Democratic New York Rep. Joe Morelle announced Monday that he will file a constitutional amendment that will virtually invalidate the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.
Read the full storyTag: SCOTUS
Trump Moves to Reverse Verdict in New York Case After Historic Supreme Court Ruling
Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers moved quickly Monday night to take advantage of the Supreme Court ruling that he enjoyed immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, sending a letter notifying the judge in his New York hush money case that they intend to ask to set aside the verdict reached by a jury last month, according to multiple sources.
Read the full storySupreme Court Rules Trump Has Absolute Immunity for Some Official Acts, But Not Unofficial Ones
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that former President Donald Trump is immune from federal prosecution for official acts he took while in office in split 6-3 ruling. However, the court ruled that there is no immunity for unofficial acts.
Read the full storyCommentary: SCOTUS Rulings, Biden-Trump Debate Shake Up Political Landscape
What a week it’s been! We started off with Justice Amy Souter Barrett writing the SCOTUS ruling in Murthy v. Missouri. At issue was whether it was okay for the federal government (the FBI and related elements of the American Stasi) to pressure social media and data-hoovering companies (Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.) to suppress opinions they didn’t like about things like COVID, the 2020 election, and the Jan 6 jamboree at the Capitol.
Read the full storyMean Speech Not Protected at Public Universities, Appeals Courts Rule
Faculty at public universities in nine states may have fewer speech protections than they assume following federal appeals court rulings against professors on the political right and left who were punished for perceived lack of collegiality – strong words short of harassment.
But a private university has egg on its face after taking seven months to allegedly clear a professor of wrongdoing for telling anti-Israel campus protesters they are “ignorant” and “Hamas are murderers,” despite having immediate access to both viral video and its own surveillance.
Read the full storyGeorgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett: ‘Frustrating’ How Supreme Court Rules Inconsistently on Standing
Randy Barnett, the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, said the U.S. Supreme Court’s inconsistent rulings on standing are “frustrating,” especially amid the court’s Wednesday’s ruling in Murthy v. Missouri.
Read the full storySupreme Court Makes It Harder to Charge Jan. 6 Rioters with Obstruction, Same Charge Trump Faces
A Supreme Court ruling on Friday limits the scope of obstruction charges against Jan. 6, 2021 rioters, which is the same charge former President Trump faces in his 2020 election interference case.
Read the full storySupreme Court Overturns Chevron Decision, Curtailing Federal Agencies’ Power
The Supreme Court on Friday overturned a landmark decision that gave federal agencies broad regulatory power.
Read the full storyMichael Patrick Leahy on SCOTUS Decision to Take Up Case Challenging Tennessee Law Banning Transgender Surgery for Minors: ‘Transgender Youth is a Creation of the Left’
Michael Patrick Leahy, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star, reacted to Monday’s announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court that it would hear arguments and rule on whether a Tennessee law that bans “gender-affirming care” on minors violates the Constitution.
Read the full storyTennessee AG Skrmetti ‘Looks Forward’ to Defending State Law Banning Transgender Surgery for Minors in the Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court announced it will hear arguments and rule on whether a Tennessee law that bans “gender-affirming care” on minors – including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and sex-change surgeries – violates the Constitution.
Read the full storySupreme Court to Take Up State Bans on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors
The Supreme Court on Monday agreeing Monday to hear an appeal from the Biden administration seeking to block state bans on gender-affirming care.
Read the full storyTrump, Censorship and Abortion: The Final Big Rulings SCOTUS Is Expected to Release This Week
The Supreme Court is expected to release all of its remaining decisions by the end of the week.
Opinions coming down the line include decisions on former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity appeal, an abortion case from Idaho and a consequential challenge to the Biden administration’s censorship efforts. The next opinion day is scheduled for Wednesday.
Read the full storyCrom Carmichael: The Left is Attempting to Turn the Supreme Court into a ‘Rubber Stamp’ for Its Agenda
Crom Carmichael and Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star, said lawmakers and entities on the Left are attempting to discredit the U.S. Supreme Court as the nation’s highest court hands down decisions in cases that the Left strongly disagrees with.
