In a surprise move, the Supreme Court on Friday afternoon expanded its review of challenges to the decades-old practice of drawing election boundaries to benefit the candidates of the party in power. It did so by taking on a claim by seven Maryland voters that their state legislature deliberately fashioned a congressional district that long… Read More
Trump team joins fight against union fees
In a move that could tip the balance in the Supreme Court against labor unions representing public employees, the Trump Administration has added the federal government’s powerful voice to a long-running constitutional attack on fees charged to workers who do not belong to those unions. In a brief filed Wednesday evening, the Administration’s top advocate… Read More
Judge, in rare move, defends DACA actions
In a highly unusual filing, a federal judge in San Francisco told the Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon that there is no clear legal rule that he violated when he ordered the Trump Administration to disclose more fully how it made the decision to end the “DACA” program that protects young undocumented immigrants from deportation. The… Read More
Kennedy and his new constitutional dilemma
Over the years, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has become the Supreme Court’s most energetic defender of gay rights, one of its true devotees to free speech, and a sympathetic defender of religious believers. Now, a lengthy hearing before the Justices on Tuesday showed, he has to find a way to reconcile all three. After 88… Read More
Justices allow full enforcement of immigration curbs — for now
For at least the next several weeks, the Trump Administration may enforce in full all of its tough new restrictions on entry into the U.S. of foreign nationals from six nations with Muslim population majorities, after getting temporary permission from the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon. The orders mean that even foreign nationals who have… Read More
Justices told of Trump anti-Muslim tweeting
A civil rights group told the Supreme Court on Monday about President Trump’s online relay of anti-Muslim videos circulated by a British organization. In a letter, the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the “retweeting” of those images supports claims of the President’s purpose in imposing new immigration restrictions on foreign nationals from Muslim-majority nations…. Read More
Married same-sex couples ‘ rights left unclear
Amid a sharp dispute about its power to rule on a new case on same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court refused on Monday to clarify when those couples have a right to government-provided benefits. Without explanation, the Justices simply denied review of an appeal by the mayor of Houston, Texas, in a sequel to the Justices’… Read More
DACA controversy reaches Justices, on records dispute
The Trump Administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday night to stop a federal judge in California from forcing the government to hand over thousands of pages of internal documents showing how it decided to end a program that has allowed undocumented young immigrants to remain in the U.S. to work and to study. The… Read More
Telephone privacy: Different in the digital age?
Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court changed its mind about what the Fourth Amendment protects, switching its focus from physical places to people. On Wednesday, in a hearing that ran considerably longer than the norm, the Justices explored a new focus for the digital age: the cellphone. To be specific, the Justices spent 82 minutes… Read More
New test on transgender military recruits?
The Trump Administration, seeking to delay the enlistment of transgender individuals in the U.S. military when the new year opens, has told a federal trial judge it may go to higher courts in pursuit of a postponement. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Washington, D.C., who had ruled previously that President Trump’s ban on transgender… Read More