Covering the Supreme Court, lower courts, and the law

For the first time, a federal appeals court has ruled that a 1964 civil rights law, as now understood, protects gay and lesbian employees from discrimination in the workplace based on their homosexuality. The Supreme Court has never ruled on the issue, but it is now likely to reach the Justices because of the split… Read More

Two federal appeals courts have now ordered quick review of President Trump’s immigration restrictions, setting up the prospect that the controversy could reach the Supreme Court as early as this month. The last time the Justices faced a major constitutional dispute over immigration, last June, they split 4-to-4. If that should happen again, even on… Read More

The leaders of the two parties in the U.S. Senate, appearing separately on a TV talk show on Sunday morning, indicated that each has control of enough votes to assure that the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch will not be approved in the coming week without a showdown over Senate filibuster rules…. Read More

UPDATED Thursday 6:19 p.m. (East Coast time) — The Trump Administration formally opened its appeal of Judge Watson’s new order by filing a notice that it will take the case to the Ninth Circuit Court. —————- A federal judge in Hawaii, acting within hours after holding a hearing on Wednesday morning, strengthened a nationwide ban… Read More

UPDATED Thursday 4:06 p.m.  Lawyers for the two refugee resettlement groups that filed this case in Maryland on Thursday added their support for sending the case directly to the en banc Fourth Circuit Court for initial review.  That issue will now be put to a vote among the court’s 15 active judges; a majority is… Read More

The Supreme Court warned state governments on Wednesday that they may violate the rights of stores and others selling consumer goods or services by imposing tight restrictions on how they inform buyers about the prices being charged. The decision raised some doubt about, but did not finally settle, the constitutionality of a New York state… Read More

For the second time in a week, a military defense team at Guantanamo Bay has asked the Supreme Court to cut back on the authority of the war crimes tribunals at the U.S. base in Cuba.  The appeal filed on Tuesday involves one of the few foreign national detainees to be convicted by one of… Read More

While still insisting that state governments do not have to follow exactly all of the medical community’s standards for defining intellectual disability of criminal suspects, a divided Supreme Court on Tuesday narrowed even further states’ option to create their own standards when deciding who is eligible to be executed for murder. At a minimum, the… Read More

A federal appeals court getting set to review a Maryland judge’s order against President Trump’s immigration restrictions is considering bypassing a three-judge panel and to hear the case before all 15 active judges.  The process, rarely used in that court, could speed up the process considerably. In a brief order issued Monday afternoon, the U.S…. Read More

Accepting the Trump Administration’s argument that its revised order limiting immigration has cured any legal defects in the original version, a federal trial judge in Virginia on Friday became the first in the nation to reject a challenge to the order as it now stands. U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga of Alexandria, VA, ruled… Read More