California education authorities have agreed to drop a policy encouraging public school students to pray to Aztec gods after angry parents filed a lawsuit months ago. Among Aztec religious practices were the cutting out of human hearts and the flaying of victims and wearing of their skin. Paul Jonna, partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP and special counsel for the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm, said the “Aztec prayers at issue—which seek blessings from and the intercession of these demonic forces—were not being taught as poetry or history.” Rather, the California State Board of Education’s nearly 900-page Ethnic … Continue reading California settles parents’ lawsuit, drops Aztec prayers from public school curriculum

An illegal alien under a deportation order isn’t entitled to a bond hearing after six months of detention, the Biden administration told the Supreme Court during a Jan. 11 hearing. At issue is whether Zadvydas v. Davis, a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that found that federal law provides an implied time limit of six months for the immigration detention of noncitizens when their removal isn’t “reasonably foreseeable,” applies to detainees who have been ordered to be removed from the country. The case is Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez, court file 19-896. Tae D. Johnson is the acting director of U.S. Immigration and … Continue reading Previously deported illegal aliens aren’t entitled to bond hearing after 6 months detention, Supreme Court hears

The Supreme Court agreed to review a Washington state law that extended workers’ compensation benefits to workers at a decommissioned federal nuclear production facility where employees suffered exposure to radioactive waste and toxic fumes. The case could have expensive consequences for U.S. government contracts related to hazardous work conducted on federal property. The Biden administration argues that the state law impermissibly intrudes on federal authority. The decision to hear the case, United States v. Washington, court file 21-404, an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, came Jan. 10. The high court didn’t provide reasons for its decision, … Continue reading Supreme Court to review Washington State workers’ comp law for federal contractors at former nuclear site

Race shouldn’t be a consideration in the judicial process, two conservative Michigan Supreme Court justices indicated as they objected to the court’s creation of a “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” commission that will demand judges be loyal to the “woke” left’s race-based ideological agenda. They were reacting to Administrative Order No. 2022-1, which, on Jan. 5, “effective immediately” formed the commission “with the initial goal of exploring issues related to the demographics of the workforce that support our judiciary and training within the judicial branches.” The purpose of the 24-member Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Michigan Judiciary is “to … Continue reading Incorporating ‘woke’ racial ideology in state courts is terrible Idea, 2 Michigan Supreme Court justices argue

The Supreme Court seemed skeptical of the Biden administration’s bold claim that it has the authority to impose vaccination mandates applying to more than 84 million private sector employees and to workers in federally funded health care facilities. In a rare Friday sitting the high court seemed broadly receptive to the idea that states have authority to impose vaccination mandates but questioned the ability of federal agencies to do the same. The court decided Dec. 22, 2021, to fast-track emergency applications pertaining to challenges to the two mandates’ lawfulness as those challenges work their way through the lower courts. Various … Continue reading Supreme Court seems skeptical of Biden vaccination mandates

A committee of the Indiana legislature approved a resolution on Jan. 5 calling for a federal constitutional convention to amend the Constitution to hold the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices at nine. Defenders of the Supreme Court say the institution is functioning as it’s supposed to, although Democrats in the nation’s capital continue to press to pack the high court so it won’t hinder possibly unconstitutional left-wing legislation aimed at transforming the country. When former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, tried to pack the court to clear the way for his controversial New Deal, the idea was met with backlash, … Continue reading Indiana lawmakers seek federal constitutional convention to keep Supreme Court at 9 members

State officials in Georgia are now investigating allegations that ballot harvesting–a practice that is unlawful in the state—was used widely during the November 2020 general election and the U.S. Senate runoff elections that followed two months later. The allegations originated from good-government group True the Vote, which promises to release other information on voting irregularities in five other states. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, confirmed to John Solomon of Just the News, that a probe is underway and that subpoenas from the state’s election board may soon follow as part of the evidence-gathering process. True the Vote, which focuses on electoral integrity issues, acknowledged in a statement … Continue reading Georgia begins probe of illegal 2020 ballot harvesting

