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The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in the case challenging President Trump’s decision to shut down the DACA program, established by President Obama, that allows undocumented young adults who came to the United States as children to apply for protection from deportation. Obama had said that, because he is not a king, he lacked the power to institute this kind of program. Frustrated, though, by Congress’s inactivity, Obama eventually played the part of king and established DACA. The Trump administration reversed Obama’s program after Attorney General Sessions concluded, correctly, that it was “effectuated . . . without proper statutory authority.” The...

WASHINGTON — A bare majority of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared likely Tuesday to let the Trump administration follow through on its plan to shut down DACA, the federal program that has allowed nearly 800,000 young people, known as dreamers, to avoid deportation and remain in the U.S. With hundreds of DACA supporters rallying outside — so many that police shut down the street in front of the Supreme Court — the justices heard nearly an hour and a half of oral arguments. Based on their questions, it appeared that the court's five conservatives were inclined to rule that the...

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will not hear a closely watched case against gunmaker Remington, a move the company has warned could potentially increase the liability of firearm manufacturers to suits brought by victims of gun crimes.

A 1986 federal law makes it a crime to “encourage” unauthorized immigrants to come to or stay in the United States. “The statute potentially criminalizes the simple words — spoken to a son, a wife, a parent, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, a student, a client — ‘I encourage you to stay here,’” Judge A. Wallace Tashima wrote last year for a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, in striking down the law. The law applies to a grandmother urging a grandchild to overstay a visa or a lawyer...

The fate of a century-old Detroit mainstay hangs in the balance before the U.S. Supreme Court, but not likely for any reason you’d guess. In fact, once you know the broader implications of the case, you’ll realize why you should follow its outcome closely.After all, the outcome in G.R. & R.G. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission could have a huge impact on workplaces, schools, athletic fields, and even women’s shelters, not just in Michigan, but all over the nation.Harris, which I argued before the Supreme Court on Oct. 8, raises a crucial question: Can Americans rely on the...

In an impeachment trial in the Senate, President Trump would look up to see one of his Washington establishment foes, Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., presiding over the historic proceedings from the dais in the upper chamber. Mr. Trump, who has clashed with Chief Justice Roberts over the perceived political bias of the federal courts, would have to count on him for a fair hearing when the fate of his presidency hangs in the balance. It’s a prospect that has caused rumblings in Washington that the chief justice should recuse himself. John Cardillo, a conservative radio personality...

Montana Capitol Building U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Montana has a strong preemption law to protect the right to keep and bear arms and to maintain uniform firearms laws across the state. It is straightforward and easy to understand. From mt.gov: 45-8-351. Restriction on local government regulation of firearms. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a county, city, town, consolidated local government, or other local government unit may not prohibit, register, tax, license, or regulate the purchase, sale or other transfer (including delay in purchase, sale, or other transfer), ownership, possession, transportation, use, or unconcealed carrying of any weapon, including a rifle,...

One of the religious liberty cases the Supreme Court Justices won't be hearing this term is the issue of Maryland High School student Caleigh Wood, who refused to take part in a school assignment to write the Islamic conversion prayer that states “… there is no god but Allah,” because she believed it directly contradicted her Christian faith. The High Court denied a petition filed on behalf of the 11th grader, angering one conservative commentator who saw it as caving in to the indoctrination in schools and on college campuses. “This is not just a violation of the First Amendment...

(snips) -- In response to Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski voting *not* to advance the supreme court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Sarah Palin sends the following tweet: Hey @Lisa Murkowski – I can see 2022 from my house. ___________ Do it, Sarah. Long term CTH readers will well remember how Tea Party candidate Joe Miller was backed by Sarah Palin when he stunningly defeated Lisa Murkowski during the republican primary in 2010. However, Murkowski would not accept the primary defeat and the entitlement-minded incumbent ran as a write-in candidate, and enlisted the assistance of democrats in Alaska to retain...

