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☆ Supreme Court: John Roberts can't get an ethics code. Samuel Alito's interview shows why
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Joan Biskupic | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —When the Supreme Court left for its summer recess in June, the justices were at a stalemate on adopting a formal ethics code. Chief Justice John Roberts has been seeking unanimity among the nine justices for firm ethics standards, CNN has learned, but such agreement has eluded him. He told the WSJ writers that he was speaking out to defend himself and the Supreme Court because “nobody else” would. “Even assuming that trip is somehow relevant to present concerns about Supreme Court ethics, the connection is highly attenuated, focused on ‘an object remote’ from purported ‘legitimate concerns’ about ethics standards,” Rivkin wrote. A separate Associated Press investigation recently focused on liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s use of Supreme Court staff to coordinate and promote the sale of her books.

Persons: John Roberts, Samuel Alito’s, Alito, “, ”, ” Alito, David B, Rivkin Jr, Rivkin, Leonard Leo, Brett Kavanaugh, Leo, – Alito, Paul Singer, Singer, ” Rivkin, Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crow, Crow, Thomas ’, Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor’s, ’, Roberts, Sen, Murphy, Democratic Sen, Chris Murphy, ” Murphy Organizations: CNN, Democratic, Supreme, WSJ, Republicans, Wall Street Journal, Federalist Society, Democrats, Republican, Associated Press, Congress, House, CNN’s Locations: Alaska, Georgia, CNN’s “ State, Connecticut

Only three months into Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s first Supreme Court term, she announced a book deal negotiated by the same powerhouse lawyer who represented the Obamas and James Patterson. The deal was worth about $3 million, according to people familiar with the agreement, and made Justice Jackson the latest Supreme Court justice to parlay her fame into a big book contract. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch had made $650,000 for a book of essays and personal reflections on the role of judges, while Justice Amy Coney Barrett received a $2 million advance for her forthcoming book about keeping personal feelings out of judicial rulings. Those newer justices joined two of their more senior colleagues, Justices Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor, in securing payments that eclipse their government salaries. In recent months reports by ProPublica, The New York Times and others have highlighted a lack of transparency at the Supreme Court, as well as the absence of a binding ethics code for the justices.

Persons: Ketanji Brown Jackson’s, James Patterson, Jackson, Neil M, Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, ProPublica, Thomas’s, Justice Samuel A, Alito Jr, John G, Roberts Organizations: The New York Times, Supreme, Republican Locations: The

Corporate execs and lawyers with business before the Supreme Court mingled with some of the country's most influential jurists. Revelations about Thomas and Crow's relationship have prompted calls in Congress for the Supreme Court to adopt its first-ever binding code of ethics. But as a Supreme Court justice, Kagan is not currently bound by those rules. The Aspen Institute isn't alone in dangling Supreme Court access to lure deep-pocketed donors. Financial support for a public mission flowed one way, and scheduled private time with Supreme Court justices was dispensed in return.

Persons: Meryl Chertoff, Kagan, Michael Chertoff, SCOTUS, Elena Kagan, execs, Brett Kavanaugh, Trump, Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crow, Thomas, Kathleen Clark, Louis, Clark, Kavanaugh —, Shook, Hardy, Bacon, Tristan Duncan, Peabody, Christina Sullivan, Brian O'Connor, Sandra Day O'Connor, Lakhani, That's, litigator, George W, Bush, Michael Chertoff's, wasn't, he'd, Chertoff, John Roberts, Gabe Roth, Roth, Crow, Rob Schenck, Tom Monaghan, Jay Sekulow, Sidney Powell —, Sonia Sotomayor's, that's Organizations: Service, Aspen Institute, DC, Aspen, Washington University, Peabody Energy, Peabody, Duncan, Speedway, Supreme, Aspen Institute's Justice, Society, Homeland Security, Chertoff, CNN, The New York Times, Historical Society, Trump, Associated Press, University of Colorado Law School Locations: Wall, Silicon, St, Washington, Pakistan, Chertoff, Aspen Institute isn't

