Biden | Judiciary.org

Supreme Court

Supreme Court temporarily bars latest Biden student debt relief plan

The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily barred the Biden administration from implementing one of its latest efforts to provide debt relief to Americans with student loans. In a brief unsigned order, the justices declined to allow the Department of Education to put into effect a July 2023 rule, known as the SAVE Plan, intended to provide debt relief for lower-income borrowers while challenges to the rule continue in the lower courts.

There were no dissents recorded from Wednesday’s order, … Read the rest

Criminal Law

Biden Pardons Thousands Convicted of Non-Violent Drug Offences

President Joe Biden is pardoning thousands of people who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia and granting clemency to 11 people serving what the White House called “disproportionately long” sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, Zeke Miller reports for the Associated Press. The pardon builds on his categorical pardon issued just before the 2022 midterm elections that made thousands convicted of simple possession on federal lands eligible for … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices again side with Biden on ghost guns

Less than three months after allowing the Biden administration to temporarily reinstate a rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives regulating “ghost guns,” the Supreme Court blocked a ruling by a federal judge in Texas that would have prevented the government from enforcing the rule against two manufacturers of gun parts. Appealing to the justices to act, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar had urged the court not to “tolerate such circumvention of its orders.”

Ghost guns … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Biden asks justices to block limits on collaboration with social media companies

The Biden administration on Thursday afternoon asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block a lower court’s order that would limit its ability to communicate with social media companies over content moderation policies. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that if the “unprecedented” order is allowed to stand, it would put a Louisiana district judge in charge of overseeing the executive branch’s communications with social media companies.

Shortly after receiving the government’s request, Justice Samuel Alito — who … Read the rest

Civil Law

Biden Declares May As Jewish American Heritage Month

Yesterday President Biden issued a Proclamation (full text) declaring May to be Jewish American Heritage Month. The Proclamation reads in part:

Jewish Americans continue to enrich every part of American life as educators and entrepreneurs, athletes and artists, scientists and entertainers, public officials and activists, labor and community leaders, diplomats and military service members, public health heroes, and more….

All Americans — including business and community leaders, educators, students, athletes, entertainers, and influencers — must help confront bigotry in all

… Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices decline to block Biden policy on social costs of greenhouse gases

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea from Louisiana and nine other states to bar federal agencies from considering the social costs of greenhouse gases as part of their decision-making process. In a brief, unsigned order, the justices declined to reinstate a district-court ruling that had temporarily blocked the Biden administration from using the cost estimates. There were no dissents recorded from Thursday’s order.

The dispute in which the justices declined to intervene began last year, after President … Read the rest

Civil Law

Biden Announces Additional Import and Export Restrictions on Russia

On March 11, 2022, President Joseph Biden issued an Executive Order (EO) announcing further prohibitions on imports, exports and new investments related to Russia. This announcement was made at the same time that the president and the other G7 leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union, announced new economic actions which will revoke Russia’s “Most Favored Nation” status (see Update of March 12, 2022) and efforts to deny borrowing … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Biden vaccine policies face Supreme Court test amid nationwide COVID-19 surge

With over 100,000 Americans hospitalized for COVID-19 as a result of the highly contagious Omicron variant, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument Friday in two sets of challenges to the Biden administration’s authority to take action to combat the pandemic. In the first case, National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, the justices will consider the Biden administration’s attempt to impose a vaccine-or-test mandate for workers at large employers. In the second case, Biden v. … Read the rest