Tag: Supreme Court

Harvard Facing New Civil Rights Complaints After Affirmative Action Ruling

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Following a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court effectively ending the practice of race-based preferences in college admissions, Harvard University is facing new civil rights challenges over its practice of legacy admissions.

As reported by The Hill, the Ivy League university is now facing complaints from the Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), a left-wing group representing black and Hispanic groups based in the New England area. LCR’s complaint claims that “each year, Harvard College grants special preference in its admissions process to hundreds of mostly White students — not because of anything they have accomplished, but rather solely because of who their relatives are.”

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Judge Orders Biden Administration to Limit Contact with Social Media Platforms

Just the News

A Louisiana federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Biden administration to limit its contact with social media platforms, determining that the government likely violated the First Amendment by working to censor disfavored political viewpoints online. Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointed U.S. District Court judge, issued a preliminary injunction barring federal officials and agencies from contacting social media firms to seek the removal of protected speech, Politico reported.

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Florida’s First Lady, Republican Presidential Hopefuls Mike Pence and Doug Burgum Campaign in Iowa This Week

M.D. Kittle

Florida’s first lady is scheduled to launch her “Mamas for DeSantis” effort as she campaigns Thursday in Iowa for her husband and Republican presidential hopeful Governor Ron DeSantis.

Casey DeSantis’ stop is part of a busy Fourth of July holiday week for presidential campaigns in the Hawkeye State, with former Vice President Mike Pence and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum returning to Iowa, as well. 

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U.S. Supreme Court Again Vacates Judgement Against Oregon Bakers

The Center Square
Aaron and Melissa Klein

For the second time, the U.S. Supreme Court has vacated a lower court decision against a Christian couple in Oregon who were punished for not making a cake for a same-sex wedding.

In an orders list release Friday, the nation’s highest court vacated the decision against Aaron and Melissa Klein in their ongoing litigation with the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries.

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Supreme Court Expands Degree to Which Businesses Must Accommodate Religious Workers

The Center Square

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday to expand the degree to which businesses have to accommodate workers for religious purposes.

In the case, Groff v. DeJoy, Postmaster General, the court found that postman Gerald Groff, an evangelical Christian, should not have been disciplined for refusing to work on Sundays for religious reasons. The majority opinion cited Title VII’s requirement to accommodate employees for religious purposes provided it does not cause the employer “undue hardship.”

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Supreme Court Ban on Affirmative Action Expected to Prompt ‘Workarounds’ to Favor Some Races

Just the News

Two decades ago, the Supreme Court purportedly put limits on racial preferences in college admissions: no stereotyping of minority viewpoints or policies that “unduly harm” non-minorities, plus a 25-year ticking clock to wind them down.

Not only is there “no end in sight” to race-conscious admissions with five years left, but selective colleges can’t even explain how courts would evaluate the constitutionality of their programs under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, casting a pall over the use of race in settings far beyond higher education.

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Supreme Court Strikes Down Biden’s Multibillion Dollar Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

Just the News

In a landmark ruling with implications for the 2024 election, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Friday that the Biden administration does not have the authority to unilaterally cancel hundreds of billions in student loan debt. The ruling was a major rebuke of President Joe Biden’s political efforts to court young voters with large college debts, and sets a fresh battle ahead of the next presidential election. It also was the latest of several major court rulings that chided the administration for trying to impose regulatory powers that Congress did not give the executive branch.

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SCOTUS Holds Law Making It Illegal to ‘Encourage or Induce’ Illegal Immigration Does Not Violate First Amendment

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The Supreme Court upheld a law that makes it a crime to “encourage or induce” illegal immigration, rejecting the argument that it violates the First Amendment.

The case, United States v. Hansen, stems from Helaman Hansen’s 2017 conviction for running a program advertising a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants through “adult adoption,” which earned him more $1.8 million between 2012 and 2016. Though it affirmed Hansen’s convictions on mail and wire fraud charges, the Ninth Circuit held that the law behind his two counts of encouraging or inducing non-citizens to reside in the United States for financial gain was “overbroad and unconstitutional,” covering “a substantial amount of speech protected by the First Amendment.”

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Supreme Court Sides with Biden Admin on Immigration Enforcement Plan

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The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration Friday, ruling 8-1 against two states that challenged its immigration enforcement priorities.

