U.S. Courts News Reporter
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The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon granted a request from Idaho and the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to temporarily put on hold a ruling by a federal district court that would require emergency rooms in the state to provide abortions to pregnant women in an emergency. The justices agreed to weigh in on the question at the center of the dispute: whether the federal law on which the lower court relied trumps an Idaho law that criminalizes most abortions in … Read the rest
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday morning declined to put a Louisiana trial seeking compensation for the “existential threat” posed by coastal land loss on hold while the defendants in the case, a group of oil companies, seek review of a state court decision rejecting their request to transfer the case. The oil companies had argued that they cannot get a fair trial in the court where they are being sued because any awards against them will go to the … Read the rest
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place a federal appeals court ruling that bars the city of Tulsa from enforcing municipal ordinances against Native Americans. In a brief unsigned order without any public dissents, the justices rejected the city’s request to put a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on hold to give the city time to appeal.
The order came in a case arising from a nearly five-year-old traffic ticket and … Read the rest
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In an 8-1 opinion on Thursday, the justices provided a new definition to the limits on the right to strike under federal labor law. At issue in Glacier Northwest v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local Union 174was whether an employer could sue its employees’ union under state law for damage the employer incurred as a result of the union’s strike. The case produced a surprisingly broad majority agreeing that the strike at issue was not even arguably protected … Read the rest
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared wary of a lawsuit seeking to hold Twitter, Facebook, and Google liable for aiding and abetting international terrorism based on ISIS’s use of the companies’ platforms. But during nearly three hours of oral argument, the justices struggled to draw a line between holding organizations responsible for supporting terrorism and allowing organizations to go about legitimate business, even if they may come in contact with terrorists as part of that business.
The dispute, Twitter … Read the rest
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The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.
A response to the mortgage crisis of 2007, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 ushered in a host of new federal rules and oversight for the financial sector. This week, we highlight cert petitions that ask the court to consider, among other things, whether that … Read the rest
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The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.
For the second time in just over three years, the Supreme Court may determine the future of the federal watchdog agency that seeks to protect consumers in the financial sector.
Three terms ago in Seila Law v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the justices ruled by a vote of 5-4 … Read the rest
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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