This post also appears on scotusblog.com Without settling any legal issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act’s birth-control mandate, the Supreme Court on Monday nevertheless cleared the way for the government to promptly provide no-cost access to contraceptives for employees and students of non-profit religious hospitals, charities, and colleges, while barring any penalties on those institutions… Read More
Some thoughts for the law graduates
Excerpts from my commencement address to the graduating class of the University of Nebraska College of Law, in Lincoln on May 7. Today I am especially delighted to join you and those who have helped you come so far – and, for some of you, footed the bill. This is such a splendid day for… Read More
Has the Court brokered a working deal on birth-control?
This post also appears on Constitution Daily, the blog of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The Supreme Court is not normally involved in making deals, even deals that are aimed at helping the Justices decide a difficult legal dispute. But it may have just shown that it at least has the capacity to suggest a… Read More
Most cameras in federal courts to remain dark
A committee of federal judges, citing indifference by the public, worries among judges, and the costs, has decided not to resume a five-year experiment in allowing live television coverage of non-criminal cases in federal trial courts. That means that, in eleven of the fourteen participating federal district courts, the “pilot project” that was ended last… Read More
Two options on abortion law?
This analysis also appears on scotusblog.com It was unmistakably clear on Wednesday that the Supreme Court’s first close look at abortion rights in nine years will turn on the reaction of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, and there were at least sturdy hints that he would lead the Court in one of two directions. In an intense argument in… Read More
New look at abortion rights after nine years
This post has also appeared on scotusblog.com After nine years of having only a limited role in the always heated controversy over abortion rights, the Supreme Court is moving back into the center, facing again a fundamental question that has not changed much since Roe v. Wade: will women and their doctors have the basic choice about ending a… Read More
The Court and the impact of a vacancy
This post also appears on Constitution Daily. Under the Constitution, there can be only “one Supreme Court” – the actual language in Article III – and that is understood to mean that the Justices cannot call in temporary help. With the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court very likely will finish its current term… Read More
Commentary: Scalia in history — a first draft
This post also appears on scotusblog.com History will be kind to Justice Antonin Scalia — if the future fully appreciates his scholarship, his inventiveness in legal thinking, and his beguiling cleverness with words. It will not remember him well for his air of superiority, the sting of his rhetoric, his frequent disdain for collegiality, his… Read More
A move to stop same-sex marriage in Alabama
The often-controversial chief justice of Alabama, Roy S. Moore, attempted on Wednesday to stop same-sex marriage licensing throughout the state — although a federal judge’s order directly contradicts his move, and the state Supreme Court has yet to sort out its own views on the issue. Moore issued a four-page “administrative order” in his capacity… Read More
Hawaiians defend against contempt plea
A group of Hawaiians seeking to create a new tribal nation inside the state moved on Monday to head off a contempt order in the Supreme Court. They have done nothing to violate a Supreme Court order a month ago that blocked an election to select delegates to a convention to write a constitution, the group… Read More