Texas and Louisiana challenged guidelines issued by the Department of Homeland Security in 2021 that prioritized arresting and removing certain groups of illegal immigrants, including suspected terrorists and criminals. The Supreme Court held Friday that the two states lack standing to challenge the guidelines, noting that the states “have not cited any precedent, history, or tradition of courts ordering the Executive Branch to change its arrest or prosecution policies so that the Executive Branch makes more arrests or initiates more prosecutions.”

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Commentary: The Supreme Court’s Ruling on Race-Based Redistricting Is a Real Head-Scratcher

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Chief Justice John Roberts made a major error in judgment last week in rejecting the State of Alabama’s 2022 congressional redistricting plan in Allen v. Milligan, an error that, as dissenting Justice Samuel Alito says, puts the Voting Rights Act “on a perilous and unfortunate path.”

Joined by the three liberal justices and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Roberts, writing for the majority, approved race being the driving factor in drawing up the boundary lines of political districts, while glibly denying he was doing that. That violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

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Pollsters Shift Five House Seats Toward Dems After SCOTUS Ruling

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The Cook Political Report updated the ratings of five House races across several states in 2024 on Thursday, shifting them towards Democrats after the Supreme Court ruled against Alabama’s redistricting plan.

The Court struck down Alabama’s GOP-drawn Congressional map for the 2022 midterm elections on Thursday, ruling in Allen v. Milligan that the was racially discriminatory and diluted African-American voting strength in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The decision’s implications mean that more House seats in Alabama are likely to be competitive in the 2024 election, with the Cook Political Report reflecting those changes in its ratings.

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Half of Americans Oppose Race-Based Admissions at Elite Colleges Ahead of SCOTUS Ruling: Poll

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Ahead of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of affirmative action in universities’ admissions process, 50% of Americans are opposed to the race-based method, according to a Thursday Pew Research poll.

Approximately 74% of Republicans disapprove of the use of affirmative action while 29% of Democrats also disapprove of the race-based admissions process, according to a Pew Research poll. In October, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for two lawsuits which will decide whether Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s use of race-based admission policies is constitutional.

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Supreme Court Strikes Down GOP-Drawn Alabama Congressional Map in Support of Voting Rights Act

Just the News

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down an Alabama congressional district map drawn by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature in a decision that the Court’s majority says upholds the Voting Rights Act. 

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with the court’s three liberals in the 5-4 ruling against Alabama. State officials will now have to redraw the congressional map to correctly reflect that the state is 27% black.

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Beacon Center Hires Renowned Attorney to Lead Legal Efforts

Peter D'Abrosca

The Beacon Center of Tennessee announced Thursday that it has hired Wen Fa, a nationally renowned attorney, as its Director of Legal Affairs. 

“Fa joins Beacon from the Pacific Legal Foundation, where he served as a senior attorney in PLF’s equality and opportunity program,” according to a press release. “Fa led the expansion of PLF’s equality project by litigating numerous cases and securing important victories for farmers and entrepreneurs fighting for economic opportunity and against racial discrimination.”

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Supreme Court Rolls Back Biden EPA’s Expansive Water Regulation

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The Supreme Court rolled back the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate under the Clean Water Act (CWA) in a unanimous decision Thursday.

Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, brought by a couple prevented by the EPA from building a home on their own land near Priest Lake, Idaho because it contained wetlands, considered the scope of the agency’s “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, which defines what “navigable waters” can be regulated under the CWA. Plaintiffs Chantell and Mike Sackett, who have spent 15 years fighting the agency’s rule in court, allege the EPA has overstepped the authority it was granted when Congress enacted the CWA in 1972—forcing them to stop construction on their land or face fines.

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Trump Vows to Reduce Abortions Through Incentivized Adoptions

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump says his remaking of the Supreme Court helped overturn Roe v Wade and gave pro-life activists “the upper hand” in fighting abortion, and if he returns to the White House he will focus on reducing abortions by incentivizing adoptions.

“I think it’s very important that if I win, and I hope I’m going to win, we’re winning by a lot right now, we’ll be pressing the adoption option,” Trump said in a wide-ranging interview Monday night with Just the News, No Noise television show on the opening night of the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) convention in Orlando, Fla.

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Supreme Court Shields Tech Companies from Liability for Terrorist Content

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The Supreme Court unanimously sided with tech companies Thursday in two cases that charged them with “aiding and abetting” terrorism, declining to address a heated question on the extent of immunity granted to social media platforms for content hosted on their website.

