Lyle Denniston

Feb 11 2017

Crucial week for immigration limits

President Trump’s attempt to strictly limit immigration of people from Mideast nations, stalled for now by court orders, moves into a new and important phase in the coming week.  The White House may produce an entirely new order, even as two federal courts will be pondering their next legal steps. The President, in comments Friday to reporters traveling… Read More

Feb 10 2017

Analysis: A constitutional lesson for a new president

“It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” “To hold that the political branches may switch the Constitution on or off at will would lead to a regime in which they, not this court, say ‘what the law is‘.” When the U.S. Constitution was still in… Read More

Feb 9 2017

Appeals court rebuffs Trump on immigration

Rebuffing the Trump Administration’s sweeping claim of unchecked presidential power and insisting on the power of the federal courts to safeguard individual liberties, a federal appeals court on Thursday kept in force a temporary ban on the White House order sharply limiting immigration of people from the Mideast. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the… Read More

Feb 7 2017

Trump’s own words a factor on immigration ban’s legal fate?

President Donald Trump’s public pleas for a ban on Muslims entering the United States could turn out to be a threat to the legality of his executive order imposing immigration restrictions, or so it appeared after a federal appeals court held a historic hearing Tuesday afternoon on that order. Although the order in specific terms… Read More

Feb 6 2017

New obstacle to Trump immigration limits?

After a Sunday rush of foreign travelers from the Mideast reaching U.S. shores under the protection of a federal judge’s temporary order, the Trump Administration’s effort to stop that migration may have run into a new legal obstacle. Three states opposed to President Trump’s January 27 order strictly limiting immigration as an anti-terrorism policy are… Read More

Feb 4 2017

Immigration rules put on hold; US to appeal

With Justice Department lawyers making bold claims that President Donald Trump has unchecked power to control who enters the country, the White House is moving swiftly to challenge a federal judge’s nationwide order barring enforcement of new rules strictly curbing immigration. U.S. District Judge James L. Robart of Seattle on Friday afternoon issued the most… Read More

Jan 24 2017

UK court: Only Parliament can start Brexit

Broadly restating the ancient principle that Parliament holds dominant power in Britain’s national government, even while vigorously exercising its own authority to declare what laws mean, the United Kingdom Supreme Court ruled in a divided decision on Tuesday that only Parliament can take the step of pulling out of the European Union. The 8-to-3 decision… Read More

Jan 23 2017

Court sets stage for Trump switch on voter ID

The Supreme Court on Monday morning cleared the way for the new Trump Administration to switch the government’s position – if it wishes to do so – to allow states to enforce strict photo ID requirements for America’s voters. The Justices did so, without any noted dissents, in refusing for now to hear an appeal… Read More

Jan 20 2017

Big change coming in Texas voter ID case?

One of the highest profile court cases on state laws requiring voters to have photo IDs — a case now awaiting the Supreme Court’s reaction — may be affected in a major way by the opening of the Trump Administration on Friday.  Within hours after President Trump was sworn in, the Justice Department asked for —… Read More

Jan 19 2017

Brexit decision due next Tuesday

Next Tuesday morning, as early-rising Americans on the East Coast start their day, they will learn how Britain’s highest court has decided to sort out its own role as a constitutional court in the face of a potential governing crisis with repercussions throughout the United Kingdom and across the Channel in Europe. On Wednesday, the… Read More

Lyle Denniston continues to write about the U.S. Supreme Court, although he “retired” at the end of 2019 following more than six decades on that news beat. He was there for three revolutions – civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights – and the start of a fourth, on transgender rights. His career of following the law began at the Otoe County Courthouse in his hometown, Nebraska City, Nebraska, in the fall of 1948. His online, eight-week, college-level course – “The Supreme Court and American Politics” – is available from the University of Baltimore Law School, and it is free.

Recent Posts

  • Birthright citizenship protected again
  • Can the President refuse to enforce a law
  • The Court, transgenders and sports
  • 30 days to a constitutional deadline
  • Lower courts deprived of broad power
PREV 1 … 71 72 73 … 83 NEXT
Site built and optimized by Sound Strategies