The Supreme Court granted the Michigan Republican party a win on Monday by throwing out a lower court ruling that required dozens of congressional and legislative districts to be redrawn due to concerns they had been gerrymandered by Republicans. The high court’s 5-to-4 decision reverses a ruling by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, which demanded the state redraw nine congressional districts and 25 state districts by August 1. Monday’s decision also follows the Supreme Court’s ruling in June that it would leave gerrymandering cases to state courts. “Partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach...

A new bill would require Supreme Court justices to disclose more information about privately funded travel, a lavish and much-enjoyed perk of service on the nation’s highest judicial tribunal. Federal judges have relatively cursory reporting requirements for reimbursed travel as compared to the other branches of government. The justices are only obligated to provide the source and a brief description of reimbursements, but need not report dollar amounts or any gift received as “personal hospitality.” SNIP “Judges and justices receive free trips around the world, and the American people deserve to know in a timely manner how much the excursions...

The Supreme Court will hear a constitutional challenge to the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). At issue is a provision that gives the bureau’s director uniquely strong job protections — the director may only be removed by the president for-cause. Justice Brett Kavanaugh is poised for a significant role in the case, as he wrote a sweeping 80-page opinion as an appeals court judge arguing the contested provision is unlawful. The Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear a constitutional challenge to the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a watchdog agency whose existence...

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review an appeals court ruling finding the Trump administration's efforts to expedite the removal of asylum seekers at the border unconstitutional. The administration had asked the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit's decision that would give detained migrants the right to make their claims in federal court. Developing...

Clarence Thomas is our eras most consequential jurist.....

The Supreme Court has deferred making a decision on the issue of mootness in the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. New York City yesterday morning, 7 October, 2019. The Court will hear oral arguments on 2 December, 2019, eight weeks from now. From supremecourt.gov: The Respondent's Suggestion of Mootness is denied. The question of mootness will be subject to further consideration at oral argument, and the parties should be prepared to discuss it. The NYSR&P case is the first major Second Amendment case the Court has agreed to hear in nine years. There have been a...

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in three cases that could set important precedents about whether federal civil rights protections on the basis of sex also guarantee legal protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. The three cases involve people who claim to have been fired because they are gay or identify as transgender. Two are gay men and the other is a man who identifies as a woman. The two gay men argue that they were fired due to their sexual orientation. However, decisions were split at the U.S. Court of Appeals as to whether...

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The case arose when Harris Funeral Homes, a fifth generation family business, was sued by the EEOC because of its sex-specific dress code. The question before the Court is whether the word “sex” in Title VII and other civil rights laws includes “transgender status.” There is much at stake. A change in the law could force organizations to open women’s shelters to biological men. It could throw open the doors of locker rooms, restrooms and showers to the opposite...

In a new NPR series called "Off the Script," 55-year-old social students and civics teacher Ruben Sandoval, who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, asked Beto O'Rourke how he would circumvent the Supreme Court to achieve his mandatory buyback of AR-15s. Specifically, Sandoval referenced two landmark cases that protect the Second Amendment and an American's right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. "As you know, one of the courses that I teach, I teach Texas government and also state and local government bath at Coronado and EPCC [El Paso Community College]. So we kind of discuss these issues as...

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The case arose when Harris Funeral Homes, a fifth generation family business, was sued by the EEOC because of its sex-specific dress code. The question before the Court is whether the word “sex” in Title VII and other civil rights laws includes “transgender status.” There is much at stake. A change in the law could force organizations to open women’s shelters to biological men. It could throw open the doors of locker rooms, restrooms and showers to the opposite...

The oral arguments at the Supreme Court in the case of Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC and two other cases involving LGBT employment issues seem to indicate that we’re heading toward yet another set of close decisions split along partisan lines. If you’ve been following our ongoing coverage of the case here, you’re already aware that the dispute in Harris involves a funeral director named Aimee Stephens who was fired after announcing that he was transgender and planned to begin living and dressing as a woman on the job. Two other cases deal with gay workers who were allegedly...