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

White Illinois farmers are challenging part of the recent COVID-19 stimulus law in court because it allocates federal benefits based on skin color. The civil rights suit, Kent v. Vilsack, was filed in federal court June 7 by Sacramento, California-based Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a national public-interest law firm. Tom Vilsack is being sued in his official capacity as U.S. secretary of agriculture. The firm has filed two other such lawsuits against Vilsack and expects to file more. One of the plaintiffs, Ryan Kent of Centralia, Illinois, is a white man who grows soybeans, wheat, and corn on a 5,000-acre farm started by his father. … Continue reading White Illinois farmers sue over race-based farm loan relief program

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a Roman Catholic charity in Pennsylvania may refuse on religious-freedom grounds to place children with same-sex couples. The case is Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, court file 19-123. Although the June 17 decision was 9–0, the Supreme Court didn’t speak with one voice. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion of the court, which Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett joined. Justices Barrett, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch each filed a separate opinion concurring in the judgment. The Trump administration backed the charity, Catholic Social Services (CSS), … Continue reading Supreme Court: Catholic charity may deny foster children to same-sex couples

By a vote of 7–2, the Supreme Court has upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—commonly known as Obamacare—for the third time, ignoring the question of its constitutionality by ruling that those challenging it lacked the required legal standing to do so. In a tweet, President Joe Biden said the decision was “a big win for the American people.” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a medical doctor who has worked to repeal the law, lamented the ruling. “The failed Obamacare system will stagger on as a result of this decision,” he said in a statement. “Every American’s health care has been harmed … Continue reading Supreme Court tosses Obamacare challenge by 18 states on grounds of legal standing

The Biden-Harris administration is promising to press on with a blatantly unconstitutional $4 billion farm relief program that deliberately excludes white people even after a federal judge ruled it was racially discriminatory and temporarily blocked it. Democrats view the explicitly racist government program as a down payment on the slavery reparations package they want to force on Americans a century and a half after Abraham Lincoln’s Republicans took Democrats’ slaves away from them. Twelve plaintiffs in nine states sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a case called Faust v. Vilsack to enjoin officials from implementing a loan-forgiveness program for farmers … Continue reading Biden’s racist farm reparations: The blatantly unconstitutional Pigford 2.0 excludes white farmers

Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court established an important precedent by ruling in Tyson Timbs’s favor, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled last week that after an eight-year legal odyssey, the man is entitled to get back his vehicle after it was seized when he used it to sell illegal drugs. The case is of legal significance because the nation’s highest court used it to apply the Eighth Amendment’s ban on excessive fines to all U.S. states. In February 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Indiana Supreme Court’s finding that the state was entitled to keep a white … Continue reading Indiana court orders Land Rover returned, ending long legal battle over asset forfeiture

A divided Supreme Court sided with a criminal defendant, ruling that a federal law that imposes strict mandatory penalties on federal gun offenders with three prior violent convictions can’t be invoked in crimes that require a reckless mental state. The 5–4 ruling in the mandatory minimum sentences case known as Borden v. U.S. came on June 10. The frequently litigated Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) mandates a 15-year minimum sentence for people found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm who have three or more prior convictions for a “violent felony.” A violent felony is defined by the statute as one … Continue reading Fractured Supreme Court rules reckless crimes don’t make a career offender

The often-censored Prager University has been dropped from service by yet another technology company, apparently because of its conservative, pro-American educational videos that it says have attracted more than 5 billion views over 10 years. New York-based JW Player, which claims to “have a global footprint of over 1 billion unique users,” kicked the nonprofit off its video hosting platform, while it continues to serve left-wing media outlets The Young Turks and Vice, which generate videos that, according to PragerU, divide the country and teach young people to resent America. The move came after JW Player blindsided PragerU, claiming to have updated … Continue reading PragerU censored by video platform