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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out an appeals court ruling that struck down President Donald Trump’s previous temporary travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority nations countries that has now expired.

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It is a privilege to live in a country where someone like myself, raised by parents with 10th grade educations, can live the American dream. I am a small businessman, a coach, a father, a husband -- not a career politician. I ran for office because I believe in the American dream -- the faith that education, initiative, and hard work can earn anyone a better life in this country -- is a dream worth defending. I was raised to believe that in America, the greatest country on Earth, each of us has a voice in our government. This is...

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday selected Judge Merrick Garland, who was nominated to the Supreme Court by former President Barack Obama, to serve as chairman of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. The chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will oversee the committee responsible for heading the policy-making body of the federal court system. Roberts is the presiding officer of the conference and selected Garland to run the "senior executive arm" of the conference, which makes recommendations to Congress regarding legislation involving the judiciary.

Late last week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will add a case critical to the future of public-sector unions to its docket. With President Donald Trump's appointment of conservative-leaning Justice Neil Gorsuch, many expect the court to rule against the unions. Such a decision would energize the recent resurgence of state laws that effectively reduce the power of unions in both the public and private sector. Expecting the worst, unions are already preparing for a potential exodus of members and a loss of revenue. “I’d place a bet that this doesn’t bode well for public-sector unions,” says Patrick...

Liberal journalists are worried about Neil Gorsuch. The October 16 issue of Time magazine fretted of the newly-minted conservative Supreme Court justice: “Does Justice Neil Gorsuch talk too much?" Writer Tessa Berenson touted liberal critics complaining about Gorsuch “ruffling some feathers.” It didn’t take long for the newest member to make his presence known on the Court. Gorsuch, a conservative judge nominated by President Trump and confirmed in April, had been sitting in his first oral argument last spring for just 10 minutes before he asked his first question. Over the next hour, he asked 21 more, posing more questions...

WASHINGTON – In a potential Supreme Court preview, two attorneys on Thursday argued about the validity of the high court considering President Trump’s comments about Muslims as evidence when deciding the fate of his travel ban. “This entire thing has come down to a judicial reading of (President Trump’s) campaign statements to issue a major constitutional ruling,” Will Consovoy, a partner at Consovoy McCarthy Park PLLC, said at the Heritage Foundation. Consovoy, whose firm has filed an amicus brief in support of the travel ban order, said that he would find it deeply troubling if the Supreme Court were to...

The Supreme Court has announced that it will hear the case Janus v. AFSCME. It will likely prove to be one of the most consequential labor-law cases in U.S. history. At issue is whether public-sector workers can be forced to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment. Traditionally, labor unions in America — in both the public and private sectors — have been the “exclusive representatives” of the “bargaining units” that elected them. Essentially, union contracts cover every single worker in the “unit,” whether the worker wants anything to do with the union or not....

In what is all but certain to be a terrible blow to organized labor, the Supreme Court announced on Thursday that it will hear Janus v. AFSCME, a case seeking to defund public sector unions. The case presents an issue that was recently before the Court, and where the justices split 4-4 along party lines. Now that Neil Gorsuch occupies the seat that Senate Republicans held open for more than a year until Donald Trump could fill it, he holds the fifth vote to deliver a staggering blow to the union movement. The issue in Janus involves what are sometimes...

During the interview, Ginsburg said she had "no doubt" that sexism played a role in Hillary Clinton's election defeat at the hands of Donald Trump. "Did you think that it was decisive?" Rose asked. "In other words, if Hillary Clinton had been a man, she would have that election going away."

In the days since the chaos in Charlottesville, First Amendment law and the limits of protected speech have been topics of growing public concern. The sometimes murky line between offensive, but legally-protected peaceful speech and unprotected, regulable speech has often been drawn with a political paintbrush; for decades, liberals defended even the most abhorrent speech while conservatives argued for an ever-constricting zone of First Amendment protection. Recently, we have seen something of an about-face on this issue. We’re now seeing more left-leaning individuals and groups actively denounce speech of white supremacist groups, and more conservative demands for legal protection. As...

The Supreme Court has cancelled an oral argument hearing, scheduled for October 10, about President Trump's travel ban issued by executive order earlier this year. The hearing was taken off the schedule after the President issued a new ban and restrictions Sunday night, adding additional countries and laying out specific national security requirements for entry into the United States. Sudan has been dropped from the original travel ban list, while Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia remain. Iraq has also been dropped, although increased vetting has been implemented. North Korea, Chad and Venezuela have been added with varying levels of vetting and...

After not appearing in the museum for most of its inaugural year, Clarence Thomas now has a spot in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Linda St. Thomas, chief spokesperson for the Smithsonian Institution, said the museum installed an exhibition case called “The Supreme Court” honoring both black justices who have sat upon the nation’s highest court.

Last summer the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APCC) at Penn elected to test Americans’ Constitutional awareness but may have contributed to historical misconceptions in the process. "More than half of Americans (53 percent) incorrectly think it is accurate to say that immigrants who are here illegally do not have any rights under the U.S. Constitution," the Annenberg Center claims. Yet and still, when they elaborate on that finding, they have to qualify it by using Supreme Court rulings because the original Constitution and Bill of Rights are so clearly geared towards American citizens: "The APPC survey, conducted Aug. 9-13 among...

Back in 2013, Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington, refused to provide flowers for a gay friend’s same-sex wedding. The legal battle that ensued has now ended: The Washington State Supreme Court just unanimously ruled that the florist violated the state’s anti-discrimination law. The case has given rise to some misconceptions about discrimination. Here is the back story. In 2012, the state of Washington enacted Senate Bill 6239, which recognized same-sex marriage. Gay men Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed, who had been a couple since 2004, decided to get married in September of 2013. At the...

The Supreme Court granted Tuesday a Trump administration request to continue to bar most refugees under its travel ban. Without comment, the court blocked a federal appeals court ruling from last week that would have exempted refugees who have a contractual commitment from resettlement organizations from the travel ban while the justices consider its legality. The ruling could impact roughly 24,000 people. The travel ban bars certain people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US.

Developing...

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to lift restrictions on President Trump’s travel ban. The Department of Justice on Monday asked the Supreme Court to stay the part of last week's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that barred the government from prohibiting refugees that have formal assurances from resettlement agencies or are in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program from entering the U.S. The 9th Circuit also said in its opinion that the government could not ban grandparents, aunts, uncles and other extended family members of a person in the U.S. from entering the country. But in his...

**snip**Supreme Court is slated to consider several blockbuster cases when it resumes next month. One of the most highly anticipated cases is Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which involves a Colorado bakery that refused to create a custom wedding cake for a gay couple.The Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled that Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, engaged in sexual orientation discrimination under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) when he declined to design and create a custom cake honoring the same-sex marriage of David Mullins and Charlie Craig.

There are issues that have deeply divided President Donald Trump and conservatives during the first turbulent months since his inauguration. The judiciary is not one of them. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is a clean win. And lawyers inside and outside of the administration are working to vet potential conservative nominees, fill vacancies and ensure that the appellate bench is deep in case another Supreme Court vacancy arises. Amid tension, Trump and McConnell together on judges As such on Thursday, the President announced 16 more nominees -- including his own deputy White House counsel -- for lower court seats.