The Supreme Court issued new orders Monday morning after a four-week recess, but it granted no new cases for review. There also were no cases referred to the federal government for its views. Among the more significant denials came in the Court’s refusal to hear a case by a young Illinois man accused of a… Read More
Feb 20 2015
A lawyer seeks the Court’s mercy
Reprinted from scotusblog.com In an anxious plea not to be given a career-threatening punishment by the Supreme Court, a Washington, D.C., attorney — speaking through a high-profile Court advocate — argued this week that a frankly flawed petition he filed at the Court was the result of a difficult client’s demand to be the primary… Read More
Feb 20 2015
Government to move quickly on immigration case
The Obama administration plans to move next week to get a delay of the federal judge’s ruling blocking the new deportation-delay policy, the White House told news reporters on Friday. The challenge will be filed no later than Monday, according to the president’s press secretary, Josh Earnest, as quoted by various media. It was not immediately clear… Read More
Feb 20 2015
Next week at the Supreme Court (UPDATED)
UPDATE 5:51 p.m. The Supreme Court will now issue opinions next week on Wednesday at 10 a.m., as well as on Tuesday. ———— Coming back on Monday from a four-week recess, the Supreme Court will issue orders on new cases — perhaps including some grants of review — at 9:30 a.m. On Tuesday at 10… Read More
Feb 19 2015
Same-sex marriage reaches Texas — for one couple (FURTHER UPDATED)
UPDATE 5:12 p.m. The Texas Supreme Court has blocked both of the orders issued by state judges in Travis County — both declaring the state’s ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. Details to come. FURTHER UPDATE 6:11 p.m. The state court’s orders do not mention the one marriage performed Thursday, but state Attorney General… Read More
Feb 19 2015
Another setback for Guantanamo trials
The often troubled system of war crimes trials at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, faced another setback Wednesday when its first conviction was nullified by a special military appeals court. The Pentagon said it would not challenge the ruling in a further appeal. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Military Commission… Read More
Feb 17 2015
Federal trial judge blocks immigrant benefits
In a sweeping ruling that the Obama administration will quickly challenge on appeal, a federal trial judge sitting in a courthouse along the Texas-Mexico border has blocked the government from enforcing its three-month-old policy of allowing more than four million undocumented immigrants to remain legally in the country and qualify for benefits. Firm opposition to… Read More
Feb 13 2015
Same-sex marriage spreads in Alabama (UPDATED)
UPDATED Friday 9:01 p.m. The number of counties where marriage licenses are now being issued has risen to 50. There are 68 probate judges in 67 counties with authority to issue such licenses. (There are two probate judges for Jefferson County.) With a federal judge for the first time ordering a county official in Alabama… Read More
Feb 10 2015
“Fisher II” reaches the Court
Lawyers for Abigail Noel Fisher, the Texas woman who has waged a prolonged challenge to the use of race in selecting entering students for the University of Texas at Austin, filed a new case in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. It is a renewed complaint that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth… Read More
Feb 9 2015
Alabama: the 37th same-sex marriage state
With the Supreme Court again refusing to delay lower courts’ rulings in favor of same-sex marriage, Alabama on Monday morning became the thirty-seventh state where such unions are legal, and at least four couples promptly were wed at a courthouse in Montgomery. Alabama’s situation, though, is unique because of a looming legal battle over who… Read More
