Claiming New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is engaging in religious discrimination, Orthodox Jewish groups are asking the Supreme Court to freeze the Empire State’s tough restrictions on attendance at houses of worship during the ongoing pandemic. The legal challenge comes as New York and several states have reported a dramatic uptick in cases involving the CCP virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, and on the same day—Nov. 16—that Moderna’s vaccine was reported to be 94.5 percent effective in early testing. Pfizer and BioNTech announced on Nov. 9 that their vaccine was more than 90 percent effective. The surge has prompted several states to consider … Continue reading Orthodox Jews ask Supreme Court to override Cuomo’s religious lockdown

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to a California law that gives labor organizers permission to trespass on private property and disrupt business operations 120 days a year to recruit new members. The high court granted the petitioners’ application Nov. 13 to review a ruling of a divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in a case known as Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid. As is its custom, the court didn’t explain why it granted the petition. The petitioners are Cedar Point Nursery, a strawberry farm in Dorris, and Fowler Packing Co. Inc. in Fresno, which produces grapes and … Continue reading Supreme Court to hear challenge to California law allowing aggressive labor recruitment

Two small businesses in central California are suing Gov. Gavin Newsom over his strict continuing lockdowns purportedly aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic. The 109-page lawsuit, Ghost Golf Inc. v. Newsom, filed in Fresno County Superior Court by Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a public interest law firm based in Sacramento, claims the governor lacks the power to unilaterally shutter businesses. “An emergency doesn’t give the governor authority to decide fundamental policy for the State; only the legislature can make law, and that remains true even in a time of crisis,” said PLF attorney Luke Wake, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing a … Continue reading California businesses sue Gov. Newsom over pandemic lockdowns

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 4 to let it join Pennsylvania Republicans’ lawsuit seeking to rein in a three-day extension of a receipt deadline for mail ballots that they say was illegally extended. Trump claimed victory in Pennsylvania late Nov. 4, a call that hasn’t been echoed by mainstream media outlets. Trump was leading Democrat Joe Biden 50.3 percent to 48.6 percent, or about 109,000 votes out of more than 6.3 million cast in Pennsylvania, with 88 percent of precincts reporting, as of 3 p.m. local time on Nov. 5, according to The Associated … Continue reading Trump campaign asks to join Supreme Court lawsuit over Pennsylvania ballot deadline extension

Lawyers for a Roman Catholic charity and two foster parents urged the Supreme Court to allow the agency to refuse on religious-freedom grounds to place children with same-sex couples. Although only one hour was allotted for oral argument in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, Chief Justice John Roberts allowed the Nov. 4 hearing to go on for one hour and 52 minutes, perhaps signaling the importance of the issues involved. The Trump administration backed the charity and the parents, arguing as a so-called friend of the court. The case dates to March 2018, when Philadelphia officials said the opioid crisis had created … Continue reading Catholic foster care agency should be able to refuse to work with same-sex couples, Supreme Court hears

A federal appeals court upheld a Maine law under which the state may offer tuition reimbursement to parents who enroll their children in private schools but not to parents who enroll their children in religious schools. About half of U.S. states have some kind of tuition voucher program. The parents who unsuccessfully challenged the state law, along with their attorneys at the Institute for Justice (IJ) and the First Liberty Institute, say they will appeal. The Oct. 29 judgment from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit came in a 63-page ruling in a case known as Carson … Continue reading Federal appeals court upholds Maine law denying tuition reimbursement for religious school students

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a state statute that banned a “gruesome” abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation, which is typically used after the 11th week of pregnancy. The petition seeking judicial review in the case known as Cameron v. EMW Women’s Surgical Center was filed with the Supreme Court on Oct. 30. In a press release, Cameron, a Republican, said he wants the highest court in the land to consider the American Civil Liberties Union’s challenge to Kentucky’s live dismemberment abortion law (House Bill 454). The statute, passed by the General Assembly in … Continue reading Kentucky asks Supreme Court to resurrect abortion curbs by reviving lawsuit

A deadlocked Supreme Court has refused emergency requests seeking to rein in extended deadlines for the receipt of ballots in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and North Carolina in the Nov. 3 elections, but the court’s newest member did not participate in the decisions. One of the reasons her supporters gave for expediting the U.S. Senate confirmation of the newest member of the court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was that doing so would make her available to break any potential 4–4 tie votes in important cases related to the ongoing elections. During her recent confirmation hearings, Barrett refused to discuss election-related cases or whether … Continue reading Barrett absent as Supreme Court refuses to block extended ballot deadlines

The Supreme Court turned away a Minnesota Republican candidate’s emergency application to postpone voting in his congressional contest to February 2021, after he argued that state law required the postponement because a major-party candidate died weeks before Election Day. The unusual state law, Minnesota Statute 204B.13, that requires the election to be delayed was enacted after U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Democrat, died in a 2002 plane crash 11 days before a scheduled election. Democrats rushed to find a replacement and picked former Vice President Walter Mondale to run in Wellstone’s place. Mondale was defeated by Republican Norm Coleman. In the case … Continue reading Supreme Court rejects voting delay in Minnesota House race: Lower court rules state law requiring postponement overruled by federal law

The controversial practice of ballot harvesting, or allowing a third party to deliver a voter’s ballot to election officials, may drag out the Nov. 3 presidential election, experts say. The hotly contested battleground states of Colorado (9 electoral votes), Florida (29), Georgia (16), Iowa (6), Maine (4), Minnesota (10), Texas (38), and Virginia (13)—which collectively account for 125 of the 270 votes in the Electoral College needed to elect the president—all allow a voter to designate someone else to submit their ballot, a practice known as ballot harvesting. California, which is not likely to be at play in the presidential election, also … Continue reading Ballot harvesting, relaxation of voting rules could prolong election

Landlords and homebuilders filed suit in federal court against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in an effort to block an eviction moratorium issued last month by the federal public health agency. The lawsuit, known as Skyworks Ltd. v. CDC, was filed Oct. 23 in federal court in Ohio. It names the agency and its director, Robert R. Redfield, as defendants. The CDC argues the eviction ban is needed to curb the spread of the CCP virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, although tenants can invoke the ban whether they suffer from virus-related hardships or not. Tenants establish eligibility under the … Continue reading CDC sued over ‘unconstitutional’ nationwide eviction ban: landlords, homebuilders accuse agency of ‘sweeping assumption of power’

Pennsylvania Republicans have filed a second emergency request with the U.S. Supreme Court in the hope of undoing a state Supreme Court ruling that forces Pennsylvania election officials to accept mail-in ballots received up to three days after Election Day. Pennsylvania is among the most hotly contested states for the Nov. 3 presidential election. President Donald Trump won the state in 2016 by 44,292 votes out of more than 6 million cast. He secured 48.2 percent of the popular vote in the state, beating Democrat Hillary Clinton, who won 47.5 percent, according to Ballotpedia. Pennsylvania has 20 electoral votes out … Continue reading Republicans ask Supreme Court to relook at Pennsylvania mail ballot extended deadline

As courts and government officials across the nation relax voting rules in response to the pandemic, the nation’s foremost electoral integrity group, True the Vote, is fighting to protect the sanctity of the ballot box in the Nov. 3 elections, its founder said in an exclusive interview. “We are living in a blockbuster movie,” Catherine Engelbrecht told The Epoch Times. “This is crazy, what’s happening.” Engelbrecht is worried that authorities have gone too far in loosening election rules, using the occasionally deadly CCP virus, which that causes the disease COVID-19, as an excuse—all at the expense of electoral integrity. The progressive … Continue reading True the Vote fights for election integrity in troubled times