Covering the Supreme Court, lower courts, and the law

Very often, the Supreme Court will speak through a very simple order, without explanation.  But it frequently will be true that such an order has deeper meaning, maybe even major consequences.  That is very likely what could follow a one-sentence order issued on Wednesday in a case with an obscure title, Benisek v. Lamone. That… Read More

A deeply-divided Supreme Court on Tuesday night stepped back into the long-running legal battle over whether the Texas legislature has unconstitutionally discriminated against minority voters in drawing new congressional and state legislative election districts. In two separate orders that split the Justices 5-to-4, two rulings by a three-judge federal trial court in San Antonio were… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday evening gave the Trump Administration permission to continue – but perhaps only for the time being – to exclude some 24,000 refugees from entering the U.S.   With no indication of any dissent, the Justices granted the Administration request to put on hold a lower court ruling that would open U.S…. Read More

UPDATED  Tuesday 3:16 p.m.   The Trump legal team filed its reply brief Tuesday afternoon, renewing its plea to continue excluding the 24,000 refugees.  It argued that the Supreme Court is in the best position to interpret what its prior orders mean on that issue. This filing now sets the stage for the Justices to… Read More

UPDATED Monday 2:21 p.m.   Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on Monday afternoon blocked the lower court order on admission of refugees until the state of Hawaii files a response, due tomorrow at noon. Arguing that a federal appeals court is defying the Supreme Court on immigration, the Trump Administration asked the Justices on Monday to allow it to… Read More

Rejecting the Trump Administration’s latest attempt to curb immigration to the U.S. for Mideast nationals and for refugees from around the globe, a federal appeals court on Thursday gave a broad reading on who may enter despite the President’s executive order.  The Justice Department promptly vowed to take the issue back to the Supreme Court…. Read More

Lawyers for a Mexican-born college student who has taken part in the “DACA” program sparing young undocumented immigrants from deportation on Tuesday launched an attempt to overturn the Trump Administration’s plan to end those benefits.  The new maneuver seeks to convert an existing federal court lawsuit into a broad constitutional challenge aimed at saving the… Read More

Public figures at national and state government levels are maneuvering for position in the final hours before the so-called “DACA” controversy reaches a potentially critical point on Tuesday.  The drama over what to do with some 800,000 young people who entered the U.S. illegally as children and now may face deportation will not unfold all… Read More

All three judges on a federal appeals court displayed obvious skepticism at a Monday hearing about the Trump Administration’s attempt to defend both of the restrictions it wants to place on U.S. entry by foreign nationals from Mideast nations and on refugees from any foreign lands.  And two of the judges suggested that an Administration… Read More

The Trump Administration, insisting that the presidential order limiting entry to the U.S. of foreign nationals from Mideast nations “is not a so-called ‘Muslim ban,’ ” urged the Supreme Court on Thursday evening to throw out without a decision two major cases pursued by challengers to the restrictions. The 84-page brief was the first document… Read More