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☆ Early divisions signal bitter internal conflicts as Supreme Court turns toward final decisions
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( John Fritze | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Even as the court is sometimes finding wider-than-expected majorities for relatively limited outcomes, the nine justices are regularly in conflict over the meaning of decisions. A number of lower-profile cases have also sparked deep doctrinal divisions, even when the final vote count is lopsided. “It does seem, at least anecdotally, unusual to have this many separate opinions in cases with relatively lower stakes,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law. The Supreme Court earlier this month tossed out an appeal from anti-abortion doctors challenging expanded access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Among them, Justice Sonia Sotomayor slammed the court’s majority opinion for its reliance on history to decide the trademark dispute.

Persons: ”, Steve Vladeck, “, dinged, councilwoman, Brett Kavanaugh, ” Kavanaugh, Donald Trump, Jack Smith’s, yank Trump, Trump, Amy Coney Barrett, Samuel Alito, Kavanaugh, ” Barrett, Aziz Huq, Huq, Moore, John Roberts ’, hasn't, Neil Gorsuch chimed, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, ” Alito, Clarence Thomas, Alito, it’s, Sylvia Gonzalez, Florida GOP Sen, Marco Rubio, Sonia Sotomayor Organizations: CNN, University of Texas School of Law, Trump, Capitol, University of Chicago, New York, Police, Florida GOP, Republican Locations: Moore, Texas, Trump, concurrences

☆ The Supreme Court’s approach on ‘history and tradition’ is irking Amy Coney Barrett
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-19 | by ( Devan Cole | John Fritze | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Though Justice Clarence Thomas’ decision in a major trademark case last week was unanimous, it prompted a sharp debate led by Justice Amy Coney Barrett over the use of history to decide the case. “There definitely is the potential formation here of an alternative or several alternative approaches to history that ultimately draw a majority,” Wolf said. “What we could be seeing is a more nuanced approach to using that history,” said Elizabeth Wydra, president of the progressive Constitutional Accountability Center. But in a striking concurrence that captured support from both liberal and conservative justices, Justice Elena Kagan asserted that the court’s historic analysis need not end with the late-18th century. Barrett’s concurrence said the dispute could have been dealt with based on the court’s past precedent with trademark law and stressed that just leaning on the nation’s trademark history wasn’t good enough.

Persons: Clarence Thomas ’, Amy Coney Barrett, Barrett, Thomas, “, ”, Tom Wolf, Brennan, ” Wolf, Trump, Thomas ’, Antonin Scalia, Elizabeth Wydra, ” Wydra, Ilya Somin, there’s, Bruen, Sonia Sotomayor, … Bruen, –, Elena Kagan, Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Sotomayor –, Wolf, Roe, Wade, Vidal, . Elster, Sotomayor, ” Thomas, Kavanaugh, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Barrett’s Organizations: Washington CNN, Brennan Center for Justice, New York, Trump, George Mason University, “, Inc, CNN, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Locations: New, Bruen, United States

☆ Alito says he's sure Congress wanted to ban a rapid-fire gun device, but overturns the rule anyway
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( Paul Squire | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewThere's "little doubt," Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito wrote, that Congress would have considered bump stocks akin to a machine gun. AdvertisementThe Supreme Court on Friday struck down the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rule that classified bump stocks as "machine guns." He argued it had been too broad in interpreting firearms law and that Congress never explicitly meant to ban bump stocks, challenging the law on statutory grounds, not Second Amendment protections. "A bump stock does not convert a semi-automatic rifle into a machinegun any more than a shooter with a lightning-fast trigger finger does," Thomas wrote. AdvertisementBut Alito said Congress needs to be explicit that it wants to ban bump stocks, too, by amending the law or passing a new one.