“There’s a lot of effort now by the left to try to discredit certain Supreme Court justices individually and then to also discredit the Supreme Court as an institution. The left will elevate the Supreme Court institutionally back when the Supreme Court rubber stamps what the left wants. Right now, they’re not getting what they want so now they are attacking individual Supreme Court justices for tiny things,” Carmichael explained on Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Read the full storyArizona Republican Party Joins Two Other State GOPs Filing an Amicus Curiae Brief in Kari Lake’s and Mark Finchem’s Voting Machine Tabulator Lawsuit
The Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) submitted a joint Amicus Curiae brief on Thursday with the Georgia Republican Party and the Republican State Committee of Delaware supporting Kari Lake’s and Mark Finchem’s Petition for Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. The pair are appealing the lower courts’ decisions against their lawsuit challenging the use of electronic voting machine tabulators in elections. Under the new leadership of AZGOP Chair Gina Swoboda, who has a lengthy history in election integrity work including heading the Voter Reference Foundation, the AZGOP is heavily focused on election integrity.
Authored by attorney William J. Olson, the brief argues that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals erred by dismissing the case claiming Lake and Finchem lacked standing. The court affirmed the trial court’s granting of the defendants’ motion to dismiss, asserting that the pair lacked standing because “speculative allegations that voting machines may be hackable are insufficient to establish an injury in fact under Article III.” The complaint emphasized that the lower courts “conflated standing with merits, twisting the standing rules to require much more — that the complaint prove facts sufficient to grant relief.”
Read the full storyConservatives Hope Supreme Court’s Initial Ruling on Texas Immigration Law Inspires Other States
A preliminary Supreme Court ruling that allowed Texas to begin enforcing a state law empowering local police to arrest and deport illegal aliens if the federal government doesn’t should inspire other states to follow suit, prominent conservatives tell Just the News.
Read the full storyFormer Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark Explains How SCOTUS Colorado Ruling Will Protect Potential Trump Administration
Jeff Clark, former acting assistant attorney general during the Trump administration, said the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. Anderson, which restores former President Donald Trump’s name on the Colorado ballot, will also protect a future Trump administration from a “whole bunch of Section 3 litigation in 2025.”
Clark said in addition to the unanimous 9-0 decision in the case, five of the Supreme Court justices went on to “decide another set of issues” in regards to states’ enforcement of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to regulate federal candidates.
Read the full storySupreme Court Rules: Trump Can Remain on Ballot
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that former President Donald Trump can remain on the 2024 presidential ballot in a decision that comes one day before the Colorado Republican primary after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the top Republican contender is ineligible.
Read the full storySupreme Court to Hear Arguments on Trump Criminal Immunity Claims
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear arguments over former President Donald Trump’s immunity claims in special counsel Jack Smith’s D.C. election case.
Read the full storyTennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn Speaks Outside Supreme Court in Support of Former President Trump
Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined Alabama U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) in delivering remarks outside of the Supreme Court on Thursday as the court heard oral arguments on whether former President Donald Trump should be removed from Colorado’s primary ballot under the 14th Amendment.
Read the full storySupreme Court Justice Roberts Urges ‘Caution,’ Predicts AI Will ‘Significantly’ Impact Legal Field
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is urging the cautious use of artificial intelligence, and he predicts it will “significantly” impact the legal field.
Read the full storyJulie Kelly Commentary: Lower Courts Dare SCOTUS to Act with Lawless Rulings, But Will They?
Throughout 2020, both Republicans and Democrats warned that the U.S. Supreme Court would ultimately determine the winner of the presidential election — albeit for different reasons.
Democrats feared a conservative majority would uphold what they called “voter suppression” laws to tighten voting requirements that might benefit President Trump. Republicans worried how the court would handle cases related to lax absentee voting measures enacted as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that gave Joe Biden a big advantage.
Read the full storyMinnesota Woman Denied Unemployment After Refusing Vaccine Asks SCOTUS to Review Case
A Minnesota woman who was fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine and then denied unemployment benefits has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case, arguing that her First Amendment rights were violated.
“Religious belief is intimate and differs substantially among Americans. The promise of religious liberty in the First Amendment is that such differences may persist without punishment from the state. That promise is being broken in Minnesota,” James Dickey, senior counsel for the Upper Midwest Law Center, said in a petition filed with the court Monday.
Read the full storyCommentary: Is SCOTUS Poised to Overturn Key J6 Felony Count?
An order published by the Supreme Court on December 13 represented a moment hundreds of January 6 defendants and their loved ones had been waiting for: the highest court granted a writ of certiorari petition in the case of Fischer v. USA.
In a nutshell, after more than two years of litigation before federal judges in Washington, SCOTUS will review the Department of Justice’s use of 1512(c)(2), obstruction of an official proceeding, in January 6 cases. A “splintered” 2-1 appellate court ruling issued in April just barely endorsed the DOJ’s unprecedented interpretation of the statute, passed in 2002 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the aftermath of the Enron/Arthur Anderson accounting scandal.