Justice Clarence Thomas authored the majority opinion in Twitter v. Taamneh, a lawsuit brought by the family of a Jordanian citizen, Nawras Alassaf, who was killed in the January 2017 ISIS attack at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey. Thomas wrote that “plaintiffs’ allegations are insufficient to establish that these defendants aided and abetted ISIS in carrying out the relevant attack.”

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Universities Seek Ways to Skirt the Supreme Court’s Likely Ban on Race-Based Admissions

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Universities are searching for ways to maintain racial quotas ahead of a likely Supreme Court decision blocking affirmative action.

With the Supreme Court soon to issue a ruling in a pair of cases questioning the constitutionality of affirmative action, which multiple justices appeared ready to rule against during oral arguments, universities are developing plans to maintain the current racial composition of their student bodies without explicitly using racial preferences in the admissions process. Schools have floated ideas such as making testing optional, giving greater weight to students’ socio-economic backgrounds and recruiting based on geographic area.

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Supreme Court Upholds California Law, Rejects Challenge Brought by Pork Industry

The Center Square

“Products may be marketed as free range, wild caught, or graded by quality (prime, choice, select, and beyond). The pork products at issue here, too, sometimes come with “antibiotic-free” and “crate-free” labels…Much of this product differentiation reflects consumer demand, informed by individual taste, health, or moral considerations. Informed by similar concerns, States (and their predecessors) have long enacted laws aimed at protecting animal welfare.” 

This is the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in Thursday’s  ruling which upheld a California law banning the sale of pork products in California that didn’t meet the state’s requirements. 

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Bipartisan Ohio State Lawmakers Introduce Adoption Reform Legislation

Hannah Poling

A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill to modernize and streamline the adoption process across the state.

House Bill (HB) 5, known as The Adoption Modernization Act, sponsored by State Representatives Sharon Ray (R-Wadsworth) and Rachel Baker (D-Cincinnati), aims to provide financial support for expecting mothers, expedite kinship care, and clarify Ohio law to help streamline the adoption process.

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Pennsylvania House Committee Passes Forced-Unionism Amendment

Bradley Vasoli

A bill to enshrine union coercion in the Pennsylvania Constitution passed the state House Labor and Industry Committee 12-9 on Monday. 

The measure, identical to an Illinois constitutional amendment that Prairie State voters narrowly ratified last autumn, would prevent adoption of a “right-to-work” law saying nonunion workers can’t be forced to pay union dues. More broadly, the amendment would counteract statutes that check the power of labor organizations and, opponents fear, give public-sector union contracts primacy over state law. 

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Appeals Court Guts Religious Accommodations for Teachers That SCOTUS May Soon Strengthen: Lawyers

Just the News

A week before the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could force employers to more freely grant religious accommodations, a federal appeals court determined that calling all students by their last names for the sake of religious conscience was a fireable offense.

A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this month that Indiana’s Brownsburg Community Schools Corp. had a “legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason” for firing music teacher John Kluge: He caused “emotional harm” and disrupted the learning environment by not addressing transgender students by preferred names and pronouns.

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Republican Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Calls for ‘Consensus’ on Abortion

M.D. Kittle

In a major speech Tuesday before one of the nation’s most prominent pro-life groups, former South Carolina governor and Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley said Americans must find consensus on abortion law. 

Haley didn’t offer specifics on precisely what “consensus” means to her in terms of policy, although she did say the federal government has a role to play in the post-Roe v. Wade world of life, liberty and abortion. 

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Cosponsor Admits Bill Forces Pennsylvania Doctors to Practice ‘Gender-Affirming’ Medicine

Bradley Vasoli

On Monday, a legislative committee passed a bill a cosponsor admits would force Pennsylvania physicians to provide treatments meant to mask a gender-dysphoric person’s biological sex.

A measure supporters call the “Fairness Act” and tout as an anti-discrimination bill passed the Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee on a 12-9 party-line vote. In a speech defending the bill, cosponsoring Representative Emily Kinkead (D-Bellevue) confirmed assertions by the legislation’s opponents that it would compel doctors to deliver “gender-affirming” medicine. 

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Ohio Pro-Life Group Responds to Rep. Sykes’ Legislation Penalizing Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers

Hannah Poling

An Ohio Pro-Life group, Ohio Right to Life, responded on Friday to a piece of legislation introduced by U.S. Congresswoman Emilia Sykes (D-OH-13) that aims to penalize pro-life pregnancy resource centers while encouraging more violence and vandalism towards them.

