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Supreme Court

Justices take up cases on religious tax exemption and California climate change mandate

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejecting efforts by Catholic Charities to seek an exemption from the state’s unemployment tax. Catholic Charities contends that both it and the four agencies that operate under its umbrella qualify for the exemption because they are operated “primarily for religious purposes.” The group, which is controlled by the bishop of the diocese of Superior, says that the state supreme court’s contrary decision, which rested … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices take up disputes over terrorism damages suits and habeas filings

The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon agreed to decide whether a 2019 law that seeks to give U.S. courts the power to hear claims by victims of terrorism against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of fair treatment.

Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization and United States v. Palestine Liberation Organization, which will be argued together in the spring, were two of the three petitions for review that the justices granted after … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices take up camping ban case

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether an Oregon city can enforce its ban on public camping against homeless people. The announcement came as part of a short list of orders released from the justices’ private conference earlier in the day adding five new cases to the court’s merits docket.

The court’s ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson could affect how other cities address their own epidemics of homelessness. San Francisco, which spent over $ … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices take up abortion case pitting state against federal law

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

Supreme Court

Justices take up bump stock dispute

Less than a week before the justices are scheduled to hear argument in a high-profile gun-rights case, the court added another dispute involving firearms to its docket for the 2023-24 term. In Garland v. Cargill, the justices will decide whether a “bump stock” – an attachment that transforms a semiautomatic rifle into a fully automatic, assault-style weapon – is a “machinegun,” which is generally prohibited under federal law. The case was one of three new cases in which … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Section 8 vouchers take center stage in dispute between landlord and disabled tenant

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.

Federal law bars housing discrimination against a person with a disability. Under the Fair Housing Act, landlords and sellers must provide “reasonable accommodations” to give someone with a disability “equal opportunity” to rent or buy a home. This week, we highlight petitions that ask the court to consider, among other … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices take up case on federal admiralty law, seek government’s views on two pending petitions

The Supreme Court on Monday morning added a maritime law case to its docket for the 2023-24 term and invited the federal government to submit briefs expressing its views in two more cases. Both announcements came on an otherwise quiet order list released from the justices’ conference on Friday, March 3.

The justices granted review in Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Raiders Retreat Realty Co., a dispute that began after a yacht owned by Raiders Retreat Realty Co. … 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