Acting quickly to rule before election day, a federal trial judge in New Jersey rejected — for the time being at least — a broad claim by the Democratic National Committee that the Republican National Committee has teamed up with the Donald Trump presidential campaign to intimidate voters. The GOP thus was spared from being held… Read More
Court allows Arizona ban on assisting voters
With no noted dissents, the Supreme Court on Saturday morning acted to put back into effect an Arizona law passed earlier this year that makes it a crime, with a potentially heavy fine, for anyone to pick up and deliver another voter’s ballot to a polling place. The law, applying to mail-in ballots that are popular among… Read More
A new wave of courtesy at the Court?
Amid the ongoing talk about how the Supreme Court is faring with one vacancy, there might be a new wave of congeniality among the eight Justices, perhaps aimed at getting some things done that otherwise would not. For the second time in recent weeks, a Justice cast a vote that otherwise might not have been… Read More
Three very good lawyers go into the Court….
Sometimes, it takes the Supreme Court a little while to get to the heart of a case being argued before it, but it does catch on more quickly if there are really talented lawyers taking turns at the lectern. That happened on Wednesday when the Court was led by three skilled advocates toward a firmer… Read More
Senate: No role for courts in Garland feud
The U.S. Senate and two of its key Republican leaders, relying on an array of constitutional claims, has told a federal judge that the courts must stay out of the political feud over the current vacancy on the Supreme Court. In a brief filed Monday in a federal District Court in Washington, D.C., the legislative body… Read More
Marking Halloween with talk of costumes
It wasn’t planned that way, but the Supreme Court spent a lively hour on Monday – Halloween – talking about costumes. And Justice Stephen G. Breyer showed up, so to speak, in the improbable guise of a fashion critic. That was how an argument about copyright law went, but there was no reliable way to… Read More
How independent is the FBI’s director?
For much of the 108-year history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it had only one director – J. Edgar Hoover, who led the agency for a few days short of 48 years. He was as near to a truly independent official in the federal government’s Executive Branch as the Constitution allows. He had his… Read More
Court steps into transgender dispute
The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon stepped into the nationwide controversy over the rights of transgender people – in particular, high school students – but gave itself the option of ruling very narrowly. The Justices said they will consider the appeal of a county school board in Virginia, challenging a federal appeals court ruling that… Read More
Quick action set on “poll watcher” case
A federal judge in Newark, N.J., on Thursday set an expedited schedule for action on the Democratic National Committee’s claims that the Republican National Committee is joining with the Donald Trump presidential campaign in an illegal effort to intimidate minority voters (see the post below). U.S. District Judge John Michael Vasquez (who has been on… Read More
Democrats sue over GOP “poll watchers”
Arguing that the Republican National Committee is collaborating with the Donald Trump presidential campaign in an alleged effort to intimidate minority voters, the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday asked a federal judge in New Jersey to hold the GOP in contempt of court. The main claim is that the GOP is violating a court order against… Read More