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“We’re not there to provide entertainment. We’re there to decide cases,” Roberts sternly declared. Or did he? — ChatGPT and the Supreme Court, two years later

Just over two years ago, following the launch of ChatGPT, SCOTUSblog decided to test how accurate the much-hyped AI really was — at least when it came to Supreme Court-related questions. The conclusion? Its performance was “uninspiring”: precise, accurate, and at times surprisingly human-like text appeared alongside errors and outright fabricated facts. Of the 50 questions posed, the AI answered only 21 correctly.

Now, more than two years later, as ever more advanced models continue to emerge, I’ve revisited … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Trump asks Supreme Court to step in on birthright citizenship

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to enforce an executive order signed by President Donald Trump ending birthright citizenship – the guarantee of citizenship to virtually anyone born in the United States. In a trio of near-identical filings by Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, the administration urged the justices to partially block preliminary injunctions, issued by federal district judges in Seattle, Maryland, and Massachusetts, that bar the government from implementing Trump’s executive order … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Supreme Court denies Trump request to block $2 billion foreign-aid payment

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

Supreme Court

Court set to reverse heightened requirement for arbitration awards under FSIA

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

Supreme Court

Supreme Court sidesteps Trump’s effort to remove watchdog agency head

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

Supreme Court

Trump asks court to allow firing of watchdog agency official

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

Circuit Courts

New Tool Helps Public Find Local Court Civics Resources and Programs

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

Supreme Court

Supreme Court to consider death row plea for DNA testing

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