On Thursday, Sykes introduced the Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation (SAD) Act which directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “prohibit unfair or deceptive advertising related to the provision of abortion services and authorizes the FTC to enforce these rules and collect penalties from organizations in violation.”

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Supreme Court Maintains Broad Access to Abortion Pill, Pending Litigation

Just the News

The Supreme Court on Friday opted to preserve access to mifepristone while a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug makes its way through the courts. The Biden administration and mifepristone manufacturer Danco Laboratories had appealed to the court for relief. The court did not decide on the merits of the case, which will continue through the court system, the Associated Press reported.

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Trump Asks NRA Members for Their Votes to End the Radical, Gun Control Left’s Reign

M.D. Kittle

Reminding gun owners what he did for the protection of the Second Amendment and pledging to do much more, former President Donald Trump closed the National Rifle Association’s main event Friday with a stemwinder that brought the crowd to its feet. 

In a full-on campaign speech, the Republican presidential frontrunner told those assembled at the NRA-Institute for Legislative Action Leadership Forum that he was running for another term to right the ship listing from “nation-wrecking, globalist marxists, RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and tyrants.” 

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DOJ to Ask Supreme Court to Intervene in Abortion Pills Case

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the Texas abortion pills case, it announced Thursday.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said Thursday that the DOJ “strongly disagrees with the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA.” On Wednesday night, the Fifth Circuit granted in part the government’s emergency motion for a stay pending appeal on a federal judge’s decision to suspend U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the abortion pill, allowing the suspension on relaxed rules introduced by the FDA after 2016 to stand.

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Commentary: Gov. Bill Lee Calls for Red Flag Type Law Despite United States Supreme Court’s Mandate

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On April 11, 2023, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee made public statements calling for expanded “new” orders of protection and also calling for the passage of Red Flag laws in Tennessee. His comments are clear evidence that he either has not read the United States Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen or that, if he did read it, he chooses to disregard it.

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Pennsylvania Leadership Conference Poll: Election Integrity Conservatives’ Foremost Concern

Bradley Vasoli

At the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference this weekend, a straw poll of right-leaning activists from across the Keystone State found election integrity tops their public concerns. 

Cybersecurity Association of Pennsylvania President Scott R. Davis, who administered the survey, told attendees at the Penn Harris Hotel west of Harrisburg that 38 percent of those who voted called election integrity the foremost issue facing the state General Assembly. Trailing that topic were the state budget (28 percent) and gun laws (six percent). Eleven percent chose another issue. 

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DNA from Trashed Burrito Leads to Arrest of Man in Connection with Firebombing of Wisconsin Pro-Life Center

M.D. Kittle

A half-eaten burrito led to the arrest of a Madison man in connection with the Mother’s Day 2022 firebombing of the Wisconsin Family Action headquarters building. 

Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, has been charged with one count of attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Madison. 

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Supreme Court Rules Deaf Michigan Student Can Sue School for Damages

The Center Square

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a deaf former student can pursue monetary damages against a Michigan school district that allegedly failed to provide an adequate education. 

Nine-year-old Miguel Perez, the plaintiff, left Mexico with his family and enrolled at Sturgis Public School District in 2004. Perez was assigned to a classroom aide and was never given a sign language interpreter – only aides who were either unqualified or absent.

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House Bill Would Block Biden’s Student Loan Bailout

M.D. Kittle

While the constitutionality of President Joe Biden’s student loan bailout is awaiting a Supreme Court decision, a bill re-introduced by two House members would block the Biden administration from canceling student loan debt on a mass scale. 

The Student Loan Accountability Act, authored by U.S. Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) and Drew Ferguson (R-GA-03) would also prevent forgiven loans from getting an additional tax break and it would bar the Internal Revenue Service from sharing American’s tax information for the purpose of implementing mass loan cancelation. 

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Commentary: Student Debt Forgiveness Won’t Cure Higher Education’s Ills

RealClearWire

On February 28th, the Supreme Court heard arguments on President Biden’s plan to extinguish an estimated $400 billion in student debt. Biden deserves credit for highlighting a debilitating federal program in desperate need of reform. His proposal, however, would make the problem far worse, not better. Any serious reform would force academic institutions to take some responsibility for the education they provide—and to show some responsibility to the many young Americans they induce to go deeply into debt. 

