A passenger prevented from boarding a Southwest Airlines flight has filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court seeking a preliminary injunction against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over its mandate requiring travelers to wear face coverings. “This is an authoritarian policy that has no basis in law and has to come to an end,” Washington resident Lucas Wall told The Epoch Times in an interview. Wall is fully vaccinated, but says he refuses to wear a face covering because doing so precipitates a feeling of panic and claustrophobia. “I’ve been stranded at my mother’s in Florida because I … Continue reading Supreme Court asked in emergency application to lift air travel mask mandate

After it had already paid out hefty fines for rigging its cars to cheat on federal emissions tests, Volkswagen said in court papers that it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court last month’s Ohio Supreme Court ruling that allows the state to sue for hundreds of billions of dollars more over the same claim. The news comes after European regulators fined German automakers Volkswagen and BMW a total of 875 million euros ($1 billion) for colluding to prevent the use of emissions-reducing technology they pioneered. Volkswagen will pay 502 million euros; BMW, 373 million euros. “This is a first,” European Union … Continue reading Volkswagen to appeal Ohio court ruling on ‘Dieselgate’ emission test cheating scandal

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) will intervene in the Biden administration’s lawsuit against a popular election reform law Georgia adopted earlier this year, the leaders of two of the organizational and fundraising arms of the Republican Party said on July 8. The government lawsuit in which they plan to participate was filed on June 25 in federal court in Atlanta. The legal complaint alleges that several provisions of the Georgia statute, known as the Election Integrity Act, are racially discriminatory and calculated to suppress black voter turnout. President Joe Biden and other Democrats have, at times, used inflammatory … Continue reading Republican committees to intervene in DOJ lawsuit challenging Georgia election law

A still-incarcerated convicted murderer made history in the nation’s capital when voters recently elected him to one of the District of Columbia’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, which advise the local government on neighborhood issues such as police protection, parking, zoning, liquor licenses, and trash collection. Joel Caston, 44, has been imprisoned for 26 years after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the Aug. 14, 1994, ambush slaying of Rafiq Washington, 18. He is expected to be released from the D.C. Central Detention Facility either this or next year. Getting elected while behind bars is difficult, but not impossible. For … Continue reading Convicted murderer wins election to office in DC from behind bars

This fall, the Supreme Court will grapple with the issue of whether federal civil rights laws allow compensatory damages for emotional distress in a case that may clarify what legal responsibility federally-funded health care providers have to provide accommodations to patients with disabilities. The lawsuit was brought by a deaf-blind woman denied an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter by a health care provider. “It really is important that the deaf community has access to services that they’re entitled to under the law, and that’s an important part of this case,” the woman’s attorney, New York-based Andrew Rozynski, told The Epoch … Continue reading Supreme Court to consider emotional distress damages for disabled patients

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to a Maine law that bans families from a student aid program if they choose to send their children to religious schools. Parents in the Pine Tree State argue in their petition to the court that Maine’s prohibition against using taxpayer funds on sectarian schools violates the U.S. Constitution. They say that the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue held that a state may not exclude families and schools from participating in a student-aid program because of a school’s religious status. But, they say, the court did not … Continue reading Supreme Court votes to hear religious school tuition case from Maine

A unanimous Supreme Court held that the courts must hear a challenge to a San Francisco ordinance forcing landowners to provide lifetime leases to tenants, overturning a ruling by the often-reversed U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The case, Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco, court file 20-1212, was disposed of without oral arguments on June 28 in an unsigned opinion. A businessman had been suing San Francisco over a local rule his lawyers say punishes him for trying to convert his residential rental property into a condominium. The man and his wife had purchased the property in 2009 as an investment, intending … Continue reading Supreme Court reverses 9th Circuit, orders courts to hear landlord rights case from San Francisco

The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that for-profit Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) are American Indian tribes, and as such are entitled to seek pandemic-related financial relief set aside for tribes in last year’s CARES Act. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the court’s opinion in Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, court file 20-543, and the related case, Alaska Native Village Corporation Association Inc. v. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, court file 20-544, which was released June 25. Janet Yellen is the secretary of the Department of the Treasury. ANCs are big business in Alaska, with a combined net revenue of $9.1 billion in … Continue reading Supreme Court rules Alaska Native Corporations eligible for CARES Act payments

In a 5–4 ruling on June 25, the Supreme Court sided with credit reporting company TransUnion, removing most of the more than 8,000 plaintiffs from a consumer class-action lawsuit against the firm, which had categorized those individuals as potential terrorists. The ruling is a defeat for the Biden administration, which had argued all 8,185 individuals in the class sustained an “informational injury” at the hands of TransUnion and therefore had standing to sue. The high court decided that 6,332 of the class members lacked standing. The opinion in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, court file 20-297, was written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh and backed by … Continue reading Supreme Court reduces scope of class action against credit firm that falsely implicated people as on terrorist watch list

A California regulation allowing labor organizers to disrupt businesses for hours every day for one-third of the year to recruit new members is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6–3 vote along ideological lines. “Today’s ruling is a huge victory for property rights,” Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) senior attorney Joshua Thompson said in a statement. The decision “affirms that one of the most fundamental aspects of property is the right to decide who can and can’t access your property.” PLF is a national public interest law firm based in Sacramento, California, that represented farmers challenging the law. The ruling is likely to have … Continue reading Supreme Court strengthens property rights in case involving labor organizing on farms

A high school cheerleader’s First Amendment rights were violated when Pennsylvania school officials disciplined her for a profanity-laced rant on social media, a near-unanimous Supreme Court ruled. The 8–1 ruling on June 23 is a defeat for the Biden administration, which had urged the court to let school districts suppress free speech by students on social media if they deem it potentially disruptive to school operations. The court opinion in the case, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., court file 20-255, was written by Justice Stephen Breyer. Justice Clarence Thomas filed a dissenting opinion. Long before the internet became part of Americans’ daily lives, … Continue reading Supreme Court rules in favor of cheerleader who swore online, in free-speech decision

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) regulations that restrict benefits that may be given to student-athletes violate federal antitrust law. The June 21 ruling, which opens the door for student-athletes to receive greater compensation, could reshape college sports throughout the country. The case is actually two cases that were heard together: NCAA v. Alston, court file 20-512, and American Athletic Conference (AAC) v. Alston, court file 20-520. Former football player Shawne Alston, one of a group of football and basketball athletes challenging the NCAA, was a running back for the West Virginia University Mountaineers from 2009 to 2012. The Biden … Continue reading Supreme Court rules NCAA went too far in cracking down on student-athlete pay