Supreme Court

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Chief Justice Takes a Tumble
Chief Justice Takes a Tumble
Jul 30, 2007 4:28 PM CDT

Chief Justice Takes a Tumble

Roberts taken to hospital as a precaution after fall at Maine vacation home

(Newser) - Chief Justice John Roberts was taken to the hospital in an ambulance this afternoon after falling at his Maine vacation home, the Supreme Court announced. A spokeswoman said he was conscious after the fall, and an EMT told NBC he was alert on the trip to the hospital. The cause...

New Court Overturns O'Connor
New Court Overturns O'Connor
Jul 10, 2007 6:51 AM CDT

New Court Overturns O'Connor

Dahlia Lithwick writes on the jurist's fast- dismantled legacy

(Newser) - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor legal legacy is one of the first casualties of the new Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick writes. After being hailed as the most powerful women in America, the former justice has seen her judgments "explicitly minimized" or "stepped distastefully...

Bush Directs Aides to Defy Subpoenas

Cites executive privilege in bid to stop Miers, Taylor testimony

(Newser) - In an aggressive use of executive privilege, President Bush instructed two of his former aides yesterday to disregard congressional subpoenas demanding they testify about the attorney firings scandal. In a letter to Congress, Bush's counsel rebuffed Democratic senators for encroaching on internal White House affairs, bringing the two branches closer...

Appeals Court Won't Rule on Domestic Spying

Panel KOs warrantless wiretapping case on procedural grounds

(Newser) - Although it raises a "cascade of serious questions," a federal appeals court will not hear a case about the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program because the plaintiffs can't prove they've suffered direct harm. In a 2-1 decision, the Sixth Circuit court dismissed the case, brought by the ACLU and...

Kennedy Is Swing Vote as Supreme Court Shifts Right

The term in review

(Newser) - As the Supreme Court wrapped up its first term under Chief Justice John Roberts Friday, the new court's conservative bent was obvious: the Court swung to the right in most of the ideological cases decided this year by a 5-4 margin. Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered the swing vote, making him...

Supremes Will Hear Gitmo Cases
Supremes Will Hear Gitmo Cases
Jun 29, 2007 10:25 AM CDT

Supremes Will Hear Gitmo Cases

Inmates seek right to challenge confinement in federal court

(Newser) - Two Guantanamo Bay detainees will have their say before the Supreme Court, which today unexpectedly agreed to hear their cases in the term that begins this fall. The prisoners want permission to challenge their indefinite confinement in federal court. The high court had rejected an identical appeal in April, and...

Dems Fret Over School Ruling
Dems Fret Over School Ruling
Jun 29, 2007 8:10 AM CDT

Dems Fret Over School Ruling

Howard U. debate concentrates on race

(Newser) - The Supreme Court decision limiting the role of race in public-school assignments was the talk of the town yesterday—even at the Democratic debate. The agenda at historically black Howard University was minority issues, and although attention naturally fell on Barack Obama, his seven competitors also had their moments in...

Supremes Halt Execution of Insane Inmate

Kennedy is swing vote against punishment for schizophrenic killer

(Newser) - The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to block the execution of a schizophrenic condemned killer because Texas criminal courts had not taken his mental health into account. Anthony Kennedy joined the court's liberals and wrote the decision, which reaffirmed previous injunctions against executing the insane; Kennedy wrote that the "punishment...

High Court Limits Use of Race in School Assignments

Choice plans found unconstitutional

(Newser) - Taking race into consideration in school assignments is unconstitutional because it violates students' rights under the equal protection clause, the Supreme Court ruled today in a landmark decision that could cause upheaval in K-12 education. The decision, by an increasingly familiar 5-4 vote, invalidates diversity plans in Louisville and Seattle...

Scalia Joins Majority, but Not Happily

Cranky justice rips Roberts in separate opinions

(Newser) - The high court may have a new conservative majority, but it's not exactly a lovey-dovey one, judging from Antonin Scalia's withering concurring opinions on two recent decisions, the New York Times reports.  Although he voted with the majority, Scalia blasted Chief Justice John Roberts for downplaying the impact of...

