A divided Supreme Court of Louisiana ruled that a ban on nonunanimous jury verdicts will not be applied retroactively, which means up to 1,500 inmates who were convicted by split juries will not get a new trial. The ruling (pdf) on Oct. … Continue reading Louisiana Supreme Court denies retrial for nonunanimous jury convictions after practice ruled unconstitutional
The government of Mexico is suing five U.S. gun sellers in a federal court in Arizona, claiming the businesses are illegally engaging in arms trafficking for cartels in that crime-ravaged country. The new lawsuit comes after a federal judge in Massachusetts threw out … Continue reading Mexico sues US gun industry in US courts a second time
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against a California college’s speech code that it used to justify censoring anti-communist posters generated by conservative students. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) won the court order in its lawsuit against the school, … Continue reading Federal judge rips down California college’s discriminatory poster policy
The Supreme Court on Oct. 17 refused to consider a challenge to an appeals court decision denying full U.S. citizenship to American Samoans. American Samoa, which is roughly 1,600 miles northeast of New Zealand and more than 2,000 miles southwest of Hawaii, … Continue reading Supreme Court won’t hear case about American Samoans being denied full citizenship
A conservative group is suing the U.S. Department of Justice for refusing to explain why it won’t enforce a federal law forbidding what the group called “the recent intimidatory protests carried out by radical abortion supporters” outside the homes of … Continue reading DOJ sued for refusing to explain why it won’t protect conservative Supreme Court justices’ homes from pro-choice protests
A photographer who claims her intellectual property rights were violated by Andy Warhol’s eponymous foundation when it published multiple stylized prints he made based on her photo of the iconic musician Prince urged the Supreme Court on Oct. 12 to make the foundation … Continue reading Supreme Court takes on copyright infringement case involving Prince, Andy Warhol
A voter-ratified law in California banning the sale of pork in the state from hogs raised anywhere in the world, unless the animals were raised in a space that exceeds industry norms, is unconstitutional, an industry group told the Supreme Court on … Continue reading Supreme Court hears challenge to allegedly unconstitutional California pork industry restrictions
The Supreme Court refused to hear the death-penalty appeal of an avowed white supremacist who gunned down nine people at a black church in South Carolina in 2015 in an effort to spark a race war. The court announced in an … Continue reading Supreme Court declines appeal of Dylann Roof, white supremacist mass murderer
A county court clerk in Missouri is asking the Supreme Court to throw out an appeals court decision holding that a minor has a “clearly established” right to skip parental notification before asking a court to rule on whether she can have an abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights think tank, the laws of 35 states prescribe a judicial bypass procedure in which a minor may obtain permission from a court for an abortion, but the rules from state to state vary widely. The case is one of many now surfacing after the Supreme Court ruled this summer that there is … Continue reading Abortion notification rules for minors dispute arrives at Supreme Court: Missouri court clerk says she didn’t violate the girl’s rights by refusing to accept her parental bypass petition
A federal judge in Texas struck down a federal guidance exempting LGBT employees from workplace policies on bathroom use, dress codes, locker rooms, and pronoun usage. A U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) policy document from June 2021 overreached in its interpretation … Continue reading Federal law does not exempt LGBT employees from bathroom, dress code, policies, judge rules
West Virginia’s highest court greenlighted a school choice program that a lower court previously blocked. School choice became a hot political issue during the COVID-19-related lockdowns as parents questioned governmental authority and what should be taught to children in public schools. Attorney … Continue reading West Virginia Supreme Court upholds school choice law, reverses lower court ruling
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases about the extent to which social media platforms may be held responsible when terrorist groups use the platforms to promote their cause. Social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter say they shouldn’t be held … Continue reading Supreme Court agrees to hear cases about YouTube, Twitter allegedly facilitating terrorist groups
The Mexican government will appeal its loss in a lawsuit that sought to hold U.S. manufacturers and wholesalers of firearms liable for criminal gun trafficking into Mexico. The announcement came after Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the U.S. District … Continue reading Mexico to appeal ruling dismissing its lawsuit seeking damages from US gun companies for Mexican crime
Alabama defended its redrawn electoral map before the Supreme Court on Oct. 4, arguing that the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) does not require the state to racially gerrymander districts to guarantee black representation in the state’s congressional delegation. The hearing came after a flurry of activity in the legal dispute. On Jan. 24, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama issued a preliminary injunction against John Merrill, Alabama’s Republican secretary of state, temporarily forbidding him from conducting any congressional elections in the state. That court found that instead of having one predominantly black congressional … Continue reading No need to racially gerrymander electoral map, Alabama tells Supreme Court
The Supreme Court turned down an appeal by conservative commentator and Blexit leader Candace Owens over Facebook’s so-called fact-checks that described her posts about COVID-19 as “false” and a “hoax.” The court provided no reasons for its Oct. 3 decision denying the petition in Owens v. Lead Stories LLC (court file 21-1474). Gannett Satellite Information Network, which does business as USA Today, was also a respondent in the case. Facebook, owned by Meta Platforms, was not a party in the case. The Supreme Court of Delaware ruled against Owens in February after a state judge dismissed her lawsuit in July 2021. Superior … Continue reading Supreme Court refuses to hear Candace Owens’ appeal against Facebook fact-checkers
The attorney for an Idaho couple who have been battling federal officials for years over the right to develop their own property asked the Supreme Court on Oct. 3 to rein in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) power to regulate wetlands. Chantell and Mike Sackett had started building a new home in Priest Lake, Idaho, when the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers suddenly ordered them to stop all work. The two government agencies stated that the couple needed a federal permit and threatened them with more than $30,000 in daily fines. The EPA had determined years before that … Continue reading Rein in EPA’s authority over wetlands, Idaho couple urges Supreme Court
The Supreme Court reversed a federal appeals court decision on Oct. 3 that upheld one of Massachusetts’ tough gun laws, months after the high court expanded Second Amendment rights. The Massachusetts law in question, the constitutionality of which is now in doubt, imposed a lifetime ban on purchasing handguns—but not possessing them—on anyone convicted of a nonviolent misdemeanor that involved the possession or use of guns. The high court remanded the case, Morin v. Lyver (court file 21-1160), to the U.S Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit “for further consideration in light of” the Supreme Court’s landmark June 23 decision in New … Continue reading Supreme Court overturns ruling on Massachusetts gun law, leaving constitutionality in question
A 124-year-old Republican club in Manhattan has been canceled by a prominent synagogue-community center for the sin of being Republican. And it was the GOP club’s decision to invite political strategist and Trump supporter Dick Morris to speak at an … Continue reading Jewish organization in NYC cancels Republican group: That the club invited pro-Trump Dick Morris to speak was a key factor
The Biden administration is urging a federal judge to uphold Washington’s ban on individuals carrying firearms on the city’s crime-ridden local public transit system popularly known as the DC Metro. The lawsuit is one of many filed nationwide challenging gun … Continue reading Keep gun ban on DC Metro, Biden administration urges court
Manufacturers and wholesalers of firearms in the United States can’t be held liable for criminal gun trafficking into Mexico, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled in a major blow against U.S.-based gun control efforts. Mexico sued Smith & Wesson, Sturm Ruger & Co., … Continue reading Judge dismisses Mexican government’s lawsuit seeking damages from US gun companies for Mexican crime