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Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Janet Protasiewicz Set a Very Violent Felon Free

M.D. Kittle

Aliyah Perez “brought an abundance of love, laughter and light to the world,” the 26-year-old woman’s family wrote in her obituary. Perez, the niece of Milwaukee Common Council President Jose Perez was found dead near 26th St. and Clayton Crest Ave.  on Sunday, Feb 26 — a victim of domestic abuse, her family said. 

But the young woman might very well be alive today had liberal Milwaukee County judge and Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz not set Perez’s killer free. 

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Ohio Think Tank Asks Court to Let States Deal with Water Pollution

Bradley Vasoli

On Friday, a Columbus, Ohio-based think tank submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court asking justices to allow states to enforce against water pollution, pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). 

The 1972 law set up a permitting system for corporate or infrastructural projects that result in the discharge of pollutant materials into rivers, streams or other bodies of water. Under the act, states may undertake their own permitting programs. But last July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a ruling that South Carolina’s program is not strong enough to supersede the federal permit process and therefore citizen lawsuits can effectively nullify the state program. 

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Supreme Court Justices Raise Concerns About Biden’s Ability to Forgive Student Debt

The Center Square

 The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a legal challenge to President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt.

Biden announced in August of last year that his administration would “forgive” $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 per year or $250,000 for married couples. Debtors who borrowed money before July 1 can qualify. 

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Big Tech Faces Potential Reckoning at Supreme Court

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On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a landmark case that could see every major social media platform become liable for harmful content on their websites, changing the game forever when it comes to legal protections for such companies.

As reported by Politico, the case Gonzalez v. Google is centered around the family of a woman who was killed in the Paris terrorist attacks in November of 2015. Her family claims that the video-sharing platform YouTube, which is owned by Google, should be held liable for allowing pro-ISIS propaganda videos to be hosted on the site, which the family claims helped radicalize one of the attackers.

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Gov. Shapiro Emboldens Pennsylvania Death Penalty Abolitionists

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro’s recent declaration that he will sign no death warrants is emboldening lawmakers who want to abolish executions in the Keystone State. 

To that end, state Representative Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia) is circulating a memorandum asking colleagues to cosponsor a measure he plans to offer ending the state’s death penalty. 

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Supreme Court Cancels Arguments for Health Measure Limiting Illegal Immigration

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Illegal Immigrants arrested at the southern border

The Supreme Court has removed arguments from its calendar for a highly anticipated case on Title 42, a COVID-19 public health measure allowing Border Patrol to quickly expel some illegal aliens. The case was going to be heard March 1.   

The Supreme Court announced Thursday that the case had been removed from its argument calendar. The high court did not provide an explanation as to why the justices would no longer hear arguments for the case, but it seems likely related to the Biden administration’s plan to officially end the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11.

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Commentary: After Affirmative Action

RealClearWire

The betting odds are that the Supreme Court will soon rule against affirmative action. It is worth asking how we got here, and what we should do about it.

Why is affirmative action in jeopardy? The main reason, ironically, might be the increasing ethnic diversity of the United States. In 1960, the U.S. was roughly 88% white and 12% black. The census category “Hispanic” did not yet exist. Similarly, the U.S. did not have a separate “Asian” category for the less than one million Americans from various nations in Asia, though the 1960 census had separate boxes for some, but not all, Asian countries. Today the U.S. is 61% white and dropping. Among American children, the white/nonwhite population is rapidly approaching 50-50.

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Biden Administration to End Title 42 in May

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On Tuesday, the Biden Administration told the Supreme Court that it still fully intends to end the Title 42 public health rule that heavily limited immigration during the presidency of Donald Trump.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar revealed in a filing to the court that the administration will formally allow Title 42 to expire in May, around the same time the White House will let the nationwide public health emergency status over COVID-19 end as well.

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Abortion Fund of Ohio Launches Program to Help Minors Get Abortions Without Parental Consent

Hannah Poling

The Abortion Fund of Ohio (AFO) launched the “Legal Access Program” on February 3rd that will undermine parental rights in Ohio. This program aims to help minors get abortions without parental consent in addition to provide free legal guidance, case management, and link patients with pro bono attorneys.

An unemancipated minor in Ohio under 18 years old may not obtain an abortion unless one of her parents or her guardian has given written consent or she obtains a court order known as a judicial bypass, in which case the judge authorizes the procedure. The Legal Access Program is Ohio’s first judicial bypass program.

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