Persons: —, Samuel Alito, Alito, Trump, Michael Cargill, Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, it'll Organizations: Service, Las, Business, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, ATF Locations: Austin , Texas, Las Vegas

☆ Supreme Court strikes down Trump-era ban on bump stocks
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( John Fritze | Devan Cole | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Bump stocks allow a shooter to convert a semi-automatic rifle into a weapon that can fire at a rate of hundreds of rounds a minute. The federal rule made possession of a bump stock a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Both the Trump and Biden administrations, as well as gun control groups, said the way bump stocks work mean they qualify as machine guns. Trump described bump stocks at the time as converting “legal weapons into illegal machines.”ATF estimated that as many as 520,000 bump stocks were sold between 2010 and 2018. “Without this ongoing manual input, a semiautomatic rifle with a bump stock will not fire multiple shots.

Persons: Donald Trump, Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, Trump, ” Thomas, Michael Cargill, Sotomayor, “, ” Sotomayor, Sandy Hook, Capone, Al Capone, John Dillinger, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, ensnare, you’re, ” Kavanaugh, Biden, “ That’s, Thomas Organizations: CNN, Supreme, Trump, Biden, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, ATF, Democratic, Republican, Court, US, Justice Department, Cargill, National Rifle Association Locations: Las Vegas, Texas, New York

☆ The Supreme Court Rejected the Ban on Bump Stocks
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( Justin Porter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court today struck down a ban on bump stocks, which enable semiautomatic rifles to fire rapidly like machine guns. The ban was enacted by the Trump administration after a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. The decision, by a vote of 6 to 3, split along ideological lines. Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissent along with two other judges, saying the decision “puts machine guns back in civilian hands.” President Biden urged Congress to act to ban the device. The man who challenged the bump stock ban, a gun shop owner in Texas, said that the ruling was a broader victory for gun rights and that it would make it easier to challenge future attempts by the A.T.F.

Persons: Trump, Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, ”, Biden Organizations: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives Locations: Las Vegas, Texas

☆ Opinion | Civil Liberties Make for Strange Bedfellows
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last Thursday, Sonia Sotomayor helped protect the country from Donald Trump, and she did it in an unexpected way — by defending the National Rifle Association. Attempts to target the free speech of political opponents are often the first sign of a decline into authoritarianism. It is the right which they first of all strike down.”That’s exactly right, and that’s why Sonia Sotomayor’s opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court upholding the free speech rights of the N.R.A. against a hostile attack from a Democratic official in New York has ramifications well beyond New York politics and well beyond the battle over gun rights. By upholding the free speech rights of the N.R.A., the Supreme Court reinforced the constitutional wall of protection against vengeful government leaders, including Trump.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor, Donald Trump, Frederick Douglass, “, ”, Sonia Sotomayor’s Organizations: National Rifle Association, Democratic, Trump Locations: Boston, New York

☆ Supreme Court Clears Way for N.R.A. to Pursue First Amendment Challenge
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-30 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | More About Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court sided with the National Rifle Association on Thursday, saying it could pursue a First Amendment claim against a New York state official who had encouraged companies to stop doing business with it after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla.Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for a unanimous court, found that the N.R.A. had plausibly claimed a violation of the First Amendment, sending the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York, for further proceedings. The N.R.A., in asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, cited what it described as the enormous regulatory power of the state official, Maria T. Vullo, a former superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services. A court decision siding with Ms. Vullo, the group warned, would open the door to government officials making similar pleas about hot-button issues like abortion and the environment. Ms. Vullo, in court filings, has pushed back again the N.R.A.’s allegations that she undermined the First Amendment.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor, Maria T, Vullo Organizations: National Rifle Association, U.S ., Appeals, Second Circuit, New York State Department of Financial Services Locations: New York, Parkland, Fla

☆ Biden pledges to name progressives to the Supreme Court, suggesting he expects vacancies
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Kevin Liptak | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —President Joe Biden promised Black voters Wednesday that he would appoint progressives to the US Supreme Court if elected to a second term, suggesting he expects vacancies on the high court over the next four years. The ideological makeup of the court has emerged as one of the defining facets of American political power. Breyer announced his retirement in January 2022, allowing Biden to fulfill a campaign pledge to nominate a Black woman to the court, Ketanji Brown Jackson. Instead, he consulted the justice on lower court nominations as a way to cultivate a degree of comfort with the process. “Many presidents never get the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice.

