Supreme Court Report

Is designer’s refusal to create website for same-sex wedding free speech or illegal discrimination?

The case of 303 Creative v. Elenis is about whether the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act violates the First Amendment free speech rights of Lorie Smith and her wholly owned design firm.

Dec 1, 2022 3:36 PM CST

Supreme Court will consider future of Indian Child Welfare Act

The Indian Child Welfare Act faces a broad, multipronged legal attack led by the state of Texas, which along with seven individuals sued the federal government challenging various provisions of ICWA as unconstitutional. The most attention-getting is the attack on the law’s preferences for placing Native American children with family members or other tribe members.

Nov 3, 2022 10:33 AM CDT

Supreme Court will consider whether Andy Warhol’s Prince paintings violate copyright law

A copyright case going before the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 12 encompasses the avant-garde pop art of Andy Warhol, the musical genius and personal vulnerability of the performer Prince and the rarefied worlds of rock photography and glossy magazines.

Oct 6, 2022 11:30 AM CDT

Supreme Court ready to tackle free speech, affirmative action and election law in new term

The U.S. Supreme Court—and those in its orbit—has been going through the usual machinations leading up to a new term in recent weeks: Panels of law professors and practitioners are previewing the big cases of the new term, and a few justices are making public appearances to send one message or another.

Sep 29, 2022 12:36 PM CDT

Justice Amy Coney Barrett hasn’t disappointed conservative supporters—so far

Justice Amy Coney Barrett recently completed her nearly two-term tenure as the U.S. Supreme Court’s junior justice, with new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson having been sworn in on June 30. Barrett has brought more than just froth and foam to her role on the court. When it comes to her central assignment on the court—deciding cases—Barrett has been a reliable conservative vote.

Aug 18, 2022 9:58 AM CDT

Abortion ruling by Supreme Court sparks closer scrutiny of substantive due process

With the official release of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the public encountered a concurrence by Justice Clarence Thomas suggesting that high court precedents on contraception, same-sex sexual intimacy and same-sex marriage should be reconsidered. Those rights, along with the right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy that the court just struck down, were all based on the principle of substantive due process.

Jun 30, 2022 12:18 PM CDT

Supreme Court nears end of term amid conflict and discord

“What we have now is kind of a perfect storm,” says Stefanie Lindquist, a professor of law and political science at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. “The court is sort of rattled by all the political instability that we’re all experiencing writ large.”

Jun 23, 2022 10:02 AM CDT

Rare but not unprecedented Supreme Court leak considered ‘staggering’

The leak of a draft majority opinion in a pending case is “staggering,” says law professor Jonathan Peters. “It’s the most significant leak in the Supreme Court’s history, not only because of the draft’s release but also because of the current political moment (charged as it is) and the personal and social consequences of the decision itself.”

May 5, 2022 2:56 PM CDT

Supreme Court considers whether high school football coach has right to pray on the field

The case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District arrives at a U.S. Supreme Court dominated by conservatives who have shown special solicitude to religious liberty claims in recent years.

Apr 21, 2022 11:11 AM CDT

SCOTUS will consider war powers in case of ailing veteran claiming employment discrimination

Le Roy Torres’ U.S. Supreme Court case began, in a sense, thousands of miles away from his home in Corpus Christi, Texas, on a military base in Iraq during the heart of the U.S.-Iraq war.

Mar 24, 2022 9:03 AM CDT

Breyer’s befuddling hypotheticals reverberate through the halls of SCOTUS

Justice Stephen G. Breyer is retiring at the end of the Supreme Court term, but his fans are taking heart that there are still three months of oral argument left for the justice to come up with his distinctive and sometimes outlandish hypotheticals.

Feb 10, 2022 10:19 AM CST

Supreme Court will consider Christian group’s request to temporarily fly flag at Boston City Hall

The case of Shurtleff v. City of Boston, to be argued on Jan. 18, has become a bit of a big thing. It’s the latest test of religious expression to be heard by a U.S. Supreme Court that has been increasingly deferential in recent years to legal claims by religious conservatives.

Jan 13, 2022 1:16 PM CST

Roberts’ reference to memos of Blackmun on Roe v. Wade raises questions about SCOTUS justices’ private papers

The collected papers of late U.S. Supreme Court justices are typically of interest primarily to judicial biographers, legal researchers and a few journalists. On Dec. 1, during oral arguments in one of the most consequential cases of the term, a new aficionado of the genre revealed himself: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

Dec 23, 2021 8:58 AM CST

SCOTUS considers whether public tuition program for private schools can exclude religious ones

The U.S. Supreme Court’s latest case about the Constitution’s religion clauses hails from Maine, where the state has paid tuition to send some students to private schools for more than a century but for the last 40 years has limited the choices to “nonsectarian” schools.

Dec 2, 2021 10:15 AM CST

Supreme Court revisits Second Amendment with challenge to New York concealed-gun restrictions

When two residents of upstate New York sought unrestricted licenses to carry concealed weapons for self-defense outside the home, officials denied their applications under the state’s demanding standard for such permits. Those relatively routine administrative actions have teed up the most important Second Amendment case to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in more than a decade.

Oct 28, 2021 12:54 PM CDT