Supreme Court

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At 89, Influential Justice Stevens Isn't Budging

Oldest Supreme is vindicated as dissents become majorities

(Newser) - John Paul Stevens turned 89 last week, and the senior associate justice of the Supreme Court has lived to see many of his dissenting opinions eventually become the majority during his 33 years on the court. Stevens—who has given no indications of impending retirement—has led a number of...

Obama Looks to Limit Right to Counsel

(Newser) - The Obama administration is pushing for a Supreme Court decision that would curtail the right of criminal suspects to counsel, the AP reports. At issue is a 1986 ruling that prevents police from questioning suspects unless a lawyer is present. The Justice Department says the restriction “serves no real...

High Court Skeptical of Strip-Search Case

And sounds skeptical

(Newser) - Savana Redding’s lawyers made their case before the Supreme Court yesterday, condemning the strip-search of a 13-year-old in a hunt for ibuprofen as unreasonable search and seizure. But the justices were skeptical, the LA Times reports, with their questions indicating they were leery of limiting school officials’ powers to...

Supreme Court Limits Car Searches After Arrests

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today put new limits on police officers' ability to search a car after an arrest, the Washington Post reports. The 5-4 ruling—with an unusual grouping of justices—says police need a warrant unless certain criteria apply, a break from the standard practice of about 30 years....

1st Amendment v. Dogfight Video: High Court to Decide

Conviction rests on First Amendment status of animal abuse tapes

(Newser) - The Supreme Court agreed today to hear that pits the First Amendment against the production and sale of dogfighting videos, the Chicago Tribune reports. The case involves a man jailed for selling several brutally explicit videos of pit bulls fighting. A federal appeals court overturned his conviction on grounds that...

Shakespeare Debate Splits Supreme Court

Stevens finds alternate author theory beyond a reasonable doubt

(Newser) - John Paul Stevens and Antonin Scalia don’t agree often, but the justices are united on one case: Neither believes Shakespeare’s plays could possibly have been written by a hick like William Shakespeare. Stevens has even written papers on the topic, and searched the Bard’s home for clues....

Ginsburg Shows No Signs of Slowing Down

Symposium celebrates 'midpoint' of justice's career

(Newser) - Ruth Bader Ginsburg has shown no signs of slowing, despite cancer surgery in February: Since then, she's attended every Supreme Court session, written more opinions than all but one other justice, and raised plenty of questions from the bench. A symposium celebrating Ginsburg’s service almost seemed designed to quash...

White Firefighters' Bias Claims Head to High Court

Conn. team complained after promotion test dumped

(Newser) - Hoping to become lieutenants, 77 New Haven firefighters took a promotion test—but when none of the 19 black firefighters qualified, the city jettisoned the results. Their hopes dashed, 17 white firefighters sued the city for racial discrimination, and the case is now set for the Supreme Court. It marks...

Supreme Court: Suspects Must Go Before Judge Within 6 Hours

Or confessions will be thrown out of fed court

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today threw out the confession of Johnnie Corley, a Pennsylvania robbery suspect, saying that the 29½ hours federal authorities waited before bringing him to court was too long, the AP reports. In a 5-4 decision, the court said any confessions federal authorities elicited before a prisoner’s...

Supreme Court Won't Hear Mumia's Appeal

Abu-Jamal says was convicted by biased jury in 1981 cop death

(Newser) - Mumia Abu-Jamal has lost his bid for a new trial in the 1981 killing of a police officer, the AP reports. The Supreme Court said today it won’t take up Abu-Jamal's claims that prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering a Philadelphia policeman. The...

Supreme Court Refuses Philip Morris Appeal

$79.5M case was seen as way to clamp down on punitive damages

(Newser) - Big business once hoped that the Supreme Court would use a tobacco lawsuit bouncing around the court system since 1999 to clamp down on the awarding of punitive damages. Instead, the AP reports, the Supreme Court gave a one-sentence order refusing to hear an appeal of a $79.5 million...

Tiny Town's Move May Redefine Voting Rights Act

Provision in 1965 act prevents moving polling station

(Newser) - A Supreme Court case may soon bring about a momentous change in the nation's voting laws, all because a Texas town of 3,500 moved a polling station three blocks, the Wall Street Journal reports. A local official made the switch to a more convenient location, galled that he needed...

School Strip-Search Case Heads to Supreme Court

Law is murky on the limits of privacy in school

(Newser) - In 2003, staff at an Arizona middle school strip-searched Savana Redding, then 13, after getting a tip that she had prescription-strength ibuprofen. They didn't find any, and Redding sued. Next month, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the school's policy violated Redding's constitutional rights, reports the New York ...

Frank Calls Justice Scalia a 'Homophobe'

(Newser) - Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a "homophobe" in a recent interview with the gay news Web site 365gay.com. The Democratic lawmaker, who is gay, was discussing gay marriage and his expectation that the high court would some day be called upon to decide...

O'Connor: I'm Not a 'Feminist'
 O'Connor: I'm Not a 'Feminist' 

O'Connor: I'm Not a 'Feminist'

Former justice wants kids to learn about courts

(Newser) - Sandra Day O’Connor says the reason she hoped a woman would be named to replace her on the Supreme Court is that it's easier not to be the only woman on the nation's highest bench. As the first female justice, she tells Deborah Solomon in the New York Times...

Supreme Court Will Rule on Hillary Documentary

Anti-Clinton flick deemed campaign ad

(Newser) - Supreme Court judges will go the movies next week when they hear arguments about a feature-length film on Hillary Clinton, the AP reports. Screened in eight theaters during the presidential campaign, Hillary: the Movie fizzled after federal courts said the scathing documentary and its commercials amounted to campaign ads....

New Solicitor General in Line for High Court

Center-left lawyer will work closely with Supremes

(Newser) - Elena Kagan became America's first female solicitor general yesterday, putting her one step closer to a possible Supreme Court nomination, the AP reports. As the so-called "10th Supreme Court justice," Kagan will effectively audition for the high court if she argues a Voting Rights Act case next...

Ginsburg to Undergo Chemo
 Ginsburg 
 to Undergo 
 Chemo 

Ginsburg to Undergo Chemo

Justice says pancreatic cancer treatment won't affect court schedule

(Newser) - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who recently had surgery for pancreatic cancer, will begin chemotherapy later this month, the Supreme Court said today. “I am scheduled to undergo a precautionary post-surgical course of chemotherapy at the National Institutes of Health,” the justice said. She said the treatments shouldn’t affect...

Take It to the Supreme Court: GOP to Coleman

Could Bush v. Gore save the Minnesota Republican?

(Newser) - There’s only one thing you need to know about the Minnesota Senate race: It will never end. Norm Coleman, waiting on a state court to rule on his challenge to Al Franken’s 225-vote lead, is being urged by top Republicans to take his case all the way to...

Supreme Court Limits Power of Voting Rights Act

(Newser) - The Supreme Court ruled today that a part of the Voting Rights Act aimed at helping minorities elect their preferred candidates only applies in electoral districts where minorities make up more than half the population, the AP reports. The decision could make it harder for some minority candidates to win...

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