Persons: Joe Biden, “, they’re, we’ve, ”, Biden, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, —, Wade, Stephen Breyer, Breyer, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Don McGahn, Anthony Kennedy, Obama, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Trump, Amy Coney Barrett, we’ll Organizations: CNN, Black, Wednesday, Republican, Committee, Liberal, White, Trump, “, Liberty Locations: Philadelphia, Roe

☆ Opinion | Can the Supreme Court’s Liberals Reclaim Judicial Restraint?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Linda Greenhouse | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court’s recent rescue of an important federal agency from the hands of a hostile lower court was an exercise in the evolving definition of originalism. A mechanism that the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit deemed unconstitutional was clearly known to and accepted by the Constitution’s framers, Justice Thomas concluded. Justice Elena Kagan wrote a concurring opinion to say that while the old history was enlightening and adequate to support the agency’s constitutionality, modern practice supported it as well. “All the flexibility and diversity evident in the founding period,” she wrote, has “continued unabated” when it comes to financing government operations. Notably, two of the court’s conservatives, Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, in addition to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined Justice Kagan’s endorsement of the significance of later, even contemporary, practice when interpreting the Constitution.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Elena Kagan, ”, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Kagan’s, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch Organizations: Consumer Financial, United States, Appeals, Fifth Circuit

☆ Justice Sotomayor Describes Frustration With Being a Liberal on the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Some days, after Justice Sonia Sotomayor listens to the Supreme Court announce its decisions, she goes into her chambers, shuts the door and weeps. “There are days that I’ve come to my office after an announcement of a case and closed my door and cried,” Justice Sotomayor told a crowd on Friday at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, where she was being honored. And there are likely to be more.”The comments about the challenges of being a liberal on a court dominated by conservatives came at the tail end of a public conversation with her friend and law school classmate, Martha Minow, a former dean of Harvard Law School and human rights scholar. The justice set a tone of optimism even as she voiced frustration with some of the court’s rulings, a possible signal that the end of the term, when the most high-profile decisions typically land, could bring more conservative victories. She urged a long-term view of pushing for the values she views as guiding principles — equality, diversity and justice.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor, I’ve, ”, Sotomayor, Martha Minow Organizations: Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Harvard Law School

☆ Tired, testy and fractured: The Supreme Court prepares for more drama
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Joan Biskupic | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

CNN —As Supreme Court justices try to resolve more than a dozen major cases over the next month, including whether Donald Trump must stand trial for election subversion, they appear mired in antagonism and distrust. Conservatives, who indeed hold the upper hand on the 6-3 court, nonetheless spike their writing and remarks with derision for the left. When the court majority allowed Louisiana state officials to use a map with a second majority-Black congressional district (over the protest of a GOP-backed group of White voters), the three liberals dissented. (A lower US court had referred to it as the “bleaching of African American voters” from the district.) Dissenting liberals emphasized that the decision reversing the lower court undercut a 2017 Supreme Court ruling, Cooper v. Harris, issued before the far-right majority took hold.

Persons: Donald Trump, Samuel Alito, Alito, Elena Kagan, Clarence Thomas, Ketanji Brown Jackson, John Roberts, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Sonia Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson, Blacks, Purcell, ’, Amy Coney Barrett, “, ” Barrett, Roberts, ” They, Bush, Feedback Kavanaugh, Gore, Cooper, Harris, ” Kagan, ” Alito, Joe Biden’s, Biden, Martha, Ann, ”, Alito tersely, Kagan’s, Edwin Kneedler, ” Roberts, Kneedler, Joshua Turner, Sotomayor, ” Sotomayor, Turner, interjected Organizations: CNN, Trump, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Liberal, GOP, White voters, Congress, Gore, South, American, Capitol, New York Times, US Justice Department Locations: America, Colorado, South Carolina, Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, New Jersey, American, Alito’s, Jersey, Grants Pass , Oregon, Idaho, The Idaho

☆ Republican senators defend Alito over second controversial flag
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Manu Raju | Morgan Rimmer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Top Republican senators are defending Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito as the conservative justice became embroiled in a second flag controversy, even as some Democrats call for Alito to recuse himself from key matters pending before the high court. “I just think Democrats are determined to harass members of the Supreme Court. So obviously, they don’t like Justice Alito or the decisions he makes,” he told CNN. Several prominent Republican senators criticized Alito over the upside-down flag. “I think the question is how many MAGA battle flags does the Supreme Court justice have to fly until the rest of the court takes it seriously?” he asked.

