Free Republic

SNIP But that’s not how they came out. The liberal wing of the Court plus Kennedy struck down DOMA, with Roberts dissenting on the issue of standing to sue. Then the Court punted on Prop 8, holding that the plaintiffs (hey, they weren’t a gay couple) didn’t have standing. On the standing issue Kennedy and Roberts were consistent. Kennedy didn’t see a standing problem in either case, Roberts did. Both cases were 5-4. I don’t have the second case in front of me but here’s what I think explains what happened. The liberal wing, voting strategically, didn’t see a standing...

On the lack of standing decision, effectively allowing the Ninth Circuit decision to stand, which overturned California's Proposition 8: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-144_8ok0.pdf HOLLINGSWORTH ET AL. v. PERRY ET AL. On the overturn of the federal DOMA Defense of Marriage Act, via the case of a female couple in New York state, legally married under New York law. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_g2bh.pdf UNITED STATES v. WINDSOR, EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE OF SPYER, ET AL.

In a victory for advocates of private property rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that governments may owe compensation to property owners who are denied permits to develop their land. Critics said the 5-4 decision, with the conservative justices comprising the majority, will make it more difficult and costly for governments to promote development or enact environmental changes designed to help the public generally. The court sided with Coy Koontz, a Florida man who said limits imposed by the St. Johns River Water Management District on how he used his land were a "taking" subject to compensation under...

The U.S. Supreme Court today paved the way for same-sex couples to marry soon in California, effectively leaving intact a lower-court ruling that struck down the state's voter-approved ban on gay marriage. In a ruling that assures further legal battles, the high court found that backers of Proposition 8 did not have the legal right to defend the voter-approved gay marriage ban in place of the governor and attorney general, who have refused to press appeals of a federal judge's 2010 ruling finding the law unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruling, which found it had no legal authority to decide the...

At 10:00 AM Wednesday, the Supreme Court will deliver its final decisions of this term. We can expect decisions on both same-sex marriage cases. California Proposition 8: Hollingsworth v. Perry In November 2008, 52.3 percent of California voters approved Proposition 8, which added language to the California Constitution that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. In May 2009, a California District Court ruled that Proposition 8 violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and temporarily prohibited its enforcement, and the Ninth Circuit agreed, affirming the District Court’s ruling. The United...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is meeting to deliver opinions in two cases that could dramatically alter the rights of gay people across the United States.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says people must be able to hire and fire people to be considered a supervisor in a discrimination lawsuit.

Big cases left Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin - Affirmative action Shelby County v. Holder - Constitutionality of Section 5 of Voting Rights Act Hollingsworth v. Perry - California's definition of marriage and the Equal Protection Clause United States v. Windsor - Constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana woman put on death row at age 16 for killing an elderly Bible school teacher is scheduled to be released Monday after serving a prison term that was shortened after the state Supreme Court intervened. Paula Cooper's death sentence at such a young age sparked international protests and a plea for clemency from Pope John Paul II. Now 43 years old, Cooper is being given a second chance at her life. Cooper was 15 when she and three other teenage girls showed up at Ruth Pelke's house on May 14, 1985, with plans of robbing...

Arizona may not require documentary proof of citizenship from prospective voters, the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-to-2 decision on Monday. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, No. 12-71, said a federal law requiring states to “accept and use” a federal form displaced an Arizona law. The federal law, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, allows voters to register using a federal form that asks, “Are you a citizen of the United States?” Prospective voters must check a box for yes or no, and they must sign the form, swearing...

The CEO of the Tennis Channel, who also bundled millions of dollars for President Barack Obama's presidential campaign and was a co-chair of one of his fundraising committees, compared Comcast to a "brutal captor" and a rapist after the Tennis Channel lost a ruling in a federal appeals court. After a the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled last month that Comcast did not have to include the Tennis Channel on its basic cable package, Ken Solomon, fired off an email to his employees. Solomon was sworn in on Obama's Committee on the Arts and the...

Schools not obligated legally to protect students from each other, appeals court rules Public schools don't have a “special relationship” with students that would make them legally obligated to protect students from each other, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in a 10-4 decision upholding a ruling in a Beaver County case. Bradley and Diedre Morrow of West Mayfield sued the Blackhawk School District in 2010 after the district refused to expel a student who repeatedly attacked one of their daughters, even after the attacker was twice adjudicated delinquent because of the assaults. In a precedential ruling, a 10-judge majority...

Jodi Arias has been found GUILTY in the murder of Travis Alexander. Justice has been served!

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that it’s legal for a state to limit use of its Freedom of Information Act to its own residents. The court unanimously upheld a federal appeals court decision validating Virginia’s limitation of its FOIA law to state citizens and some media outlets. In the case before the court, Rhode Island resident Mark J. McBurney and California resident Roger W. Hurlbert were suing Virginia for blocking them from getting public documents in Virginia that in-state citizens could have easily obtained. Virginia’s FOIA law limits access to state citizens and some media outlets. “We hold, however, that...

Setting the stage for a constitutional showdown, the Obama administration on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to rule that presidents have broad authority to make certain appointments without Senate approval. In January the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that three appointments to the panel, which normally has five members, were invalid. In the brief filed on Thursday, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli defended the recess appointment powers of the president, disputing the court's conclusion that it can only be used in the period between formal sessions of the Senate. If the appeals court ruling was...

t’s shaping up to be a dramatic day in the courtroom for those keeping a watchful eye on the Dr. Kermit Gosnell case. According to columnist J.D. Mullane, a writer for the Bucks County Courier Times, the abortion doctor was acquitted this morning on three counts of murder. In a series of tweets from inside the courtroom, Mullane described the dismissals, noting that Gosnell still has five murder charges remaining against him (in sequence from oldest to newest): #Gosnell defense atty Jack McMahon asks Judge Jeffrey Minehart for abort doc's acquittal. Judge listens, takes recess. #Gosnell Judge Minehart acquits abort...

Va. court upholds GPS tracking of suspect's vehicleBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: September 09, 2010 Richmond, Va. - The same GPS technology that motorists use to get directions can be used by police without a warrant to track the movements of criminal suspects on public streets, the Virginia Court of Appeals said yesterday. In a case that prompted warnings of Orwellian snooping by the government, the court unanimously ruled that Fairfax County police did nothing wrong when they planted a GPS device on the bumper of a registered sex offender's work van without obtaining a warrant. Police were investigating sexual...

It came on Good Friday, a gift from God and U.S District Judge Deborah Batts. The lawsuit by American Atheists seeking to ban the cross found at Ground Zero from being displayed in a museum has been tossed out, and the cross will be permitted to stay. The fact that this ruling came on the holiest week of the year for Christians is a delicious irony, one that I can bask in for months, possibly even years to come. I thank God for the sensibility of Judge Batts. Those fun-loving folks over at American Atheists – who despise any and...