Covering the Supreme Court, lower courts, and the law

In a move without parallel in American history, the Supreme Court agreed on Friday evening to examine Donald Trump’s claim that the Constitution does not bar him from again seeking the Presidency. While the Court’s one-page order gave no reliable hint of how the case would come out in the end, two things stood out… Read More

In a ruling likely to be challenged in state courts, Maine’s secretary of state decided on Thursday that Donald Trump is constitutionally disqualified from seeking the Presidency.  This is the first decision against his candidacy by a state official in charge of elections. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, using powers given to her office by… Read More

Predicting a “national disaster” in politics next year if Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy is barred, Colorado’s Republican leaders on Wednesday night asked the Supreme Court to rule speedily on the historic constitutional controversy. The nation, the new appeal argued, could wind up with 51 different state approaches to Trump’s eligibility unless the Justices overturn the… Read More

Adding a few weeks of delay to federal courts’ decision on ex-President Donald Trump’s attempt to avoid a criminal trial for the January 6 2021 violence at the Capitol, the Supreme Court on Friday opted to stay on the sidelines of that controversy, at least for now. In a one-sentence order issued in early afternoon,… Read More

For the first time in history, a court has barred a major presidential candidate from the ballot for failing to meet the Constitution’s requirements.  Former President Donald Trump was disqualified today by the highest state court in Colorado. The decision came this evening in the Colorado Supreme Court, by a vote of 4-to-3.  The order… Read More

UPDATE: Later Monday, the Court agreed to expedite a decision on whether to grant review of the immunity issues, and gave Trump’s team nine days to file a response.  It could even act on the next step before Christmas. Without waiting for a lower court to rule, the special January 6 prosecutor asked the Supreme… Read More

(Note:  Information on how to listen to today’s case is at the end of this report.) The Supreme Court finishes today the current round of hearings by examining the rights of workers to be treated equally when their employer transfers them to a different job, or refuses a transfer request.  That may be a fairly… Read More

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court takes a new look at the 110-year-old Sixteenth Amendment – the grant of power to Congress to impose a tax on income.  The Court is focusing on when a gain is actually income subject to tax. Today’s hearing:  Moore v. United States The Constitution and the power to tax:  One… Read More

(Note: Information on how to listen to this hearing today is at the end of the report.) On Monday, the Supreme Court examines a $40,000,000,000 (trillion) fight over legal blame for the quarter-century-long epidemic of drug addiction and deaths due to opioid overdose.  The federal government took the case to the Court to try to… Read More

(Note to readers:  These Supreme Court reports are now appearing on the day of the hearing of the case being discussed.  Information on how to listen to today’s hearing is at the end of the report.) For more than a century, conservative activists have been waging an energetic campaign to dismantle or at least to… Read More