Read the full storyOhio U.S. Senator JD Vance Introduces Bill to Ensure Universities Comply with the Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Ruling
U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) introduced a bill to ensure colleges and universities comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
In June, SCOTUS determined that affirmative action violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, overruling a 2003 opinion that race could be a determining factor in the college admissions process.
Read the full storyLiberal ‘Dark Money’ Groups Gave Millions to SCOTUS Watchdogs Targeting Alito, Thomas, Docs Show
Nonprofit organizations managed by the liberal “dark money” consulting firm Arabella Advisors gave millions of dollars to “nonpartisan” Supreme Court watchdogs, new documents show, after a campaign was launched earlier this year targeting conservative Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito for not fully disclosing their finances.
Former Clinton appointee Eric Kessler founded Arabella Advisors in 2005, and its subsidiaries include the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Hopewell Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Windward Fund and the North Fund.
Read the full storyCorporate America Slowly Backs Away from ‘Diversity’ Language in Wake of Supreme Court Decision
American businesses have been moving away from using diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) language in the workplace after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in June, according to Bloomberg Law.
Read the full storyMontana AG Asks SCOTUS to Take Up Case Challenging State Agency That Encouraged Social Media Censorship
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen asked the Supreme Court Friday to hear a case that challenges a state agency’s efforts to police election-related “misinformation” on Twitter.
A group of nine attorneys general led by Knudsen filed an amicus brief Friday urging the Supreme Court to hear O’Handley v. Weber, a lawsuit challenging the California Secretary of State’s Office of Election Cybersecurity’s practice of flagging “false or misleading” election information for removal by Twitter. The states call the agency’s actions an “anathema” to the First Amendment and argue they reflect similar conduct occurring at the federal level.
Read the full storySupreme Court Will Take on Red Flag Law
The Supreme Court will hear a case this coming term challenging a federal “Red Flag” law that prohibits individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms, which is expected to shape the future of Second Amendment law.
Zackey Rahimi, the individual at the center of the case, was involved in five shootings between December 2020 and January 2021, in one instance firing shots into the air after his friend’s credit card was declined at a Whataburger, according to court documents. When police obtained a warrant to search his home, they found him in possession of a firearm, a violation of a civil protective order entered against him in February 2020 for allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
Read the full storyCensorship Case Involving State Collusion with Social Media Companies Could Be Heard by the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court could hear a case questioning a California agency’s coordination with Twitter to censor election-related “misinformation.”
O’Handley v. Weber, which concerns the California Secretary of State’s Office of Election Cybersecurity’s work with Twitter to monitor “false or misleading” election information, was appealed to the Supreme Court on June 8. The case raises questions similar to those posed in the free speech lawsuit Missouri v. Biden, now being appealed in the Fifth Circuit: Can the government lawfully induce private actors to censor protected speech?
Read the full storyCatholic Counselor Asks SCOTUS to Reverse Decision Allowing States to Limit Speech Outside Abortion Clinics
A Catholic sidewalk counselor petitioned the Supreme Court Friday to reverse a prior ruling that permits states to enforce laws targeting pro-life counseling outside abortion clinics.
In response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2020, Westchester County, New York passed a law creating a 100-foot “buffer zone” outside abortion clinics where it is illegal to approach another person to engage in “oral protest, education, or counseling” without consent. The law is similar to one the Supreme Court upheld in its 2000 Hill v. Colorado decision, which sidewalk counselor Debra Vitagliano, backed by Becket Law, now asks the justices to overrule.
Read the full storyUniversity of Minnesota Axes Legacy Admissions After SCOTUS Block of Affirmative Action
The University of Minnesota is ditching legacy admissions, a mechanism by which children of alumni get preferential treatment within the admissions process, following a Supreme Court ruling that blocked the use of race-based affirmative action policies, a university spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Supreme Court ruled in June that Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s affirmative action admissions policies were unconstitutional. In light of the ruling, the University of Minnesota decided it will no longer consider race, ethnicity, legacy or employment in its admissions process, a university spokesperson told the DCNF.
Read the full storyOhio College Employees Could Be Held ‘Personally Liable’ for Violating Affirmative Action Ban: Attorney General
Ohio higher education employees “will face personal risk” if they violate the Supreme Court ban on considering race during admissions, state Attorney General Dave Yost wrote in a recent letter.
