme Court agrees to hear prisoner’s right to counsel appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 7 agreed to hear the appeal of a former prisoner who claims he was unconstitutionally punished when his restitution payments were extended. The Constitution’s ex post facto clause forbids laws that retroactively enhance punishment … Continue reading Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to retroactive punishment
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 7 denied a challenge to a restrictive New York state gun law that was passed to counter the court’s landmark gun ruling in 2022. The court’s decision not to hear Antonyuk v. James came … Continue reading Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to New York state gun law
The Maryland General Assembly gave final approval on April 2 to legislation authorizing the state to form a commission to study the possibility of providing reparations for slavery. Except as punishment for a crime, slavery was abolished in the United … Continue reading Maryland legislature approves bill creating commission to study slavery reparations
The U.S. Supreme Court sided 5–4 on April 2 with a truck driver who was fired after failing a drug test following consumption of a pain-relief product marketed as drug-free. The new decision affirms an appeals court ruling that permitted … Continue reading Supreme Court rules CBD remedy maker must face racketeering lawsuit
The Supreme Court on April 2 weighed whether South Carolina can stop abortion provider Planned Parenthood from taking part in the state’s Medicaid program. Medicaid is a joint federal–state program that offers health insurance coverage to low-income Americans. Although the … Continue reading Supreme Court reviews South Carolina’s Medicaid funding block on Planned Parenthood
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 2 unanimously threw out a lower court decision finding that the Food and Drug Administration had broken the law when it denied two companies permission to sell flavored vape products. A vape or e-cigarette … Continue reading Supreme Court rules 9–0 for FDA in lawsuit over flavored vapes
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 1 seemed to lean toward upholding a law that empowers Americans harmed by terrorist attacks abroad to sue in U.S. courts. Mariam Fuld sued in federal district court in New York after her husband Ari Fuld was killed near a West Bank shopping mall in 2018 by a Palestinian terrorist allegedly incited by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Other victims of terrorism and their families also sued in the same legal proceeding, according to the petition filed on July 3, 2024. The case is actually two cases—Fuld v. PLO and United States v. PLO—that … Continue reading Supreme Court poised to reinstate victims’ lawsuits against Palestinian groups
The U.S. Supreme Court on March 31 dismissed a Missouri death row inmate’s petition seeking review of his conviction for the 2005 murder of a highway patrolman. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the denial of the petition. Justice Ketanji Brown … Continue reading Supreme Court turns away death row appeal alleging jury bias
The U.S. Supreme Court on March 31 seemed inclined to side with a Wisconsin Catholic charity that argues that it should not have to pay unemployment tax. The nation’s highest court granted the petition in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin … Continue reading Supreme Court seems sympathetic to Catholic charity in religious rights dispute
Anita MonCrief, March 1, 1979 – March 22, 2025 My friend, Anita MonCrief, was a tireless campaigner for what she thought was right. When she was a left-leaning activist earlier in life, she worked for the now-defunct Association of Community … Continue reading Anita MonCrief, 1979 – 2025
A federal appeals court on March 28 put on hold a lower court order that blocked efforts led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to downsize the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The U.S. Court of Appeals for … Continue reading Appeals court allows DOGE to continue to downsize USAID
The U.S. Supreme Court on March 26 considered whether it should uphold a lower court ruling that invalidated an $8-billion-a-year broadband subsidy for rural and low-income regions. The case is actually two cases. One is Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers’ Research. The other is Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition v. Consumers’ Research. On July 24, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the Universal Service Fund was unconstitutional because it improperly took the taxing power away from Congress. The fund was authorized by Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to provide subsidies for telecommunications … Continue reading Supreme Court hears challenge to tax on telephone service
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 26 that state and federal law do not allow a bankruptcy trustee to take back a payment made to the IRS that may have been fraudulent. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote the 8–1 … Continue reading Supreme Court sides with IRS in bankruptcy dispute
The Supreme Court voted 7–2 on March 26 to uphold the Biden administration’s rule regulating so-called ghost guns that can be constructed at home. The majority opinion in Bondi v. VanDerStok was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch was joined by … Continue reading Supreme Court upholds Biden-era ‘ghost gun’ regulation
The U.S. Supreme Court on March 25 heard two regulatory appeals centering on which courts should have authority to try lawsuits that challenge Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actions. The court first heard EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining, followed by a … Continue reading Supreme Court weighs states’, refineries’ appeals against EPA
A federal appeals court on March 25 temporarily put on hold a lower court order that blocked efforts led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to downsize the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The U.S. Court of Appeals … Continue reading Fourth Circuit temporarily allows DOGE to continue dismantling USAID
The Supreme Court on March 24 grappled with a much-litigated racial gerrymandering case from Louisiana involving two consolidated cases: Louisiana v. Callais and Robinson v. Callais. Gerrymandering refers to the manipulation of electoral district boundaries to benefit a particular party … Continue reading Supreme Court grapples with Louisiana Voting Rights Act case
The U.S. Supreme Court on March 24 declined to hear businessman Steve Wynn’s lawsuit that sought to roll back protections for journalists in defamation lawsuits. The court denied the petition in Wynn v. The Associated Press (AP) in an unsigned … Continue reading Supreme Court won’t hear Steve Wynn’s appeal to roll back journalist protections