U.S. Courts News Reporter
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A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down a request by the Trump administration to lift an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that had directed the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to pay nearly $ 2 billion in foreign-aid reimbursements for work that has already been done.
In a brief unsigned opinion, the court noted that the Feb. 26 deadline for the government to make the payments had already passed. It instructed … Read the rest
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Monday’s argument in CC/Devas (Mauritius) Limited v. Antrix Corp. was an odd one: The justices asked no questions at all about the question on which they’d granted review, because the parties agree that the lower court’s answer to that question was incorrect. So almost all of the discussion at the argument focused on what, if anything, the court should decide before sending the case back to the court of appeals.
CC/Devas arises under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. When … Read the rest
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The Supreme Court on Friday left in place for now an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that instructed President Donald Trump to temporarily reinstate the head of an independent federal agency tasked with protecting whistleblowers from retaliation. The justices did not act on a request from the Trump administration to block the order by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, which had restored Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel for 14 days, … Read the rest
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The Trump administration on Sunday asked the Supreme Court to block an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that would require the president to temporarily reinstate the head of an independent agency tasked with protecting federal employees, and in particular whistleblowers, from retaliation. The order by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris told the justices, was an “unprecedented assault on the separation of powers that warrants immediate relief.”
Sunday’s filing was the … Read the rest
Federal courts regularly engage in public outreach and civics education efforts. A new interactive civics map is helping the public more easily find court educational resources and civics program information nationwide.
Judiciary News – United States Courts… Read the rest
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The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Feb. 24 in the case of a man on Texas death row who has long tried to obtain postconviction DNA testing on evidence that he says would exonerate him. Ruben Gutierrez was sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of 85-year-old Escolastica Harrison in Brownsville, Tex. Gutierrez has maintained his innocence and says DNA from several pieces of evidence — such as a hair and nail scrapings from Harrison’s finger and … Read the rest
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The Trump administration on Friday notified the Supreme Court that, in its view, a Tennessee law banning the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors does not violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. But although that position is a change from the one advanced by the Biden administration when the justices heard oral argument in a challenge to the law in December, the Trump administration nonetheless urged the Supreme Court to go ahead and decide … Read the rest
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The Petitions of the Week column highlights some of the cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.
In 1974, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution generally permits states to strip people convicted of felonies of their right to vote. Widespread at the time, that practice has since fallen out of favor in many states, although a minority still disenfranchise people who commit serious, non-election-related crimes. This … Read the rest