Covering the Supreme Court, lower courts, and the law

On Wednesday, the single hearing at the Supreme Court will focus on a core constitutional question about government immunity to being sued.  The case involves a claim of legal immunity for an agency in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. The Court will broadcast “live” the audio (no video) of the hearing on its homepage, supremecourt.gov. … Read More

A single case will be heard by the Supreme Court Tuesday and, while it deals with a labor union strike, it will take the Justices back to constitutional origins and the tension between national and state government powers. The Court will broadcast “live” the audio (no video) of the hearing on its homepage, supremecourt.gov  To… Read More

After a four-week holiday recess, the Supreme Court returns to the bench on Monday to begin two weeks of hearings.  Two cases to be heard tomorrow will deal with fundamental legal issues with deep roots in history: privacy protection for the advice given by lawyers, and regulating the affairs of the states’ militia – now,… Read More

Twice, in early 2020 and in early 2021, Congress had the option of driving Donald Trump, permanently, out of presidential politics.  Both attempts to convict him of impeachment charges failed.  Had he been convicted by the Senate of any of those charges, the Senate probably would also have barred him from seeking the Presidency, ever… Read More

Second of two articles.  The first article, appearing just below, described the details of the new Respect for Marriage Act, due to be signed today by President Biden. Across America, there are about 710,000 couples who have taken advantage personally of a historic Supreme Court decision: they are same-sex couples, and they are married, according… Read More

First of two articles With civil rights facing new risks in a deeply conservative Supreme Court, President Biden on Tuesday is scheduled to take a step to provide new – but limited – legal protection for same-sex marriage. Acting quickly in direct response to the possibility that the Court could put an end to the… Read More

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court faces a reckoning: will it find constitutional virtue in a political theory that Donald Trump and his allies used in their failed attempt to overthrow the 2020 election?  How it decides this historic case may well affect its reputation at a time when its popularity is sagging in opinion polls. The… Read More

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court takes a new look at an old law – an 1863 law, passed at President Abraham Lincoln’s request, that gives “whistleblowers” an incentive to help the federal government deal with waste and abuse in federal spending.  A second hearing tomorrow focuses on a wife’s duty to help pay family debts,… Read More

On Monday, starting a new week of hearings, the Supreme Court will revisit the culture wars, this time in a case testing business firms’ right to refuse to deal with same-sex couples in making their wedding plans.  The refusal in this case was based on the business owner’s religious views, but the Court, without explaining… Read More

A federal appeals court on Thursday unanimously ordered a federal trial judge in Florida to stop interfering with the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of how 200,000 pages of government documents – many of them highly secret — wound up at former President Donald Trump’s private resort, Mar-a-Lago. A recurring them throughout the 21-page ruling was… Read More