Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a former business partner of presidential son Hunter Biden who was seeking to overturn his criminal conviction for securities fraud. As is typical, the justices did not comment in leaving in place a federal appeals court ruling that reinstated the fraud conviction of Devon Archer. A lower court judge had earlier set aside a jury verdict that found Archer guilty of fraud and ordered a new trial. Biden was not involved in the effort to defraud the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe in a scheme that involved the sale...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday turned away healthcare workers seeking a religious exemption to Maine's COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the latest battle over vaccination to reach the justices. The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, rejected a request made by nine unnamed plaintiffs who identified themselves as healthcare workers who object to receiving the shots on religious grounds. The court previously rejected challenges to vaccine mandates in New York and Indiana, though those cases did not involve religious objections. The justices were divided, with three conservative members saying they would have granted the request. In...

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear an emergency appeal of a vaccine requirement imposed on Maine health care workers, the latest defeat for opponents of vaccine mandates. It was the first time the Supreme Court weighed in on a statewide vaccine mandate. It previously rejected challenges of vaccine requirements for New York City teachers and Indiana University staff and students. Justice Stephen Breyer rejected the emergency appeal but left the door open to try again as the clock ticks on Maine’s mandate. The state will begin enforcing it Oct. 29. The Maine vaccine requirement that was put in...

The Supreme Court on Monday sided with law enforcement in a pair of cases that implicated “qualified immunity,” the controversial legal doctrine that gives police broad protection from lawsuits. In a pair of unsigned summary rulings issued without noted dissent, the justices reversed two federal appeals courts that had permitted excessive force lawsuits to proceed against officers in separate cases arising from California and Oklahoma. The justices ruled the officers should be granted qualified immunity, which shields government officials from liability unless it is proven they violated a “clearly established” right, a difficult legal hurdle. Both lawsuits dealt with police...

Biden commission’s draft materials on Supreme Court reform show split over adding justices A growing chorus of critics — especially those furious with the tactics used by Republicans to appoint the three most recent justices — have called to expand the size of the bench. Proponents include former presidential candidates and Cabinet members. Some of the commissioners agree with the pro-expansion arguments, “at least in part,” the draft materials said. But other commissioners concluded that adding seats “is likely to undermine, rather than enhance, the Supreme Court’s legitimacy and its role in the constitutional system,” the commission wrote. “There are...

Click here to view the full articleClick here to view the full articleThe Supreme Court on Monday turned away an appeal by Washington, D.C., residents over their lack of voting rights in Congress.The justices’ move affirmed a lower court ruling that held that D.C. residents are not entitled to voting representation in the U.S. House.In a brief unsigned order Monday, the justices indicated their ruling was based on a Supreme Court decision from more than two decades ago that found that Washingtonians do not have a constitutional right to a vote in Congress.Two of the court’s more conservatives justices —...

BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday against hearing an appeal of a decision that found Gov. Charlie Baker did not overstep his authority with sweeping orders to close businesses and limit gatherings to control the coronavirus early in the pandemic. The nation’s highest court announced without comment Monday that it would not consider the appeal. The lawsuit argued that Baker had no authority to issue public health-related orders under the state’s Civil Defense Act, which it said was designed to protect the state from foreign invasions, insurrections, and catastrophic events like hurricanes and fires. The Massachusetts Supreme...

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request from a group of New York City public school teachers to block the city's coronavirus vaccine mandate.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh has tested positive for Covid-19, the Supreme Court said Friday. Kavanaugh, who is fully vaccinated, tested positive on Thursday night, the court said in a statement, and his immediate family tested negative. He has no symptoms, the court said.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday” that they did not hear President Donald Trump’s 2020 election case because it did not meet “normal criteria.” Anchor Chris Wallace said, “One of your arguments against seeing the court’s political is the fact that it refused to even hear the appeals from the Trump campaign about the 2020 election. Didn’t even hear it them.” ......SNIP...... Wallace asked, “Why was that?” Breyer said, “Why was it? Because they didn’t bring a case, I guess, that met the normal criteria for being heard. When we decide to...

Remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Of course you do. The heroine, the pioneer, the voice of reason. The Notorious RBG. And, it would appear, a traitor to the cause of abortion. It is a typical leftist move. Things don’t go the way you want, find someone to blame. Along with the usual suspects such as Republicans, pro-lifers, Texans, you, me, Grand Moff Tarkin and the republic of Gilead, the Left is eating its own by claiming that the SCOTUS abortion decision would have been avoided had Ginsburg retired during the Obama years, allowing him to name her replacement. And they are...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/27/supreme-court-blocks-president-bidens-covid-19-eviction-moratorium/8243599002/

This evening the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Texas in a lawsuit against the federal government. [View pdf Here] The outcome is a ruling requiring the Biden administration to reinstitute the “remain in Mexico” policy put into place during the Trump administration. The policy requires asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while they await hearings in the United States.The ruling was 6-3 with Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer dissenting from the majority opinion. The ruling is a significant victory for Missouri and Texas, the two states who sued over Biden’s repeal of the policy and won...

As you may know, during the current pandemic, since the enactment of the so-called “CARES Act” in March 2020, there has been in effect, in various forms, a federal “moratorium” on evictions of rental tenants from their apartments. Thus some landlords have now gone well over a year without getting paid what they are owed, and with no access to any legal remedy. The most recent version of the “moratorium” expired on July 31 (Saturday). This version had been promulgated by the CDC on its own authority, without specific authorization from Congress. On Sunday (August 1) the Democratic Congressional leadership...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday issued a new moratorium on evictions that would last until October 3, ending some of the political pressure being placed on President Joe Biden. The new moratorium could help keep millions in their homes as the coronavirus’ delta variant has spread and states have been slow to release federal rental aid. It would temporarily halt evictions in counties with “substantial and high levels” of virus transmissions and would cover areas where 90 percent of the U.S. population lives. The announcement was something of a reversal for the Biden administration after saying...

The Supreme Court held that the CDC can continue to impose a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures due to the Covid lockdowns causing millions to not pay rent or mortgages yesterday. It was made possible by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the so-called “conservative” Justice who sided with the four progressives.According to POLITICO [emphasis added]:The association had asked the court to act on an emergency basis to vacate a stay on a lower-court decision overturning the ban, saying the “stay will prolong the severe financial burdens borne by landlords under the moratorium for the past nine months.”The Centers for Disease Control and...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to lift the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s ban on residential evictions, which expires at the end of next month. The court voted 5-4 against lifting the ban put in place to help families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett said they would grant the application, which was requested by a group of landlords. Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the justices who declined the application because he noted that the moratorium is set to expire in a few weeks, on July 31. "In my view,...

Is the Supreme Court going to overrule Roe v. Wade? That's the question raised by a Mississippi abortion case soon to come before court. "The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition, the attorney general of Mississippi, Lynn Fitch, writes in her brief. As the brief was being filed, I was outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Manhattan, where I saw a young woman crying on a street corner after an abortion. Abortion hurts women and kills children. Shortly thereafter, another young woman walked out with a friend, who asked her...

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a Christian florist from Washington state fined refusing to make a floral arrangement for a same-sex wedding because she felt it went against her religious beliefs about marriage. In doing so, the Washington Supreme Court ruling against the Christian florist remains intact. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch each said the court should have taken the case. Though the case dates back to 2013, religious liberty legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom said the fight to defend Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers and Gifts in Richland, Washington,...

"Progressives have called for Breyer to step down so Biden could nominate his successor."