This post also appears on scotusblog.com Abortion clinics and doctors in Texas asked the Supreme Court on Friday night to delay enforcement of a 2013 state abortion law while an appeal to the Justices is pursued. Without a postponement, the lengthy application said, more than half of the existing nineteen clinics in Texas will have… Read More
Jun 12 2015
Appeals court sharply narrows war crimes prosecutions
This post also appears on scotusblog.com In a ruling that significantly narrows Congress’s power to use military courts to try war crimes cases, a result likely to be tested in the Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday threw out the last remaining conviction of a propagandist for… Read More
Jun 12 2015
Abortion case on fast track to the Court?
This post also appears on scotusblog.com Expecting that one side or the other will quickly take the dispute on to the Supreme Court, lawyers for abortion doctors and clinics in Texas on Friday asked a federal appeals court to rule by next Friday on the next step in the case. The challengers to new abortion… Read More
Jun 9 2015
UPDATED: Out-of-state abortion access as an alternative
This post, also appearing on scotusblog.com, was updated Wednesday to note the filing of a postponement request to the Fifth Circuit Court by abortion clinics and doctors. With the Supreme Court poised to act soon on the constitutionality of abortion regulations that would mean women must leave the state to have the procedure, a federal appeals court ruled… Read More
Jun 5 2015
UPDATED: Same-sex marriage reaches Guam
UPDATED Monday: The judge’s opinion explaining the decision is now available, here. A federal judge in the U.S. territory of Guam ruled on Friday that its law against same-sex marriage can no longer be enforced, news reports have indicated. U.S. District Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood made her decision from the bench after a hearing on a… Read More
May 27 2015
No plea now to Supreme Court on immigration
This post also appears on scotusblog.com Taking at least some risk that time will grow too short in President Obama’s term in the White House to carry out his sweeping new policy on immigration, the Justice Department decided Wednesday that it would not now ask the Supreme Court for permission to put the program into effect.
May 26 2015
Appeals court keeps immigration policy on hold
This post also appears on scotusblog.com In a decision that seems likely to be challenged in the Supreme Court, a divided federal appeals court refused on Tuesday to permit the Obama administration to put into effect its new policy to temporarily spare more than four million undocumented immigrants from being deported. The government, the U.S. Court of Appeals… Read More
May 22 2015
Cigarette companies win, lose on ad messages
The nation’s major cigarette manufacturers do not have to admit in their own public messaging, such as ads and packaging, that they have deceived the public in the past about the hazards of smoking, but they do have to say that they designed their products to make them more addictive, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.
May 21 2015
Same-sex marriage for Alabama — but not yet
A federal judge in Mobile ruled on Thursday that same-sex marriage must be available throughout Alabama, for any gay or lesbian couple wishing to apply for a license — but not yet.
May 19 2015
Notre Dame birth-control protest denied again
Reacting to a Supreme Court order to reconsider, a federal appeals court refused on Tuesday for a second time to stop enforcement of the federal government’s birth-control mandate against Notre Dame University. In a two-to-one ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit cleared the way for a trial of the university’s challenge… Read More
