Lyle Denniston

Jun 28 2025

30 days to a constitutional deadline

On Monday, July 28, the maternity wards in hospitals across the country may face a dilemma: if a woman who is not a citizen has a baby there that day or later, will the hospital consider the child to be a citizen, or not?  How will the staff fill out the birth certificate? The 30-day… Read More

Jun 27 2025

Lower courts deprived of broad power

Enhancing in a major way the federal government’s power to enforce controversial new policies even though a lower court has declared them illegal, the Supreme Court on Friday erased almost all of the power of lower courts to issue nationwide orders. The 6-to-3 decision was a huge legal victory for the Trump Administration – and,… Read More

Jun 26 2025

Another loss for women’s rights

In another loss for American women from the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to turn their reproductive health care rights over to state control, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that they have no right under federal law to choose their own doctor. By a now-familiar 6-to-3 vote in major cases, the Court ruled that federal… Read More

Jun 18 2025

Transgender rights fail in the Court

America’s latest civil rights movement – seeking legal protection for transgender people – suffered a historic and sweeping defeat in the Supreme Court Wednesday, leaving hundreds of thousands of individuals newly exposed to discrimination.  The six-Justice majority allowed such individuals only the most minimal legal means to fight for rights. Transgender people, the Court declared… Read More

Jun 2 2025

Maryland assault gun ban left in effect

Maryland’s ban of the gun most often used in mass shootings across the nation withstood a new constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court on Monday.  However, there may be another test when the Justices meet in their next term. The legislature in Annapolis outlawed any form of “assault weapon” or semi-automatic rifle, such as the… Read More

May 29 2025

Trump’s global tariffs blocked

A special federal court on Wednesday blocked the Trump Administration from enforcing any of the sweeping, globe-wide tariffs that the President imposed on imported goods – price controls that have upset the entire U.S. economy and sent U.S. and foreign financial markets into wild up-and-down swings. Because President Trump has such a strong personal devotion… Read More

May 23 2025

The President gains even more power

The Supreme Court, continuing to broadly expand the constitutional power of President Trump and future Presidents, on Thursday night temporarily upheld unchecked White House authority to fire members of federal government agencies that regulate wide swaths of American life. The two-page order, approved by a 6-to-3 vote, means that for the first time in 90… Read More

May 22 2025

Court denies direct aid to religious school

A first-in-the-nation move to set up a religious school as a public school paid for with taxpayer funds failed in the Supreme Court Thursday on a 4-to-4 vote.  The tie resulted from Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s personal but unexplained choice to take no part in the case. The case grew out of a bold attempt… Read More

May 16 2025

Migrants’ rights are expanding

The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon continued to spell out new legal protection for potentially thousands of migrants against being swiftly deported by the Trump Administration with no legal safeguards.  It did so without waiting for lower courts to decide those rights first. In a 7-to-2 decision, the Court ruled that some 176 Venezuelans that… Read More

May 15 2025

Quick action on birthright citizenship?

The Supreme Court may opt to take action quickly, after exploring the constitutional right of citizenship at birth at a historic hearing Thursday.  The Justices were keenly interested and seemed eager to act swiftly during a public session lasting more than twice as long as scheduled. Although various ideas and approaches were floated by the… Read More

Lyle Denniston continues to write about the U.S. Supreme Court, although he “retired” at the end of 2019 following more than six decades on that news beat. He was there for three revolutions – civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights – and the start of a fourth, on transgender rights. His career of following the law began at the Otoe County Courthouse in his hometown, Nebraska City, Nebraska, in the fall of 1948. His online, eight-week, college-level course – “The Supreme Court and American Politics” – is available from the University of Baltimore Law School, and it is free.

Recent Posts

  • 30 days to a constitutional deadline
  • Lower courts deprived of broad power
  • Another loss for women’s rights
  • Transgender rights fail in the Court
  • Maryland assault gun ban left in effect
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