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
Justices allow ban on high-capacity guns
With the nation reaching record levels of mass shootings, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed the state of Maryland to continue to enforce one of the nation’s strictest bans on high-capacity rifles and ammunition clips. None of the nine Justices recorded a public dissent from the refusal to hear a Second Amendment challenge to the… Read More
New ruling against military transgender ban
Criticizing President Trump for making a major policy shift by a tweet, a federal trial judge in Maryland became the second one in recent weeks to block the government’s planned ban on transgender people from the nation’s military services. U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis of Baltimore not only cleared the way for transgender individuals… Read More
Back to Supreme Court on immigration feud
The Trump Administration returned to the Supreme Court on Monday night in the latest round in the long-running court fight over barring the entry into the U.S. of foreign nationals from nations with Muslim population majorities. Although a federal appeals court had allowed the Administration to begin enforcing part of the third version of immigration… Read More