A federal appeals court on Tuesday night gave 17 states and the local Washington, D.C., government a right to join in a major constitutional lawsuit, to defend subsidies that reduce the cost of health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit took that action… Read More

Arguing that the Supreme Court did not really mean to allow more foreign nationals who have relatives in the U.S. to enter the country under President Trump’s executive order on immigration, the Trump Administration asked a federal appeals court on Thursday to reinstate the limits that government officials wanted. This bold argument came as Justice… Read More

Taking its first official stand on the issue, the Trump Administration argued in a federal court Wednesday that a 1964 civil rights law does not protect gays, lesbians and transgender people from discrimination in the workplace.  By implication, the position also suggests that the government will not support equal rights under a 1972 law on… Read More

In a decision that significantly broadens the right to carry a handgun outside one’s own home, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that a city or state may not constitutionally limit that right to individuals who have some specific need to protect themselves.  Such a limit may not even be imposed in a densely populated urban… Read More

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Trump Administration to allow grandparents and other family members who are foreign nationals from Mideast countries to enter the U.S., but told a lower court to review how many refugees can be excluded.   The Justices refused to decide the refugee issue themselves, referring that to the U.S. Court… Read More

UPDATED Tuesday night:  Within hours after the challengers’ response was filed, the Trump Administration submitted a 16-page reply brief.  That means that all of  the filings have been made, so the Supreme Court can act at any time.   The arguments made by the government in its reply are discussed at the bottom of this… Read More

Legal disputes in the federal courts often unfold in a familiar pattern, going from the lowest-ranking court and then, step by step up the ladder, finally reaching the Supreme Court.   It is usually quite orderly, even when an urgent situation is developing. The usual pattern, though, has not been followed lately in the constitutional controversy… Read More

(UPDATED Saturday 3:21 p.m.  Supreme Court asks for reply to government plea by noon Tuesday.  Maybe no action until after that. Taking the constitutional controversy over immigration restrictions back to the Supreme Court , the Trump Administration on Friday night asked the Justices’ permission to keep intact its current policy on foreign nationals and refugees… Read More

The Trump Administration will return to the Supreme Court in an attempt to get free of a federal judge’s new order expanding entry to the U.S. of foreign nationals and refugees, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Friday afternoon. “The Supreme Court has had to correct this lower court once, and we will now reluctantly return… Read More

A federal judge in Hawaii late Thursday afternoon ordered the Trump Administration to relax its new controls on immigrants, to allow the entry of more foreign relatives of U.S. residents and more refugees from around the world.  The judge refused to put his new ruling on hold, even if the Administration now moved to appeal… Read More