Covering the Supreme Court, lower courts, and the law

The Supreme Court, becoming known as a tribunal willing to overturn some of its major decisions, could only muster two votes on Monday to reconsider one of the most fiercely condemned rulings on the law governing America’s Indian tribes. The Court has had the new case under consideration for almost 15 months, and its staff had… Read More

Some 42 million Americans depend on government-provided food to survive, and the reality as of Sunday is that the food will not be available to most of those people this week.  That is an undeniable, even if temporary, situation that may not be fixed unless the government’s prolonged shutdown ends.  Today is the shutdown’s 40th… Read More

The Supreme Court’s grant of legal immunity to President Trump last year is working for him again.  A federal appeals court on Thursday allowed Trump to use that ruling anew in his prolonged effort to undo his criminal conviction. A state court jury’s unanimous guilty verdict on 34 charges against Trump 17 months ago was… Read More

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority, trying energetically to find a way to give President Trump another historic victory, may not be able to make that happen.  After devoting twice as much time as scheduled to a historic hearing Wednesday on presidential power to impose tariffs, the Court finished with deep doubts on display. It was… Read More

The Supreme Court, apparently reacting to arguments made to it by a law professor, on Wednesday showed the first signs that it may hesitate before allowing President Trump to use either the National Guard or regular military troops to help enforce federal immigration law across the nation. In a one-page order issued this evening, the… Read More

NOTE TO READERS: The notion that President Trump might seek a third term in the White House has arisen from time to time in recent months, and appears to be resurfacing.  His long-time political adviser, Steve Bannon, recently told a British news organization that there is a plan for a third term.  He did not… Read More

The Trump Administration, arguing that Chicago is in open rebellion, has asked the Supreme Court to give President Trump full permission to send hundreds of National Guard troops to the city and its suburbs.  Both the state’s governor and the city’s mayor insist there is no need for that, that their own police are keeping… Read More

The Supreme Court’s deep commitment to bolstering presidential power reached a new and crucial point this week.  Over three Justices’ dissents, it assigned itself the historic task of reconsidering – and probably overruling – one of its most important constitutional checks on the nation’s Chief Executive. In actions taken late Monday, none drawing much media… Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide, on a fast schedule, the constitutional controversy over President Trump’s claim that he has almost unlimited power to impose charges on goods entering the U.S. from anywhere in the world. Two lower courts have denied the President that power, declaring that imposing tariffs on imports belongs to… Read More

The Supreme Court, continuing a string of orders temporarily freeing President Trump from lower-court orders blocking his use of broad new powers, on Monday gave his government permission to continue rounding up hundreds of individuals suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. By an apparent vote of 6-to-3, the Court set aside a Los Angeles… Read More