Persons: Samuel Alito, Alito, Donald Trump, Sen, John Cornyn, “, Sotomayor, Kagan, ”, Clarence Thomas, —, GOP Sen, Chuck Grassley, Sonia Sotomayor, “ I’m, ’, Grassley, Trump, Joe Biden’s, –, Thom Tillis, I’m, you’re, ” Tillis, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Bill Cassidy, Cassidy, Sheldon Whitehouse, MAGA, Hakeem Jeffries, ” Jeffries, Katherine Clark, Alito’s, ” Clark, CNN’s Haley Talbot, Annie Grayer Organizations: CNN, Top Republican, Capitol, Committee, GOP, “, Supreme, New York Times, Times, Senate, Democratic, Democrat, United States Supreme Locations: New Jersey

☆ Biden’s EPA is trying to take a huge bite out of the climate crisis. But can it survive Trump’s Supreme Court?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Ella Nilsen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Bottom row, from left, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Top row, from left, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. And environmental attorneys are intrigued by Barrett, who has had some tough questions for EPA’s challengers during recent Supreme Court arguments. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA can use its authority to regulate greenhouse gases. That gives the agency the recent Congressional direction the Supreme Court has said it so badly needs, some experts said.

Persons: Joe Biden’s, Richard Lazarus, “, Michael Regan, ” “, ” Regan, Regan’s, ” Lazarus, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Gorsuch, Alito, ” David Doniger, “ Alito –, ”, Reagan, Anne Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Ketanji Brown Jackson, J, Scott Applewhite, Amy Coney Barrett –, Roberts, Barrett, Kavanaugh, Sackett, “ He’s, he’s, doesn’t, Ann Carlson, ” Carlson, ” Doniger Organizations: CNN, Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency, Harvard Law, EPA, Republican, Natural Resources Defense Council, Chevron, DC, Appeals, DC Circuit, University of California, Biden, Congress Locations: China, United, Virginia, University of California Los Angeles, West Virginia, Congress

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters in Washington, D.C., on May 14, 2021. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is legal. The court in a 7-2 decision rejected an argument that the CFPB's funding method violated the U.S. Constitution's Appropriations Clause because Congress had not annually authorized money for the agency. Instead, Congress authorized the CFPB to draw funding from the Federal Reserve system that the agency's director deems necessary for its work. The majority's ruling reversed a decision by the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which found the CFPB's funding mechanism was unconstitutional.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thomas, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Thursday's, Alito groused Organizations: Consumer Financial, Washington , D.C, Federal Reserve, Federal, System, 5th Circuit U.S, of Appeals, Community Financial Services Association of America, Consumer Service Alliance of Texas Locations: Washington ,

☆ Supreme Court, for Now, Allows Louisiana Voting Map to Move Forward
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily reinstated a congressional map in Louisiana that includes a second majority-Black district, increasing the likelihood that Democrats could gain a House seat from the state in the November election. The order was unsigned, as is the Supreme Court’s custom in ruling on emergency applications. It came in response to a challenge to a lower-court decision that had blocked the map drawn by Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature, deeming it a racial gerrymander. The justices said that their decision would remain in effect pending an appeal or a ruling by the Supreme Court. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan did not explain their reasoning, but Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a dissent, wrote that she believed the court had intervened too soon.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson Organizations: Louisiana’s Republican, Supreme Locations: Louisiana, Black

☆ How Justice Amy Coney Barrett drove the Supreme Court’s debate on abortion and Trump immunity
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( John Fritze | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Barrett pins Trump down on his absolute immunity argumentsAs the second-least senior justice, Barrett sits at the far end of the Supreme Court’s mahogany bench. That was a notable break from earlier arguments Trump submitted that called for “absolute” immunity on a much wider scale of acts. A party turns to a private attorney, Barrett hypothesized, “who was willing to spread knowingly false claims of election fraud” to spearhead his challenges to an election. That appeared to be a reference to former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, identified by CNN as “co-conspirator 1” in Smith’s indictment. “This is where someone like Justice Barrett gets to pressure test an advocate’s points,” she said.

