Covering the Supreme Court, lower courts, and the law

On Monday, the Supreme Court begins a new term; it almost certainly will be a momentous one.  But opening day will seem a lot like a game of legal trivia: the first hearing will focus on the meaning of the word “and.”  As always with the Court, there is a larger meaning in that case…. Read More

With no Justice filing a dissent, the Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for a lower federal court to draw a new election map that probably will assure Alabama’s black voters a chance to elect a second member of the U.S. House of Representatives next year. Since 1992, they have had only one House… Read More

Emboldened by its success in ending race-based admissions policies at civilian colleges, a conservative advocacy group moved on Tuesday to end a similar policy at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point – the 221-year-old institution founded by President George Washington and other early leaders. The lawsuit filed in federal court in White Plains, N.Y.,… Read More

The campaign to use the U.S. Constitution to block Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy moved ahead briskly with new developments on Tuesday.  With the presidential primary season approaching rapidly across the nation, there is wide interest in a final ruling – without delay — on Trump’s eligibility. In Minnesota, a liberal advocacy group, Free Speech for… Read More

Raising higher the legal risk facing ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark R. Meadows, a federal judge on Friday probably weakened the chances that Meadows will be able to fight off state criminal charges in Georgia. In a 49-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones of Atlanta blocked Meadows’ attempt to shift his case… Read More

The widening effort to block Donald Trump from the Presidency took a significant turn this week in a new, carefully crafted lawsuit filed in a state court in Colorado. The lawsuit was filed by a government reform group based on the same constitutional theory that the organization had already used successfully to oust a county… Read More

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, in a legal maneuver that is expected to be imitated by former President Donald Trump, has asked a federal court to clear him of criminal charges in the new case in Georgia state court over the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The tactic is based… Read More

Donald Trump is now barred from the Presidency or any other government office – even if not yet convicted of any crime, two law professors conclude in a new constitutional and historical study.  What is already known about his role in trying to stay in power is enough, the paper argues. The analysis, to be… Read More

Moving quickly to take advantage of the Supreme Court’s historic new ban on the use of race in admitting students to colleges, three minority rights groups asked the federal government on Monday to stop Harvard from giving special treatment to children of alumni and donors. Those preferences go to applicants about 70 percent of whom… Read More

Robustly applying its newly created constitutional tool for nullifying sweeping new federal programs, a divided Supreme Court on Friday ordered an end to President Biden’s plan to cancel more than $430 billion of college student loan debt. In doing so, the Court applied that mechanism for the first time to stop a program designed to… Read More