After losing in the lower courts, four Democratic-dominated northeastern states are asking the Supreme Court to consider their legal challenge to the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions imposed by then-President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law. The case is New York v. Yellen. Janet Yellen is being sued in her official capacity as secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland asked the Supreme Court on Dec. 29, 2021, to extend the deadline for filing a petition for certiorari, or review, in the case from Jan. 3 to March 4. On Jan. 3, Justice Sonia Sotomayor granted the requested … Continue reading Blue states ask Supreme Court to review SALT tax deduction caps

A group headed by former Vice President Mike Pence has asked the Supreme Court to halt President Joe Biden’s mandate forcing large businesses to require their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or endure frequent testing. Pence’s group, Advancing American Freedom (AAF), filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the emergency application filed by the National Federation of Independent Business, American Trucking Associations Inc., National Retail Federation, and other business organizations, which the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Jan. 7. AAF, which argues the mandate is unconstitutional and exceeds the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), shared the brief with The … Continue reading Pence group asks Supreme Court to halt worker vaccination mandate

The judge in a federal lawsuit on North Carolina’s voter photo identification law scheduled for trial on Jan. 24 has decided to delay the proceeding until the U.S. Supreme Court can decide in coming months whether North Carolina legislative leaders should be allowed to help defend the statute in court. U.S. District Court Judge Loretta Biggs, an Obama appointee, ordered the trial delay on Dec. 30, saying it wasn’t reasonable to move forward without first obtaining feedback from the high court. Moving ahead prematurely could force the court to try the matter twice, “needlessly expending tremendous resources of time and effort” … Continue reading NC voter ID law challenge delayed until Supreme Court hears case

Virginia’s incoming Republican governor is promising a big lump of coal for global warming alarmists this new year season as he plans to set fire to some of the financial infrastructure that is helping to keep irrational fear of the earth’s natural weather patterns alive. Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has said he will extract Virginia from the jaws of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an 11-state regional carbon emissions-trading scheme. The RGGI is a “carbon tax” paid by energy consumers, Youngkin said in promising an executive order pulling the state out of the interstate compact that created it. “RGGI will cost ratepayers over the … Continue reading ‘Reggie,’ we hardly knew ye

The Virginia Supreme Court has given its blessing to new electoral maps for Virginia’s congressional delegation and its state legislature following a process that for the first time kept elected officials out of the decision-making. The contentious once-in-a-decade exercise included a bipartisan redistricting commission that deadlocked and failed to complete the task. It then fell to the court to appoint two special masters—RealClearPolitics senior elections analyst Sean Trende and University of California–Irvine political science professor Bernard Grofman—to draft the new maps. Trende, who was nominated by Republican lawmakers, and Grofman, who was nominated by Democratic lawmakers, unveiled their proposed maps on Dec. 7 to the … Continue reading Virginia Supreme Court adopts electoral map shifting congressional districts

A Wisconsin state lawmaker’s new legislation would penalize the state’s public universities and state technical colleges for violations of free speech rights or academic freedom. The legislation comes after years of pressure from activists and state lawmakers who believe that the University of Wisconsin (UW) hasn’t done enough to defend free speech on campus. A prior measure in the Legislature that would have expelled students who disrupted invited speakers on campus failed to be approved by the state Legislature, according to a Longview News-Journal summary. The university’s board of regents approved a resolution containing provisions similar to the failed legislation after a … Continue reading Wisconsin legislation would strip grants, allow lawsuits against colleges violating free speech rights

A law professor in Chicago has been ordered to undergo mandatory reeducation as punishment for using an abbreviated version of a racial slur in a legal hypothetical about race-based employment discrimination on an exam. The question posed on the civil procedure exam by Jason Kilborn, a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, included the following sentence, which was deemed hurtful to students: “Employer’s lawyer traveled to meet the manager, who stated that she quit her job at Employer after she attended a meeting in which other managers expressed their anger at Plaintiff, calling her a ‘n____’ … Continue reading Law prof punished for perceived racial insensitivity considers lawsuit against school