☆ A federal judge harshly criticized the Supreme Court's recent ethics scandals in a NYT essay: 'What in the world has happened'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A federal judge in Massachusetts wrote a scathing opinion essay in the New York Times, excoriating the Supreme Court's recent ethical debacles. Judge Michael Ponsor, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, said the high court needs a code of ethics. Following the reports of several Supreme Court justices crossing ethical lines, a plethora of congressional Democrats have also called for the Supreme Court to institute a code of ethics. As it stands, the high court does not have one, and the court's chief justice has pushed back on efforts to instate one. "The Supreme Court will no longer exist as a truly viable institution if it continues the failure to face the need for a code of ethics," Blumenthal said.

Persons: Michael Ponsor, Bill Clinton, Michel Ponsor, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor's, Sen, Richard Blumenthal, Blumenthal Organizations: New York Times, Service, Court, District, Massachusetts, Democratic, Committee Locations: Massachusetts, Wall, Silicon

☆ The Supreme Court’s Conservatives Even Control Which Cases the Justice - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Jeffrey L. Fisher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

More often, the cases were relatively low-profile — lower court decisions refusing, for example, to apply civil rights protections that are already established. And here’s the thing: In many of those cases, the court ultimately reversed by an overwhelming vote. The lower court decisions were indefensible. But for the court to reverse a lower court decision refusing to honor a civil liberty, the case first has to be put on its docket. Seven years before, the Supreme Court had chastised the Louisiana courts for allowing exactly this kind of unconstitutional gamesmanship.

Persons: Hodges, David Brown, Brown’s, Brown, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan Locations: . Louisiana, Louisiana

☆ Supreme Court staffer pressured public library to buy more of Sonia Sotomayor's books: '250 books is definitely not enough'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new AP report details how Sonia Sotomayor's book sales intertwine with her service as a Justice. "250 books is definitely not enough," one aide told a public library in Oregon. The report found that taxpayer-funded staff at the Supreme Court have often pressured public institutions, including colleges and libraries, to purchase more of Sotomayor's books for events around the country where the liberal justice has been invited to speak. But because Supreme Court has no formal code of ethics, such practices are legal. While Republicans have generally defended these arrangements, Democrats have seized on the revelations to call for instituting a formal code of ethics at the Supreme Court.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor's, Sonia Sotomayor isn't, — she's, Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito's Organizations: Justice, Taxpayer, Service, Associated Press, Clemson University and Michigan State University, AP, Republicans, Supreme Locations: Oregon, Wall, Silicon

☆ Affirmative Action Bred 50 Years of ‘Mismatch’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Heather Mac Donald | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wonder Land: Democrats said decades ago they alone would run policies for black Americans. Now comes the reckoning. Images: AP/Getty Images Composite: Mark KellyJustice Sonia Sotomayor had harsh words for her colleagues who voted last month to bar the use of race in college admissions. She alleged in her dissenting opinion that the six-justice majority in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard had subverted the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law, not upheld it, by “further entrenching racial inequality in education.” Chief Justice John Roberts ’s majority opinion slammed shut the door of opportunity to underrepresented minorities, especially black students, who still fight against a society that is “inherently unequal,” she wrote.

Persons: Mark Kelly Justice Sonia Sotomayor, “, John Roberts ’, ” Organizations: Harvard

☆ The Supreme Court makes almost all of its decisions on the 'shadow docket.' An author argues it should worry Americans more than luxury trips.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The Supreme Court makes nearly all its decisions on the emergency relief docket or "shadow docket." What is the Supreme Court 'shadow docket?' Capitol Police watch an abortion-rights rally from behind the security fence surrounding the Supreme Court on June 23, 2022. Public trust in the Supreme Court is at a historic lowNadine Seiler attends a rally for voting rights while the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the Moore v. Harper case December 7, 2022. The dangers posed by the shadow docket are more perilous than the wrongs of individual justices, Vladeck argues, because the shadow docket's ills are inherently institutional.