His office won’t be able to protect public colleges and universities if they act counter to the ruling, Yost wrote, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Read the full storyCommentary: SCOTUS Affirmative Action Decision Ignores Elephant in the Room
Growing up in the Jim Crow South, my parents grew up dreaming of a world where they didn’t have to use “colored-only” restrooms, sit in the back of the bus, attend segregated schools, and could sit in restaurants together with other Americans – regardless of their race, creed, or nationality.
They dreamed of equality for all. Yet, almost 70 years after the Supreme Court struck down “separate but equal,” the recent decision to strike down affirmative action makes it clear that many black progressives like Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson – who benefited from the Brown v. Board of Education decision – still view the issues of race and equality through rose-colored glasses.
Read the full storySCOTUS to Take Up Second Amendment Case Next Term
After issuing a string of conservative rulings this week to close out the term, the Supreme Court will hear a key Second Amendment case later this year to determine whether a federal ban on gun possession affecting those under domestic violence restraining orders is constitutional.
At issue is a dispute involving Zackey Rahimi, whom Texas placed under a restraining order due to a violent altercation with his girlfriend, The Hill reported. He subsequently faced federal charges of possessing a firearm while under the order. He had challenged the constitutionality of the ban but pleaded guilty after losing the case.
Read the full storyTennessee Congressional Members Respond to SCOTUS Ruling on Biden Administration’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program
Several Tennessee U.S. lawmakers reacted in social media statements Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision to strike down the Biden administration’s proposal to unilaterally cancel hundreds of billions in student loan debt.
Read the full storyVivek Ramaswamy Reacts to SCOTUS Ruling on Biden Administration’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy released a video statement Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s proposal to unilaterally cancel hundreds of billions in student loan debt.
Read the full storyTennessee GOP Congressional Members React to SCOTUS’ Affirmative Action Ruling
Republican members of Tennessee’s Congressional Delegation applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) decision to strike down affirmative action in college admissions via two cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina.
Read the full storyNew Hampshire Democrats ‘No Comment’ on SCOTUS Racial Preferences Ruling
Across the country, Democrats reacted swiftly — and angrily– to Thursday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down Harvard and the University of North Carolina’s race-based admissions systems. Justices found they violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Writing for the six-member majority, Chief Justice John Roberts noted race was the determinative factor for a “significant percentage” of Black and Hispanic applicants accepted by Harvard, with a similar admissions process used at UNC. Under its affirmative-action system, well-qualified Black applicants were 4 to 10 times as likely to be admitted to Harvard than similarly qualified Asian Americans, Roberts noted.
Read the full storyLawsuit Against Virginia Tech Bias Response Team May Land Before Supreme Court
A recent federal court ruling siding with Virginia Tech’s bias response team has prompted center-right watchdogs to call for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case to protect free speech in higher education.
The controversy centers on a 2021 complaint from Speech First, a nonprofit committed to safeguarding freedom of speech on college campuses, which argued Virginia Tech’s Bias Intervention and Response Team policies and procedures infringe on students’ ability to speak freely about controversial issues.
Read the full storyWhite House Quietly Prepares Back Up Plan If SCOTUS Strikes Down Student Loan Giveaway: Report
The Biden administration is quietly preparing for the possibility that the Supreme Court will strike down its controversial student loan forgiveness plan later in June, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The White House’s public position is that it expects the court to uphold the debt cancellation package, but several administration officials have conveyed private doubts about its prospects of survival upon review, according to the report. Behind the scenes, administration officials are exploring various legal and communications strategies to pursue in the event that the Supreme Court eventually overturns the signature Biden policy, according to the report.
Read the full storyKari Lake Announces Ballot Chasing Operation in Arizona, Plans to Go to SCOTUS with Election Case
Former GOP Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake announces the launch of a ballot chasing operation in Arizona. “We are officially launching the largest, most extensive ballot chasing operation in our state’s history and frankly, possibly in American history,” Lake said during a press conference. “The courts just ruled that this corrupt election will stand. The courts just ruled that our elections can run lawlessly. The courts have ruled that anything goes. Well, we can play by those same rules.”
Read the full storyLeft-Wing SCOTUS Justice Took $3 Million from Book Publisher, Didn’t Recuse Herself from Cases
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a left-wing justice nominated by Barack Obama, repeatedly refused to recuse herself from cases involving the publishing company that paid her millions to publish her own books.
According to the Daily Wire, Sotomayor was paid $3.1 million by Penguin Random House over the course of two years; in 2010, she was paid $1.2 million by Knopf Doubleday Group, part of Random House’s conglomerate, and then received two separate advance payments in 2012, which amounted to $1.9 million when combined. These payments have made Penguin Random House her single largest source of income.