Persons: John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett, ”, Donald Trump, Barrett, Trump’s, Trump, Roe, Wade, “ We’ve, Steve Vladeck, “, Jack Smith’s, John Sauer, –, Sauer, Smith, Rudy Giuliani, ” Barrett, ” Sauer, Michael Dreeben, ” Dreeben, Ilya Somin, ” Somin, ” ‘, Sonia Sotomayor, quizzing, Biden, Sotomayor, Josh Turner, Turner, I’m, ” Turner, ” Barrett interjected, ’ ”, Beth Brinkmann, litigator Organizations: CNN, Center for Reproductive Rights, University of Texas School of Law, Trump, George Mason University Locations: Idaho

Trump himself has continued to lobby for absolute immunity, including before his appearance at a New York court where he’s on trial for business fraud. Dreeben told Barrett that the indictment against Trump is substantially about private conduct, meaning that a trial could proceed even if the Supreme Court finds some immunity for Trump’s official actions. Liberal justices weren’t impressed with Trump’s absolute immunity claimsIt was pretty clear where the court’s three liberals will be when the opinion lands. With arguments over, focus shifts to timing for decisionThe arguments about Trump’s immunity claim are over. In the immunity case, the court already helped Trump by denying the special counsel request last December to leapfrog the appeals court and resolve the question quickly.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Jack Smith carte, Trump, John Roberts, Roberts, didn’t, he’s, ” Roberts, skeptically, ” Trump, John Sauer, Sauer, Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Elena Kagan, Brad Raffensperger, Raffensperger, ”, Justice Barrett, Barrett –, Barrett, Smith, ” Barrett, Michael Dreeben, Dreeben, weren’t, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Kagan, “, that’s, ” Kagan, Jackson, ” Jackson, “ I’m, Alito, they’d, ” Alito, ’, Ty Cobb, Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, Richard Nixon, Gore, Katelyn Polantz, Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand Organizations: CNN, Trump, Appeals, DC Circuit, Georgia, Republican National Committee, Arizona, Justice Department, Trump isn’t Locations: New York, Arizona, Michigan , Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Washington

It's unclear when the Supreme Court will release its decision on Trump's claims. Trump's trial was supposed to have begun last month, but depending on how the Supreme Court rules in this case, it could be delayed past the election. As of now, Trump's Manhattan hush-money trial is his only criminal trial to have started. Trump could not attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court due to the New York trial, in which he stands charged with 34 counts of business fraud related to hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. Their ruling could have sweeping effects on the future of the presidency, particularly if they accept some of Trump's argument that a Nixon-era Supreme Court decision on civil immunity applies to criminal charges as well.

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Sonia Sotomayor, D, John Sauer, Sauer, Saur, Sotomayor interjected, he's, Sotomayer, Jack Smith, Trump, Stormy Daniels, Smith, Nixon, Joe Biden Organizations: Service, Business, Trump Locations: Manhattan, York

Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Joshua Turner, the lawyer for the state of Idaho, about specific, real-life scenarios where pregnant people required emergency abortions. Later, she returned to the hospital, Sotomayor said, and received an abortion "because she was about to die." Pregnancy can be dangerous, particularly in the United States, which has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the developed world. About 10% to 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage and many don’t require medical intervention, but some may require treatment using the same procedure used in an abortion. Miscarriages can put someone’s life at risk because of serious blood loss or infection if the miscarriage is not complete.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor, Joshua Turner, Sotomayor Organizations: American College of Obstetricians, American Locations: Idaho, Florida, United States

☆ Takeaways from the Supreme Court’s oral arguments over emergency abortions
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Tierney Sneed | John Fritze | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The court’s far-right wing, perhaps in an attempt to keep those two justices on their side, framed the case as a federal overreach into state power. Turner, Idaho’s attorney, shot back that mental health could essentially open a loophole. Conservatives have long opposed allowing exceptions to strict abortion bans for mental health. Justice Samuel Alito, a fellow conservative, picked up on that same theme, repeatedly pressing Prelogar to explain whether the Justice Department views mental health as a way around Idaho’s abortion ban. That is exactly the kind of political influence that the Supreme Court, especially under Roberts, has generally tried to avoid.

