Georgia Gov. Kemp Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief in Chevron Case

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has filed an amicus brief in a highly visible U.S. Supreme Court case that could overturn a standing practice that gives federal agencies the power to interpret statutes.

Kemp, a Republican, filed his brief in the case of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which seeks to overturn the so-called Chevron deference established by the 1984 decision in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. It compels federal judges to defer to federal agencies’ interpretations in “ambiguous situations” as long as the interpretation is “reasonable.”

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McCabe Lays Out the Events Leading Up to the Stunning Implosion of Hunter Biden’s ‘Sweetheart’ Plea Deal

One America News’ national political correspondent Neil W. McCabe joined The Tennessee Star Report Wednesday morning to break down the very latest twists and turns on the bizarre developments surrounding the Hunter Biden and the attempt by someone to “disappear” a friend-of-the-court brief that hours later, gave the Delaware court pause on accepting the First Son’s sweetheart plea deal.

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Private Schools Seek to Argue Against Release of Records in Covenant Killer Manifesto Lawsuit

Four Nashville private schools are seeking entry into a nationally watched public records lawsuit that demands the release of the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related documents. 

Attorneys for Franklin Road Academy, Montgomery Bell Academy, Oak Hill School, and St. Paul Christian Academy filed a motion on Monday asking Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles for permission to file an amicus — friend of the court  — brief in the lawsuit. 

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Arizona’s Pre-Roe Abortion Law Receives National Support from 17 States

A coalition of 17 states, led by Arkansas, is among the entities which recently asked the Arizona Supreme Court to reverse a ruling barring Arizona’s territorial-era law restricting abortions from being enforced.

The current abortion struggle in the state surrounds Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) § 13-3603, the pre-roe law which states that no person is allowed to provide a pregnant woman with an abortion unless it is necessary to save the mother’s life and ARS § 36-2322, which was enacted in 2022 and prohibits the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Arizona Court of Appeals previously ruled that the 15-week ban takes priority over the previous law to avoid any confusion for medical professionals. Therefore, abortion is currently legal in Arizona for a brief window of pregnancy.

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Center for Arizona Policy Calls for State Supreme Court to Reinstate Arizona’s Pre-Roe Abortion Limitations

The Arizona Center for Policy (CAP) shared Wednesday that it has entered the legal battle surrounding Arizona’s territorial-era limitations on abortions with an amicus brief to the state Supreme Court.

“State lawmakers kept the state’s pre-Roe law on the books as they passed dozens of laws protecting life while Roe forbade them from going further,” said CAP President Cathi Herrod. “Allowing the lower court ruling to stand threatens thousands of lives a year, as well as the integrity of the judiciary, and the Legislature’s power to govern.”

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National Right to Work Foundation Files Amicus Brief in Michigan Union Lawsuit

The National Right to Work Foundation filed an amicus brief at the Michigan Supreme Court opposing a strategy used by a Michigan union.

The brief, filed Friday, says the union officials of the Technical, Professional, and Officeworkers Association of Michigan “weaponizes” the grievance process to force nonmember public employees to pay fees to the union.

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Goldwater Institute Joins in Legal Contest Against an Arizona School District’s Alleged Religious Discrimination

The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute (GI) joined in the legal battle between Arizona Christian University (ACU) and the Washington Elementary School District (WESD), arguing that ACU was discriminated against based on its religious beliefs.

“A private organization like ACU should be free to espouse its beliefs without fear of retaliation from the government. And K-12 students should not have to go without teachers simply because their school board refuses to hire qualified candidates based on those candidates’ perceived personal beliefs and convictions,” according to the GI.

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Goldwater Institute Reacts to Arizona Supreme Court Decision That Respects Due Process

The Arizona Supreme Court released an opinion in the Legacy Foundation (Legacy) v. Clean Elections Commission (CEC) Thursday, which the Goldwater Institute (GI) celebrated as a victory for checks and balances.

“State bureaucrats cannot simply decide the reach of their own authority,” said GI Vice President of Legal Affairs Timothy Sandefur. “When bureaucrats—who are often not answerable to voters at all—have the power to make the rules, investigate infractions, and punish people for violating those rules, that authority can undermine our most important constitutional values and threaten individual rights.”

