Covering the Supreme Court, lower courts, and the law

A federal judge has denied President Trump one of the powers he is using to stop non-citizens from voting: prosecuting as criminals those who go to the polls. While voting by non-citizens is not considered to be a significant problem, the President disagrees, claiming that it is to blame for fraud that he sees as… Read More

With a full explanation clearly and bluntly correcting lower court judges, and acting without a dissent, the Supreme Court on Friday evening put an end to the Republican Party’s months-long effort to capture a Democratic-favored seat for Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives. In a five-page, unsigned opinion, the Court – for the third… Read More

UPDATE TUESDAY 3:15 p.m.  The voting rights group People Not Politicians, preparing to go to Supreme Court, has asked 8th CA to put all of its ruling on hold until after the Supreme Court responds to the new appeal, and after any remand following that.  The group’s motion argues that what 8th CA did Monday… Read More

The Supreme Court, taking a major step to bar the Trump Administration from making voting harder this year, gave tens of millions of Americans firm assurance on Monday night that they will be able to cast their ballots by mail if that is their choice or their need. The 7-2 decision refused to interfere with… Read More

The Supreme Court has broad powers, but there are two things it supposedly will not do with its authority:  make new government policy or play politics.  Its only job is to interpret existing law by deciding real cases between two genuine adversaries.  Policymaking and politics fall to the legislative and executive branches of the government. However, a… Read More

UPDATE: The state Supreme Court ordered Missouri Secretary of Date Denny Hoskins to appear before it tomorrow to “show cause” why he should not be held in contempt for ordering the use of the new districting maps in the November general election, even though state court barred that.  Hoskins has asked the federal judge who… Read More

The Supreme Court is likely to attempt soon, probably this week, to sort out one of the most puzzling constitutional disputes over the laws that will govern this year’s election of members of the U.S. House of Representatives. A Court that already was working on a maze of complex legal issues over who will be… Read More

Because the Constitution puts limits on courts’ power, and because no one has yet come forward with a clear right to challenge President Trump’s most ambitious vanity project, a divided Supreme Court on Monday gave its permission to go ahead with construction of his gaudy White House ballroom. While the majority in the 5-to-4 ruling… Read More

If a part of the national government has the confidence of only one out of every four Americans, has the time come to change it – in big ways or small?  The U.S. Supreme Court now faces that dismal rank in the latest poll, and the demand for change might be as high as at any… Read More

One day after the U.S. Postal Service put into effect President Trump’s new limits on mail-in voting, a federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the rules late Thursday night, finding that they are  probably unconstitutional.  The two-week delay will allow that judge to consider adopting a more lasting order. With only 68 days remaining before… Read More