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

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

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in an upcoming Supreme Court case are upbeat about their challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s long-controversial claim that the presence of surface water on private property makes it a protected wetland subject to federal regulations. The case, Sackett v. EPA, is scheduled for oral argument on Oct. 3. A ruling against the EPA could limit the reach of the Clean Water Act and allow Americans to relieve pressure on the housing market by building more new houses without becoming entangled in federal bureaucracy. Property rights supporters are encouraged by the fact that in June the court curbed the regulatory … Continue reading Lawyers challenging EPA claim about surface water on private property optimistic about SCOTUS case

Texas and eight other states are asking the Supreme Court to hear the University of Toledo’s appeal of a lower court ruling in a campus sexual harassment case they say threatens educational institutions with possible liability and loss of funding by the federal government. The decision, if left undisturbed, “threatens educational institutions with significant unknown liability and loss of federal funding by not clarifying the full scope of their Title IX obligations,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement on Sept. 20. Title IX refers to Public Law 92-318, or the federal Education Amendments of 1972, which amended four federal … Continue reading States ask Supreme Court to review harassment decision that could affect schools’ federal funding