Tag Archives: United States Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that a Christian web designer has a First Amendment right to refuse to create websites for same-sex weddings. The decision, made by a 6-3 vote, dilutes legal protections for LGBTQ people and allows for potential discrimination in businesses. Lorie Smith, the evangelical Christian web …

Ariana Figueroa, Georgia Recorder The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the Biden administration does not have the legal authority to enact a one-time student debt relief program, dealing a blow to the 40 million Americans who would have qualified. Last year, the Biden Administration rolled out a debt …

Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline The US Supreme Court rejected North Carolina Republican legislators’ argument that the state courts cannot review laws legislatures pass governing federal elections. Republican legislators claimed the Elections Clause in the U.S. Constitution makes legislatures the sole state authorities on federal elections law,  including congressional redistricting. Critics …

Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator The U.S. Supreme Court lifted its stay in a Louisiana redistricting case, clearing the way to add a second Black district to the state’s congressional map. The case of Ardoin v. Robinson stems from a congressional map with just one majority-Black district that Louisiana’s Republican lawmakers adopted …

Michelle Griffith, Minnesota Reformer The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to a federal law aimed at keeping Native American children within the foster care system in Native American homes. The Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision upheld the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which established federal minimum …

Brian Lyman, Alabama Reflector The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that Alabama’s 2022 congressional maps violated the Voting Rights Act, a ruling that preserves a major part of the law and could lead to new congressional maps in Alabama. A three-judge panel in January 2022 ruled …

U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden on Tuesday said that “nothing is off the table”—including a subpoena—after a lawyer for Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow continued to duck questions about the billionaire’s gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his relatives. In a June 2 letter to Senate Judiciary …

Brett Wilkins Citing a “crisis of legitimacy” they say is plaguing the U.S. Supreme Court, a group of congressional Democrats on Tuesday reintroduced legislation aimed at thwarting Republican attacks on democracy by expanding the nation’s top court from nine to 13 justices. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and …

Ashley Murray, Georgia Recorder U.S. Supreme Court justices should follow a strict code of ethics when receiving gifts and travel or doing business with political funders and attorneys, argued Democratic senators Tuesday at a hearing that Chief Justice John Roberts declined to attend. After a spate of investigative articles detailing …

Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts on Monday echoed other members of Congress who have urged U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to step down over mounting evidence of unethical behavior, and he also reiterated progressives’ long-standing demand to expand the court. “I will say what needs to be said: …

As calls grow for the impeachment or resignation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas over undisclosed gifts from a billionaire Republican megadonor, one of his right-wing colleagues came under fire Tuesday following a report that he sold a property to the head of a law firm subsequently involved in …

Elaine S. Povich As the U.S. Supreme Court mulls the constitutionality of President Joe Biden’s broad student loan forgiveness plan, lawmakers in many states are looking to expand their own student debt repayment programs. Every state but North Dakota has at least one loan forgiveness plan. The catch is that …

Ariana Figueroa, Michigan Advance As the Biden administration prepares to defend its student debt cancellation program before the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 28, data shows that Black borrowers have the most to lose should a majority conservative court strike down the policy. Black borrowers hold a disproportionate share of …

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a rare rebuke of Arizona’s criminal justice system as the majority ruled in favor of a death row inmate who has called for a resentencing, saying the state ignored legal precedents during his trial. In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts and …

Uriel J. García, The Texas Tribune The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on whether the Biden administration has the right to decide which undocumented immigrants federal agents should prioritize for deportation. During the two hours of arguments, the court’s conservative justices sounded skeptical of the Biden administration’s efforts to …