Read the full storyCounseling Ban Promotes Gender Identity as Religion, Censors Science, Diverse Critics Tell SCOTUS
First Amendment speech protections may be circumscribed for therapists and medical professionals in the American West, critics warn, unless the Supreme Court scrutinizes a Washington law prohibiting any “regime that seeks to change” a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Christian doctors, pro-life pregnancy centers, pediatricians, gender-critical feminists and a dozen states led by Idaho filed friend-of-the-court briefs last week urging the justices to review the so-called conversion law, warning it prevents providers from sharing research on the harms of hormonal and surgical procedures for gender-confused minors.
Read the full storyArizona Legislative Leaders Continue Fight Against Federal Vaccine Mandates
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) announced Wednesday that he, along with House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria), filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to halt any enforcement of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“We will not allow President Biden to blatantly undermine the will of the Arizona State Legislature in the protections we’ve provided for our citizens to prevent a COVID-19 vaccine mandate from dictating employment opportunities,” said President Petersen. “The Biden Administration has made it clear that they are against any Americans who push back against this vaccine and will abuse their powers in order to force compliance as a stipulation of doing business with the federal government.”
Read the full storySupreme Court Declines to Hear Energy Companies’ Appeals to Climate Damage Lawsuits
The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear local governments’ climate damage lawsuits against energy companies on Monday.
The companies, who localities want to hold financially accountable for burning fossil fuels they allege damaged the climate, appealed their cases to the Supreme Court, asking it to weigh in on whether the claims should be heard in state or federal courts. The Court’s decision benefits the environmental activists behind the lawsuits, who prefer the matter to play out in state courts, where judges may be more inclined to rule in their favor, experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Read the full storySCOTUS Justice Alito Halts Limits on Abortion Pill Access, Blocking Lower Court Rulings
Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito on Friday blocked lower court rulings that curtailed access to mifepristone while the court weighs a request from the Biden administration to defend the drug in court. The administration hopes to defend the drug’s approval in court in the face of a legal challenge from anti-abortion groups that had brought the initial suit, Reuters reported. Alito’s order asks both sides to submit arguments by Tuesday on whether the limits from the appeals court should take effect, pending litigation, the Associated Press reported.
Read the full storyREVIEW: New Book ‘Rise to Greatness’ Explores How a Kid from Queens Became One of History’s Most Influential Supreme Court Justices
Antonin Scalia was a budding textualist long before he transformed the Supreme Court, and the nation, with his unique legal approach, a new biography of his early life reveals.
In the 1950s, the future Supreme Court Justice spent his mornings on the New York subway, commuting with his rifle to Xavier High School, a hybrid Jesuit-run Catholic school and military academy in Manhattan. His teacher’s response one day to a student’s sarcastic comment about “Hamlet” became a moment Scalia would never forget — and would refer to for the rest of his life as the Shakespeare Principle: “Mistah, when you read Shakespeah, Shakespeah’s not on trial; you ah,” Father Thomas Matthews said.
Read the full storyTea Party Patriot Action’s Jenny Beth Martin: SCOTUS Likely Will Rule Biden Does Not Have Legal Authority to Forgive Student Loans
Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed chairman of the Tea Party Patriots Action, Jenny Beth Martin to the newsmaker line to discuss today’s SCOTUS hearing which will address the power of the executive branch in regards to Biden’s student loan forgiveness program.
Read the full storyTennessee’s Skrmetti Among 33 Attorneys General Urging Supreme Court to Uphold Whistleblower Law
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is leading 33 states attorneys general in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a pair of lower court rulings that could have broad implications for whistleblowers, and the government’s ability to go after public fraud.
In a 15-page legal brief, Tong and the other AGs are calling on justices to uphold a pair of federal whistleblower lawsuits accusing pharmacy operators of over billing government health insurance programs for prescription drugs.
Read the full storyCatholic Churches Have Suffered 118 Attacks Since SCOTUS Dobbs Leak
A recent report found that Catholic churches have suffered 118 attacks since the leak of the Supreme Court draft majority opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center in May 2022.
Churches and pregnancy centers across the United States came under attack after the opinion was leaked to Politico, indicating that the Supreme Court intended to overturn Roe v. Wade. CatholicVote (CV) updated its tracker Sunday that keeps track of assaults on Catholic Churches and found that 118 churches had reported attacks since May 2022.
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