Declaring that the North Carolina legislature had passed “the most restrictive voting law…since the era of Jim Crow,” aimed specifically at black voters because of their race, a federal appeals court on Friday ordered the state to stop enforcing the five major parts of the measure.
Jul 27 2016
Move to block generic birth-control drugs’ sale fails
In a ruling that leaves unsettled a key legal question on inventors’ rights to a patent, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., on Wednesday cleared the way for a maker of generic drugs to sell cheaper versions of two highly profitable birth-control pills that are now sold only under brand names.
Jul 22 2016
U.S. seeks nationwide advice on birth control dispute
The Obama administration, in a major surprise, on Thursday launched a nationwide plea for advice — technical, practical, legal and even religious — on ways to settle the bitter controversy over the Affordable Care Act’s birth-control mandate. This appeared to be a sign that private talks with religious groups over the issue have not reached… Read More
Jul 21 2016
Texas voter photo ID law sharply narrowed
Meeting a Supreme Court deadline to act, a federal appeals court on Wednesday undercut most of Texas’ five-year-old law requiring photo IDs to vote, calling it the “strictest in the nation.” In addition, the same court raised at least the prospect that the state of Texas could lose its right to pass new election laws without… Read More
Jul 18 2016
U.S. wants Court to try again on immigration case
The Obama administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to reopen the government’s case defending its broad new immigration policy, but to act on the request only after a ninth Justice has joined the Court.
Jul 17 2016
New attack on Amtrak’s role as tracks manager
Relying anew on a New Deal era precedent of the Supreme Court, the nation’s freight railroads have urged a federal appeals court to leave intact a ruling that strips the Amtrak rail passenger service of much of its power to make sure that its trains run on time.
Jul 12 2016
Appeals court won’t delay G.G. order
Setting the stage for the transgender rights issue to move on to the Supreme Court, a divided federal appeals court refused on Tuesday afternoon to delay an order to enforce transgender equality in a Virginia high school. In the case of G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board, the board’s lawyers have said they will now… Read More
Jul 10 2016
Sorting out the transgender cases
With the heated controversy over the Obama administration’s policy on the rights of transgender people about to reach the Supreme Court, the dispute continues to spread in federal courthouses across the nation. It is not yet clear, though, what effect that spread will have on the Justices’ view of their own role at this point.
Jul 6 2016
Widening importance of the “G.G.” case
With a new filing due at the Supreme Court next Tuesday by a Virginia school board defending its policy on transgender students’ rights, the case — involving a 16-year-old about to enter his senior year in high school — is gaining in importance.
Apr 14 2016
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