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Mark Brnovich Files Brief Urging Supreme Court to Protect Consumers in Class Action Settlements

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) recently led a coalition of 20 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to protect the rights of consumers in class action settlements.

“Class action settlements should benefit people who have been harmed and not just the attorneys,” Brnovich said in a press release. “That’s why we are asking the court to ensure consumer interests are being faithfully represented.”

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Michigan Attorney General Nessel Joins Amicus Brief over Family Planning Funding Lawsuit

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general in an amicus brief seeking to restore federal funding for family planning services.

Led by New York and California, the lawyers filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, supporting the efforts of President Joe Biden’s administration to restore Title X funding to providers that left the program under restrictions enacted in 2019.

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New York Attorney General Letitia James and 22 Attorneys General Fight Arizona’s Law to Ban Abortions Based on Fetal Abnormalities Like Down Syndrome

This past year, the Arizona Legislature passed a law banning the abortion of babies for reasons of genetic abnormalities such as Down Syndrome, but a federal judge who was appointed by President Barack Obama halted it from going into effect due to a legal challenge. Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James and 22 other attorneys general jumped into the litigation, filing an amicus brief supporting the challenge to SB 1497, which is also known as the “Reason Ban.”

James stated, “Arizona is just the latest in the long line of conservative-led states that are seeking to impose their will on millions of women with laws that aim to control our bodies, our choices, and our freedoms, but we will never stop fighting them. We’re asking the appeals court to uphold the lower court’s decision and strike down this unconstitutional law.”

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106 GOP Members, Including Five from Tennessee, Soon to be Six, File Amicus Brief in Texas SCOTUS Election Lawsuit

A total of 106 House Republicans on Thursday filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the plaintiffs in Texas v. Pennsylvania, et al, including Tennessee’s U.S. Representatives Mark Green, Tim Burchett, Chuck Fleischmann, David Kustoff, John Rose, with U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) taking the lead.

U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) tweeted, “100+ House Republicans and I have filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to hear the Texas case. The election for the presidency of the United States is too important to not get right.”

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Tennessee Firearms Association Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief

The Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA) has filed an Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the matter of Jeremy Kettler v. U.S. urging the Court to hear the case on appeal from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief was filed on Feb. 19, 2019, along with the Downsize DC Foundation and the Heller Foundation. Mr. Kettler, a military veteran, has war-induced hearing damage. He bought a suppressor (inaccurately called a silencer in some news reports) to protect his hearing during target practice with his lawfully owned weapons. He purchased the suppressor under the Kansas Second Amendment Protect Act (Kansas Act). The Kansas law protects guns and gun accessories from federal regulation if they were manufactured entirely within the state of Kansas and then sold in Kansas. The suppressor purchased by Mr. Kettler met both provisions of the law. (Tennessee and eight other states have enacted similar laws.) Subsequently, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) arrested Kettler and ultimately charged him with and a federal jury convicted him of a felony for possessing an unregistered firearm. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, ruling in part that ONLY…

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Trump Administration Urges Supreme Court To Protect Cross-Shaped War Memorial

by Kevin Daley   The Trump administration filed an amicus (or “friend of the court”) brief Wednesday urging the Supreme Court to protect a 93-year-old war memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland, that is shaped like a Latin cross. The court will soon decide whether the cross-shaped World War I memorial violates the First Amendment’s ban on religious favoritism. The justices agreed to take the case on Nov. 3. [ Read the Trump administration’s brief to the Supreme Court ] The Trump administration’s brief emphasizes the need for the high court to clarify its jurisprudence concerning religious displays in the public square. Since 2005 the justices applied two different tests for assessing the constitutionality of sectarian symbols in public settings. Confusion has followed in lower federal courts as to which test should govern the so-called public display cases. That uncertainty, the government says, “encourages challenges to longstanding displays like the Memorial Cross, which in turn fosters the very religion-based divisiveness that the establishment clause seeks to avoid.” “Cases like these cannot help but divide those with sincerely held beliefs on both sides,” the brief reads. “This case presents an opportunity for the Court to adopt a standard for establishment clause challenges to…

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