Lyle Denniston

Jan 18 2022

A big test for campaign finance rules

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will examine the latest round in the decades-long constitutional controversy over federal limits on political campaign donations and spending.  Lurking in the case is a bold attempt by a prominent Republican politician to get the Court to wipe out what remains of a frequently challenged 2002 law that brought major reforms. … Read More

Jan 17 2022

The Court, religion and stolen art

The Supreme Court, on holiday today, returns to the bench tomorrow for a hearing on a familiar topic: claims of government discrimination against religious groups.  In a second hearing Tuesday, it will be dealing with another recurring topic: who owns famous art objects seized by the Nazis during the Holocaust? “Live” audio (no video) of… Read More

Jan 13 2022

Court sweeps away broadest anti-virus policy

Flexing its judicial muscle as the Supreme Court has not done in generations, the Court’s new conservative majority of six Justices on Thursday blocked the Biden Administration policy that sought to impose nationwide protection of more than 84 million workers from the deadly Covid-19 virus. The ruling was far broader than anything the conservative majority… Read More

Jan 11 2022

The Court and a question of basic fairness

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court turns once again to the age-old question of how government can – or should – make allowances for mistakes people make in fulfilling their legal duties.  The case being heard turns on when the federal government can relax a formal legal deadline.  Specifically, the case is about a tax deadline,… Read More

Jan 10 2022

The Court and the rights of non-citizens

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will once again attempt to find its way through the bewildering maze that is immigration law, with a new look at the lingering issue of the federal government’s power to keep non-citizens in detention while they await being deported.  The two cases to be heard tomorrow unfold against a broad… Read More

Jan 9 2022

The Court and the healthcare puzzle

On Monday, the Supreme Court – back on its regular schedule — returns to the very complex task of trying to make sense of the widely varied and sometimes conflicting parts of the nation’s healthcare system. The task has always been harder because of America’s century-old fear of “socialized medicine.” That fear has led the… Read More

Jan 6 2022

The Court and the “vaccination wars”

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court returns early from its holiday recess to confront a controversy that may well rank as one of the most important in modern constitutional history.  But it will be doing so by a peculiar and rushed procedure, one that it very seldom uses. In the two hours of scheduled hearings Friday morning,… Read More

Dec 30 2021

Supreme Court and Donald Trump — again

Almost a year out of office but still trying to push the outer limits of the Constitution, former President Donald Trump is back at the Supreme Court for another try. This time, he is attempting to claim a part of a presidential prerogative that President Joe Biden now holds. It is a “privilege” that goes… Read More

Dec 17 2021

Texas abortion ban: UPDATE

Acting speedily, Texas state officials asked a federal appeals court on Thursday to hand over to the Texas Supreme Court a new plea to stop clinics from challenging that state’s strict new abortion ban (so-called “SB8”). The officials acted without waiting for that case to formally return from the Supreme Court to the U.S. Court… Read More

Dec 14 2021

New threat to abortion in Texas?

Four days after the Supreme Court left abortion clinics and doctors in Texas with only a narrow way to challenge that state’s restrictive abortion ban in the federal courts, four state officials have made plans to try to block that path. In a filing made public Tuesday by the Supreme Court, the officials whose duties… 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

  • Court steps into tariff fight
  • Court allows immigrant raids to go on
  • Court urged to speed tariff review
  • Will the Court uphold Trump’s tariffs?
  • Trump loses on tariffs
PREV 1 … 28 29 30 … 95 NEXT
Site built and optimized by Sound Strategies