Tag: Roberts, John G Jr

Woman’s Arrest After Political Dispute Prompts a Lively Supreme Court Debate

Sylvia Gonzalez, a 72-year-old city councilwoman in Castle Hill, Texas, was arrested in 2019 for misplacing a piece of paper after criticizing the city manager. The charges were soon dropped. Ms. Gonzalez resigned and sued city officials, accusing them of retaliation for exercising her First Amendment rights. But her case ran into the Supreme Court’s […]

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A Ruling for Trump on Eligibility Could Doom His Bid for Immunity

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and his colleagues seemed ready on Thursday to start to rebuild the court’s reputation by presenting themselves as unified and apolitical. He has had a bumpy ride of late, what with the leak of the decision overturning Roe v. Wade, an inconclusive investigation into that breach, a lonely concurrence […]

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Supreme Court Won’t Block Use of Race in West Point Admissions for Now

The Supreme Court declined on Friday to temporarily block race-conscious admissions at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, clearing the way for the school to continue considering race as a factor in selecting the class that will enroll in the fall. The court’s order rejected a request for emergency relief from Students for Fair […]

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Supreme Court’s Mixed Record on Overturning Precedents

It can sometimes seem that the Supreme Court is on a jurisprudential rampage that has left the legal landscape cluttered with the corpses of discarded precedents. In just the past two terms, after all, it has done away with the constitutional right to abortion and race-conscious admissions in higher education. Judging by oral arguments this […]

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‘Every Politician Has Got to Have Somebody That’s the Hit Man’

The day before the first House vote on H.B. 6, an F.B.I. agent named Blane Wetzel found himself at a Bob Evans restaurant in a Columbus suburb. Wetzel, a polite, fresh-faced man who served on the public-corruption squad, listened as the Republican lawmaker seated across from him, Dave Greenspan, explained, between sips of iced tea, […]

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Will The Supreme Court Upend How Government Works?

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in two cases inviting the justices to drastically restrict the authority of federal agencies, upend decades of precedent and take more power for themselves. At least four members of the court seem prepared to do so. The question is whether Chief Justice John Roberts or Justice Amy Coney […]

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Chief Justice Roberts Sees Promise and Danger of A.I. in the Courts

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. devoted his annual year-end report on the state of the federal judiciary, issued on Sunday, to the positive role that artificial intelligence can play in the legal system — and the threats it poses. His report did not address the Supreme Court’s rocky year, including its adoption of an […]

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How the Supreme Court May Rule on Trump’s Presidential Run

The Supreme Court, battered by ethics scandals, a dip in public confidence and questions about its legitimacy, may soon have to confront a case as consequential and bruising as Bush v. Gore, the 2000 decision that handed the presidency to George W. Bush. Until 10 days ago, the justices had settled into a relatively routine […]

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The Supreme Court’s Big Trump Test Is Here

A generation after the Supreme Court stepped into a disputed presidential election, America is experiencing a creeping sense of déjà vu. Twenty-three years ago, a bare majority of the justices halted a recount in Florida, effectively handing the presidency to George W. Bush. The specter of Bush v. Gore, the case that stands as a […]

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New Trump Cases Shadowed by Rocky Relationship With Supreme Court

“I’m not happy with the Supreme Court,” President Donald J. Trump said on Jan. 6, 2021. “They love to rule against me.” His assessment of the court, in a speech delivered outside the White House urging his supporters to march on the Capitol, had a substantial element of truth in it. Other parts of the […]

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Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to Be Memorialized in National Cathedral Service

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court and the deciding vote in some of the most hot-button issues facing the country, is expected to be honored at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday. President Biden and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. are among those who will give eulogies at the funeral […]

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Inside the Supreme Court’s Dismantling of Roe

At the Jan. 8 conference, the three liberals — Justices Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor — and the chief justice opposed hearing the case. The five other conservatives voted in favor, according to a written tally and several people familiar with the discussions. They couldn’t avoid a case like this, Justice Kavanaugh told the […]

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Why Jack Smith is Taking Trump’s Immunity Claim Straight to the Supreme Court

Jack Smith, the special counsel who has brought two cases against former President Donald J. Trump, made a bold move this week designed to undercut one of Mr. Trump’s chief defenses against accusations of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. Mr. Smith asked the Supreme Court to rule on Mr. Trump’s attempts to have the […]

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Supreme Court Leans Toward Police Officer in Job Bias Case

The Supreme Court seemed inclined on Wednesday to allow a female police officer in St. Louis to sue for employment discrimination over a forced lateral transfer to another position in the police department. A ruling for the officer would open the courthouse doors to more employment discrimination suits, but it was not clear how many. […]

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Supreme Court’s New Ethics Code Is Toothless, Experts Say

The new Supreme Court ethics code released on Monday looks good on paper, experts in legal ethics said. But only on paper. Its lack of an enforcement mechanism means that it will operate on the honor system, with individual justices deciding for themselves whether their conduct complies with the code. That makes it a parchment […]

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Trump’s Claim of ‘Absolute Immunity’ Collides With Supreme Court Precedents

Among the bold claims in the motion filed last week by former President Donald J. Trump seeking to dismiss the federal indictment accusing him of conspiring to undermine the 2020 election, there was a significant concession. The key Supreme Court precedent the motion relied on for claiming “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution, his lawyers acknowledged, […]

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The Supreme Court Is Not as Politicized as You May Think

With the start of the Supreme Court’s new term, we will see and hear much debate lavished on blockbuster cases — the controversial opinions that play an outsize role in the public’s perception of the court and that tend to split the justices, and the country, in predictably ideological ways. In recent terms, these include […]

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Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Disability Rights

The Supreme Court wrangled on Wednesday over the question of whether a disability rights activist could sue a hotel for violating a federal disability law, even if she never planned to stay there. Several justices appeared skeptical of the case itself and whether there was even a dispute to resolve. “This is like dead, dead, […]

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The Next Supreme Court Term: Guns, Free Speech and More

When the Supreme Court returns to the bench on Monday, it will face a docket filled with unfinished business. The justices will revisit issues like gun rights, government power, race and free speech even as they are shadowed by intense scrutiny of their conduct off the bench. In the coming months, moreover, the court will […]

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In Alabama, Will the Supreme Court Defend Itself and the Voting Rights Act?

A panel of three federal judges last week issued a scathing opinion directing the state of Alabama to comply with the Voting Rights Act. It was the latest development in a saga in which the state has repeatedly flouted the requirements of the Voting Rights Act and the rulings of federal courts, up to and […]

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