U.S. Courts News Reporter
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The court handed a win to a former-city council member in Texas on Thursday, clearing the way for her federal civil rights claim to move forward. Sylvia Gonzalez contends that her 2019 arrest on charges that she had tampered with government records came in retaliation for her criticism of the city manager in Castle Hills, Tex. In a brief unsigned opinion, the justices reinstated Gonzalez’s claim after a federal appeals court had thrown it out, holding that the lower … Read the rest
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Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Tuesday morning read:
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The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a rule that banned bump stocks, issued by the Trump administration after a 2017 mass shooting at a concert in Las Vegas. By a vote of 6-3, the justices rejected the federal government’s argument that rifles equipped with bump stocks are machine guns, which are generally prohibited under federal law. In an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s conservative justices emphasized that Congress could have enacted a law that banned all … Read the rest
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Two years after the court ruled that a disparity in bankrupt debtors’ fees between judicial districts was impermissible, the justices on Friday ruled 6-3 that charging equal fees going forward is an adequate remedy for that disparity. The government will not have to pay back debtors who paid more than they would have in another district.
In most districts (88 out of the 94 federal judicial districts), Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases are administered by the Office of the … Read the rest
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Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Wednesday morning read:
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The Supreme Court on Monday added two cases to its argument schedule for the 2024-25 term. In a list of orders from their private conference last week, the justices agreed to weigh in on a case involving the calculation of Medicare payments as well as a securities-fraud case against social media giant Meta.
The justices once again did not act on a group of petitions urging them to weigh in on the constitutionality of bans on gender-affirming care for … Read the rest
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Justice Clarence Thomas revealed on Friday that conservative billionaire Harlan Crow paid for two trips in 2019, involving a hotel stay in Bali, Indonesia, and at a private club in Sonoma County, Calif. The news came as part of the justices’ annual financial disclosures, which are filed in mid-May and released in early June each year. The forms published online on Friday by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts chronicled the justices’ book royalties – including an advance … Read the rest
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The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.
The Supreme Court worked through two thirds of last week’s new relists, though with very different results. The court granted review in Delligatti v. United States, meaning that the court will be making yet another foray into the “categorical approach” to determining whether prior convictions are “crimes of violence” for sentencing purposes. … Read the rest