Persons: Biden, Elizabeth Prelogar, Roe, Wade, Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett, Prelogar, ” Prelogar, “, Roberts, Barrett –, Barrett, teed, Joshua Turner, Sonia Sotomayor, Turner, Elena Kagan, ’, Alito, CNN Sotomayor, ”, Clarence Thomas, EMTALA, Neil Gorsuch, ‘, Samuel Alito, ” Alito, –, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Trump, – Gorsuch, Kavanaugh Organizations: CNN, Justice, Labor, Liberal, Republican, Supreme, Department, Wade, Idaho, energizing Democratic, Food and Drug Administration, GOP Locations: Idaho, Wisconsin

☆ Opinion: Shaking off the Trump effect
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-21 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. CNN —“We are most deeply asleep at the switch,” wrote Annie Dillard, “when we fancy we control any switches at all. When the Senate voted to send new aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan two months ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson took no action. With the help of Democrats, the House approved aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on Saturday. Writing for CNN Opinion, he emphasized that there are legal principles that require universities to prohibit expressions of antisemitism.

Persons: CNN —, ”, Annie Dillard, “, time’s, —, Mike Johnson, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Trump, Biden, Sleepy Joe ”, Israel, Johnson, MAGA, Julian Zelizer, Walt Handelsman, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s, Kevin McCarthy’s, Clay Jones, Fareed Zakaria, Alejandro Mayorkas, “ Biden, ” Zakaria, Bill Clinton, ” Trump, Jack Ohman, Agency Donald Trump’s, dozed, Elliot Williams, Patrick T, Brown, …, ‘, ’, Attorney Alvin Bragg, ” Will, Jeffrey Abramson, ” “, Norm Eisen, Stormy Daniels, ” Eisen, Michael Cohen, Elie Honig, Frida Ghitis, Benjamin Netanyahu, ” Lisa Benson, GoComics.com Peter Bergen, Daniel R, DePetris, Dean Obeidallah, Susanne DeWitt, ” David Schizer, ” Schizer, Danielle Campoamor, Caitlin Clark, Simone Biles, Campoamor, Latika Bourke, John Howard, Justin J, Pearson, Winston Churchill, Holly Thomas, Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak’s, It’s, ” Thomas, YouGov, ” Don’t, Drew Sheneman, Agency David M, Perry, Frankie de la, Angel Reese, Roy Schwartz, Joni Mitchell —, Raul A, Reyes, Sonia Sotomayor, Jules Boykoff, Jaime M, Valiathan, Ed Manning, Sara Stewart, Noah Berlatsky, Taylor Swift Amy Bass, Taylor Swift, Swift, Department ”, ” Bass, “ Swift, Joe, Alwyn, Diana, they’re, Clara Bow, Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith — Organizations: CNN, Republicans, MAGA Republicans, Agency, Congress, Biden, Homeland, National Guard, ‘, Manhattan, Attorney, New York Democrats, Twitter, Facebook, New York Times, Trump, Berkeley, Nazism, Columbia, Nike, Team USA, Sydney, Port, Conservative, Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, Central Press, Hulton, National Health Service, WNBA, Ungentlemanly, Department Locations: Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, Manhattan, Iran, Russia, China, ‘, New, CNN Iran, “ Israel, Gaza, Israeli, Damascus, Iraq, America, Dearborn, Nazi Germany, Berkeley , California, Berkeley, East Bay, Sydney, Port Arthur, Tennessee, Surrey, Croydon, Quebec, Britain, Vancouver, London, Welsh

The high court’s ruling could also affect the federal election subversion criminal case pending against former President Donald Trump, who was also charged with the obstruction crime. The law, Justice Elena Kagan said, could have been written by Congress to limit its prohibition to evidence tampering. Unless the court rules broadly in a way that undermines the charge entirely, the case against Trump may still stick even if Fischer wins his case. The Fischer case has prompted some liberal critics of the court to demand that Thomas recuse himself. “There have been many violent protests that have interfered with proceedings,” Thomas asked Prelogar, pressing on a theme he returned to repeatedly during the arguments.

