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☆ Supreme Court Rejects Theory That Would Have Transformed American Elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a legal theory that would have radically reshaped how federal elections are conducted by giving state legislatures largely unchecked power to set all sorts of rules for federal elections and to draw congressional maps warped by partisan gerrymandering. The vote was 6 to 3, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing the majority opinion. The Constitution, he said, “does not exempt state legislatures from the ordinary constraints imposed by state law.”Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented. The case concerned the “independent state legislature” theory. The doctrine is based on a reading of the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which says, “The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof.”Proponents of the strongest form of the theory say this means that no other organs of state government — not courts, not governors, not election administrators, not independent commissions — can alter a legislature’s actions on federal elections.

Persons: John G, Roberts, “, Clarence Thomas, Samuel A, Alito Jr, Neil M, Gorsuch, —

☆ Supreme Court Allows Unusual Pennsylvania Law on Corporate Suits
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court upheld a Pennsylvania law on Tuesday that requires corporations to consent to being sued in its courts — by anyone, for conduct anywhere — as a condition for doing business in the state. Only Pennsylvania has such a law. But the ruling may pave the way for other states to enact similar ones, giving injured consumers, workers and others more choices of where to sue and subjecting corporations to suits in courts they may view as hostile to business. The Supreme Court was split 5 to 4, with Justice Neil M. Gorsuch writing for the majority. In ruling against the corporation at the center of the case, Norfolk Southern, Justice Gorsuch rejected its argument that it was entitled “to a more favorable rule, one shielding it from suits even its employees must answer” under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Persons: Neil M, Justice Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, John G, Roberts Jr, Elena Kagan, Brett M, Kavanaugh, ” Organizations: Chief Locations: Pennsylvania, Norfolk Southern

☆ Justice Alito Defends Private Jet Travel to Luxury Fishing Trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In an extraordinary salvo in a favored forum, Justice Alito defended himself in a pre-emptive article in the opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal before the news organization ProPublica posted its account of a luxury fishing trip in 2008. His response comes as the justices face mounting scrutiny over their ethical obligations to report gifts and to recuse themselves from cases involving their benefactors. The latest revelations are sure to intensify calls for the court to adopt more stringent ethics rules. Justice Clarence Thomas has been largely silent in the face of revelations of gifts from Harlan Crow, a wealthy Republican donor. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. turned down an invitation from Congress to testify about the court’s ethics practices and made vague statements about addressing them.

Persons: Samuel A, Alito Jr, Justice Alito, ProPublica, Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crow, John G, Roberts Jr

☆ Supreme Court Rejects Voting Map That Diluted Black Voters’ Power
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court, in a surprise decision, ruled that Alabama had diluted the power of Black voters by drawing a congressional voting map with a single district in which they made up a majority. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote the majority opinion in the 5-to-4 ruling. He was joined by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and the court’s three liberal members, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Voting rights advocates had feared the decision would undermine the Voting Rights Act, which instead appeared to emerge unscathed. It simply holds that a faithful application of our precedents and a fair reading of the record before us do not bear them out here.”

Persons: John G, Roberts, Brett M, Kavanaugh, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, ” Locations: Alabama

☆ Supreme Court Gives the Voting Rights Act a Tenuous New Lease on Life
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Michael Wines | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court’s surprising decision on Thursday to effectively reaffirm the remaining powers of the 1965 Voting Rights Act has halted, at least for the foreseeable future, the slide toward irrelevance of a landmark civil rights law that reshaped American politics. In 2013, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote an opinion that effectively gutted the heart of the act, a provision that gave the Justice Department a veto over changes in election procedures in states with histories of racial bias in elections. Two years ago, an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito greatly weakened the law’s authority over polling rules that reduced the clout of minority voters. Supporters of the act expected the court to take an ax to the law’s chief remaining authority, over political maps, in the latest case, Allen v. Milligan — a suit charging that Alabama had drawn its seven congressional districts to illegally limit Black voters’ influence to a single House seat. Instead, Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority in a 5-to-4 ruling, reaffirmed the law’s authority over racially biased maps and the arcane structure of legal precedents and court tests that underpin it.

Persons: John G, Roberts, Samuel Alito, Allen, Milligan —, Justice Roberts Organizations: Justice Department, Alabama

☆ Supreme Court Rules Against Andy Warhol in Copyright Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Andy Warhol was not entitled to draw on a prominent photographer’s portrait of Prince for a series of images of the musician, limiting the scope of the fair-use defense to copyright infringement in the realm of visual art. The vote was 7 to 2. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the majority, said the photographer’s “original works, like those of other photographers, are entitled to copyright protection, even against famous artists.”In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., wrote that the decision “will stifle creativity of every sort.”“It will impede new art and music and literature,” she wrote. “It will thwart the expression of new ideas and the attainment of new knowledge. It will make our world poorer.”

☆ Senate Democrats Seek Accounting of Gifts to Thomas and Other Justices
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Carl Hulse | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He refused to take part in a recent Judiciary Committee hearing on possible new ethics rules, citing separation of powers issues. In the letter, the Democrats said the information they were seeking from Mr. Crow would help the committee correct shortcomings in the court’s current ethics and disclosure framework. “We’re seeking information on whether individuals with interests before the Supreme Court were able to gain access to Justices through gifts, lodging, and travel from Harlan Crow and his companies,” Mr. Durbin said in a tweet on Tuesday. Mr. Durbin has so far held back from threatening subpoenas to obtain information or compel testimony from the justices or others. Ms. Feinstein signed the new letter to Mr. Crow, but her unavailability could prevent the committee’s Democrats from winning approval of a subpoena, given Republican opposition.

☆ Alito Says He Has ‘Pretty Good Idea’ Who Leaked Abortion Ruling
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the author of the majority opinion that overruled Roe v. Wade last June, told The Wall Street Journal’s opinion pages that he had “a pretty good idea who is responsible” for leaking a draft of his opinion to Politico. Justice Alito added that he did not have “the level of proof that is needed to name somebody.” That echoed language in the Supreme Court’s report on its investigation of the leak, which said that “investigators have been unable to determine at this time, using a preponderance of the evidence standard, the identity of the person(s) who disclosed the draft majority opinion.”The interview, which was conducted on April 13 and published on Friday, was as interesting for its existence and forum as for its substance, which was mostly familiar. A few days before the Politico bombshell last May, an editorial in The Journal provided hints about tensions at the court that appeared to be based on inside knowledge. The editorial expressed concern that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was trying to undermine a five-justice majority by trying to persuade Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to join him in upholding a Mississippi law that banned most abortions after 15 weeks but to stop short of overruling Roe outright.

☆ The fate of a post-2008 watchdog meant to protect Americans from another financial crisis is in the hands of a conservative Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Supreme Court will take on a lower court's decision that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure is unconstitutional. CFPB was set up to prevent another 2008-like financial crisis and has cracked down on big banks and the student-loan industry. On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to take a decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in October that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) funding structure is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court won't hear the case until next term, though, meaning a final decision isn't likely until the spring of 2024. Created in 2011 under former President Barack Obama, the CFPB was intended to protect Americans from another financial crisis following the 2008 recession.

☆ Former anti-abortion leader alleges Supreme Court leaked another landmark case, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A view of the U.S. Supreme Court building on the first day of the court's new term in Washington, U.S. October 3, 2022. Schenck said the ruling was also shared with a handful of advocates, according to the report. The Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision was a victory for conservatives, much like the Supreme Court's recent 5-4 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the historic ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S. in 1973. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the court ruled that it was a violation of religious freedom for family-owned businesses to be required to pay for insurance that covers contraception. Representatives for the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts didn't immediately comment.

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