Supremes Let Up on Political Ad Limits

in 5-4 reversal, court rules 'issue ads' don't count as endorsements

(Newser) - Conservatives on the Supreme Court weakened one of the major strictures of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Law today, relaxing the definition of prohibited ads in the run-up to federal elections. An increasingly familiar 5-4 majority declared that "issue ads," which stump for political platforms without explicitly endorsing a...

Court Limits Student Speech
Court Limits Student Speech
Jun 25, 2007 10:41 AM CDT

Court Limits Student Speech

High Court decides 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' case in favor of buzz-kill principal

(Newser) - Schools may limit student speech that advocates criminal activity, even off campus, the Supreme Court ruled today. The case centers on a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" displayed across the street from a school; writing for the 5-4 majority, Chief Justice Roberts said the school principal's understanding of...

High Court Raises Bar for Investors' Suits

Companies trump shareholders for second time in a week

(Newser) - Investors who accuse companies of fraud based on executives' misdeeds must show that they acted intentionally, the Supreme Court ruled today, making it easier for corporations to have shareholder lawsuits dismissed. The decision helps protect companies against frivolous suits by clarifying a 1995 law, the Times reports, but critics say...

Supremes Side With Banks in Antitrust Action

Credit Suisse, Goldman won't face class action suit over late-'90s IPOs

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has broadened the shield protecting companies from antitrust lawsuits, ruling in a 7-1 decision this morning that investors cannot sue 16 banks they accuse of rigging Internet-boom-era IPOs. The majority said the SEC had adequately regulated banks' actions and that opening them up to this type of...

Court Curbs Unions' Political Spending

In blow to organized labor, states can force members' approval

(Newser) - The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a Washington State law forcing public-sector unions to win consent from workers before spending their dues on politically-charged activities. The law applied to workers who opt out of joining a union but still have to pay the dues, some of which are spent supplying (mainly...

Courts Debate Definition of 'Retarded'

Ruling on death penalty's constitutionality generates more questions than answers

(Newser) - Sentencing the mentally retarded to death is unconstitutional, and individual states set the cut-off between disabled and competent—sounds simple, but in practice, the Supreme Court's 2002 ruling has proven nearly impossible to enforce. At issue, the LA Times reports, is the gray area between low IQ and retardation, a...

Anti-abortion Groups Split by Late-Term Ban

Purists rip Dobson for praising limits, not full prohibition

(Newser) - The recent Supreme Court ruling against partial-birth abortions has ignited a battle among anti-abortion groups, the Washington Post reports. The bickering highlights a divide between groups working for a wholesale ban and those seeking limits. In newspaper ads, a religious coalition ripped the ruling as "wicked" and slammed longtime...

Ginsburg Speaks Up
Ginsburg
Speaks Up
May 31, 2007 9:18 AM CDT

Ginsburg Speaks Up

As Supreme Court veers to the right, a new voice of dissent emerges

(Newser) - Ruth Bader Ginsburg has delivered two withering oral dissents in the past six weeks, a radical departure from her previous conciliatory role. Linda Greenhouse speculates in today's Times that the unprecedented behavior may signal a new outspokenness for the Supreme Court's only female justice. "After 15 years on the...

High Court Curbs Pay Bias Suits
High Court Curbs Pay
Bias Suits
May 30, 2007 4:55 AM CDT

High Court Curbs Pay Bias Suits

Ginsburg dissents on decision limiting charges to 180 days

(Newser) - The Supreme Court severely limited the right of women to sue employers over pay discrimination in a stormy 5-4 decision yesterday. A lone woman employee at a tire factory sued because she was paid less than male coworkers over her long career; the court held that such charges must be...

Court Relaxes Patent Test
Court Relaxes Patent Test
May 1, 2007 7:36 AM CDT

Court Relaxes Patent Test

Tech companies applaud broader guidelines for "obviousness"

(Newser) - Tech companies are thrilled with a Supreme Court ruling yesterday that relaxed the "obviousness" test for patents—the standard for deciding when a combination of existing elements deserves patent protection. No longer will Silicon Valley giants have to wrangle with patent "trolls"—people who anticipate minute improvements...

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