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
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must immediately halt 30 percent reimbursement cuts to hospitals made under the 340B program aimed at helping poor patients, a federal judge ordered. The ruling (pdf) in American Hospital Association v. … Continue reading Federal judge orders HHS to properly reimburse hospitals for prescription drugs
The Supreme Court has put a banker’s lifetime ban from the industry on hold while he pursues an appeal over the ban. The order (pdf), which also stays a $125,000 fine, came late on Sept. 29 in Calcutt v. Federal … Continue reading Supreme Court stays order barring executive from banking industry
The Supreme Court has granted a temporary emergency stay of a lower court order that Novartis Pharmaceuticals says would allow the development of as many as 20 generic versions of its commercially successful multiple-sclerosis drug, Gilenya. The emergency application in Novartis … Continue reading Supreme Court grants emergency pause on ruling disallowing Novartis Pharmaceuticals’ patent: Without the stay, Chinese drug maker HEC Pharm would be able to make generic versions of multiple-sclerosis drug
The attorneys general of 17 states are asking the Supreme Court to take up the civil rights lawsuit of an evangelical Christian postal worker in Pennsylvania who quit the U.S. Postal Service after it refused to accommodate his wish not to work on the Sunday Sabbath. The legal filing comes as the Supreme Court is poised to begin its new session on Oct. 3, its first with Biden appointee Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on the bench. It also comes as the high court has become increasingly protective of First Amendment-based religious protections in recent years. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the … Continue reading 17 states ask Supreme Court to protect postal worker’s right to honor Sabbath
An election-integrity group is filing a new legal complaint each day this week regarding a different Minnesota county for officials’ failure to remove duplicate voter registrations from county voter rolls. “Federal law requires that duplicate registrations are eliminated from the voter roll,” said J. … Continue reading Minnesota counties sued for duplicate voter registrations
California’s ban on privately owned and operated immigration detention facilities is unconstitutional because it interferes with and gives the state a veto over federal government operations, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on Sept. 26. In an … Continue reading Federal appeals court overturns California’s ban on private immigration detention centers