Declines | Judiciary.org

Supreme Court

Court declines RNC request to intervene in Pennsylvania voting dispute

The Supreme Court on Friday night left in place a ruling by Pennsylvania’s highest court that requires election boards in the state to count provisional ballots submitted by voters whose mail-in ballots had been deemed invalid.

The brief unsigned order came just four days before election day. Recent polls show former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris tied in Pennsylvania, which both candidates regard as a key part of their hopes of winning the White House. The … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Supreme Court declines to block EPA methane, mercury rules

The Supreme Court on Friday turned down a request from Republican-led states and industry groups to block a rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that imposes more stringent standards on emissions of hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired power plants. At the same time, the justices turned down a similar request from Oklahoma and industry groups to block an EPA rule that seeks to regulate emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from crude-oil and natural gas facilities.

Friday’s … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court declines to delay Bannon’s prison sentence

The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon declined a request from Stephen Bannon, who served as an aide to former President Donald Trump, to delay the start of his four-month prison sentence while he asks the Supreme Court to review his case.

Bannon is scheduled to report to prison on Monday, July 1.

After failing to respond to a congressional subpoena, Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress in November 2021. The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court declines death penalty case on jury selection

Over a written dissent by two justices, the Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a death penalty case asking them to weigh in on when jury selection begins and the defendant has a right to be present. The order in Sandoval v. Texas came as part of a list of orders from the justices’ private conference last week. The justices did not add any new cases to their docket for the 2024-25 term.

The denial of review … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court declines to halt execution of Alabama man whose jury voted against death penalty

In a brief order with no recorded dissents, the Supreme Court refused to block the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith, a 57-year-old inmate who is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. EST on Thursday in Alabama. Smith was convicted for the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, whom he was hired to kill by her husband, Rev. Charles Sennett.

By a vote of 11 to 1, the jury in Smith’s 1996 capital trial recommended that he … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court declines to take up petition seeking to overturn Insular Cases

The Supreme Court will not reconsider the Insular Cases, a widely criticized and racist group of early 20th-century decisions holding that the residents of U.S. territories do not automatically enjoy all of the rights protected by the Constitution. The announcement came on a list of orders released on Monday morning from the justices’ private conference last week. The justices did not add any new cases to their merits docket for the 2022-23 term.

The request to overrule the Insular … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Divided court declines to reinstate Biden’s immigration guidelines, sets case for argument this fall

The Supreme Court will again weigh the executive branch’s authority to set immigration policy as some red states claim that the Biden administration’s enforcement decisions are too lax. The justices on Thursday agreed to take up a challenge by Texas and Louisiana to a new federal policy that prioritizes certain groups of unauthorized immigrants for arrest and deportation. The justices will hear the case in late November without waiting for a federal appeals court to weigh in.

The justices … Read the rest

Supreme Court

With three conservatives dissenting, court declines to intervene on behalf of Air Force officer who won’t get vaccinated

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a plea from a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve to block the Air Force from disciplining him because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19. Three justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch – indicated that they would have granted the request and allowed him to continue to serve while his appeal continues.

The case, Dunn v. Austin, was brought by Lt. Col. Jonathan Dunn, an Air Force … Read the rest