Persons: Critics, ”, Donald Trump, Joseph Fischer, Trump, “, Fischer, Brett Kavanaugh, Elizabeth Prelogar, John Roberts, ’ ” Roberts, it’s, Prelogar, Kavanaugh, ‘, ” Prelogar, Neil Gorsuch, Jamaal Bowman, Bowman, Samuel Alito, ” Alito, rioter, Elena Kagan, ” Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Jeffrey Green, Jackson, Jack Smith, Department’s, Smith, Clarence Thomas, Thomas, That’s, Thomas ’, Ginni Thomas, ” Thomas, “ I’m Organizations: CNN, Justice Department, Justice, Capitol, Court, Department, Riot, ”, New York Democrat, House, Hamas, Trump Locations: Pennsylvania, Gaza, Virginia, DC, Colorado, ”

☆ Supreme Court Justices Say They Get Along. Should We Care? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Linda Greenhouse | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court is hurting. I can say that with confidence — not based on any inside information but on the external evidence of how hard some of the justices are working to show that everyone on the court really does get along. The retired justice Stephen Breyer, on the talk circuit for his new book on constitutional interpretation, has been making the same point. I’m reminded of the last time the court made a concerted effort to assure the public that all was well. It was during the weeks that followed the ruling that clinched the 2000 presidential election for George W. Bush.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor, “, Amy Coney Barrett, Stephen Breyer, George W, Bush, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Organizations: National Governors Association, George Washington University, Times Locations: Gore, Australia

☆ Not even AOC is calling for Sonia Sotomayor to retire
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewIn recent weeks, progressive figures have grown louder in calling for Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor to consider resigning from the Supreme Court. Advertisement"I'm not in favor of telling people when they should retire," said Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. AdvertisementHanging over the discussion is the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in 2020 just months before the end of the Trump administration. Advertisement"Taking into account what happened to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I get it," said Rep. Jimmy Gomez of California. "Ruth Bader Ginsburg was ill. We knew she had cancer.

Persons: —, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who's, Ro Khanna, Ilhan Omar, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez, Sotomayor, Donald Trump, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Trump, Ginsburg, Obama, Amy Coney Barrett, Roe, Wade, Democratic Sen, Richard Blumenthal, Jimmy Gomez, Dolores Huerta, Gomez, Ginsburg —, I'm, Justice Ginsburg, Chuy Garcia, Dean Phillips, Minnesota —, Joe Biden, Phillips Organizations: Service, Justice, Latina, Democratic, California, Business, Huffington, Senate, NBC News, Democrat Locations: Ilhan Omar of, Alexandria, Cortez of New York, —, Jimmy Gomez of California, Illinois

☆ Opinion | Stephen Breyer: The Supreme Court I Served On Was Made Up of Friends
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Stephen Breyer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Recently, the Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Amy Coney Barrett spoke together publicly about how members of the court speak civilly to one another while disagreeing, sometimes vigorously, about the law. Considerable disagreements on professional matters among the Supreme Court justices, important as they are, remain professional, not personal. They found some, and Justice Ginsburg wore them ever after. At about the same time, Justice O’Connor reminded me that our chief justice, William Rehnquist, had decided that he, too, needed something distinctive on his black robe. Justice O’Connor found at a European bookstall a picture of Lorenzo de’ Medici wearing similar stripes.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor, Amy Coney Barrett, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Ginsburg, O’Connor, William Rehnquist, Gilbert, Sullivan’s, ”, Lorenzo de ’ Medici

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