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…
The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday paved the way for Donald J. Trump to appear on the state’s primary ballot, a victory for the former president in a battleground state. The state’s top court upheld an appeals court decision that found that the former president could appear on the ballot despite questions about his eligibility…
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, lay in repose on Monday in the court building where she served for decades, often as the ideological center, making her one of the most powerful women in America. The Supreme Court justices, former law clerks and the public gathered on a blustery morning…
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…
The Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it would decide on the availability of a commonly used abortion pill, the first major case involving abortion on its docket since it overturned the constitutional right to an abortion more than a year ago. The move sets up a high-stakes fight over the drug, mifepristone, that could…
The Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday over which drug offenses trigger mandatory 15-year sentences under the Armed Career Criminal Act, which is a kind of federal three-strikes law. The justices had three choices. By the end of the arguments, most of them seemed to have settled on a middle ground. The law imposes the…
The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday in a legal challenge that could undo one of the most aggressive gerrymanders of legislative districts in the country, and open the door for a radical shift in political power in the state, where Republicans now have a strong grip on the State Legislature. The…
Georgia’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s prohibition of abortion Tuesday, rejecting arguments made by doctors and advocacy groups that the law was unconstitutional when the state legislature approved it in 2019, more than three years before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The ruling means that abortion remains banned in the state, with…
We say that the Supreme Court decides cases, but that is not correct. It picks isolated questions to answer, often choosing among ones proposed by the parties or writing ones of its own. That practice adds a disturbing element of politics to the judicial process, said Benjamin B. Johnson, a law professor at the University…
The Maryland Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments on Thursday morning in the long-running case of Adnan Syed, the subject of the podcast “Serial” who has spent more than 23 years fighting charges that he killed his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. The state’s high court is considering whether the Baltimore City Circuit…