Persons: Steve Vladeck, —, Vladeck, Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Scott Applewhite, mifepristone, William Baude, Nathan Howard, it's, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Joe Biden's, Chip Somodevilla, Roe, Wade, Obama, Bush, Trump, Nadine Seiler, Harper, Drew Angerer, stokes Organizations: Service, Supreme, Supreme Court, AP, University of Chicago, Capitol Police, Getty, Former, — Locations: United, Joe Biden's State, Texas, U.S, Moore

Finding it and nurturing it remain entirely consistent with the mission of higher education and, indeed, vital to our democracy. More than in any other setting, students who are raised in homogenous neighborhoods and schools first encounter difference — class, racial, ethnic and religious — in college. We should remember that these sorts of learning opportunities are relatively new in the history of higher education. For hundreds of years, many universities that today proudly champion a diverse society promoted and perpetuated class, racial and gender hierarchies. Like Bard College, schools could create early college programs, which allow high school students to take and earn college credits.

Persons: —, I’ve, William, Mary, Johns Hopkins, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, U.N.C, LaDale C, Brett Kavanaugh’s, Angela Duckworth Organizations: Ivy League, Yale Law School, Brown University, University of Virginia, Rutgers, Princeton Theological Seminary , Yale, University of North, Harvard, Bard College, University of California Locations: Georgetown, University of North Carolina, America

☆ Mike Pence, who supported the Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling, doesn't think there's racial inequality in education
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Pence supported the Supreme Court ruling which struck down affirmative action in college admissions. He said that while affirmative action may have been needed in the past, that is no longer the case. "I really do believe that we can move forward as a country," he told CBS News on Sunday. I believe there was," he told host Margaret Brennan regarding the need for affirmative action. "I mean, there may have been a time when affirmative action was necessary simply to open the doors of all of our schools and universities, but I think that time has passed."

Persons: Pence, —, Mike Pence, Margaret Brennan, we've, Clarence Thomas, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Thomas, Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor Organizations: CBS News, Service, CBS, Harvard University, University of North, Chapel, Latina Locations: University of North Carolina

☆ Takeaways from the latest controversial and contentious Supreme Court term
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Ariane De Vogue | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

In his opinion blocking the student debt program, Roberts insisted he is concerned about criticisms of the court. “Make no mistake: Supreme Court ethics reform must happen whether the Court participates in the process or not,” he warned. In June, the court sided with a cement mixing company that sought to bypass federal labor law and sue a union in state court for the destruction of property caused by striking workers. On Tuesday, when Roberts announced the court’s opinion in Moore v. Harper, liberals and even some conservatives exhaled, relieved that the court was rejecting a controversial Trump-backed election law theory. “Justice Jackson has a different view,” he said at one point.

Persons: John Roberts, Roe, Wade, ” Roberts, Roberts, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, he’d, Joe Biden’s, Roberts –, –, It’s, Donald Trump’s, ”, Gorsuch, Neil Gorsuch, Bostock, Lorie Smith, ” Alito, Alito, Dobbs, Jackson, Brett Kavanaugh’s, hadn’t, Paul Singer, Singer, ProPublica, “ we’d, “, ” ProPublica, Thomas, Dick Durbin, Elena Kagan, KBJ, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Dr, Adam Feldman, ” Feldman, Sonia Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, Thomas couldn’t, ” Jenny Hunter, ” Jackson, ‘, Harper, exhaled, Barack Obama, Rick Hasen –, Hasen, Moore, Thomas Long, Kevin Merida, Michael Fletcher, “ Justice Jackson, Thomas ’ “, ” Thomas Organizations: CNN, Civil, Creative, Politico, Wall Street Journal, Street, GOP, Illinois Democrat, pounced, University of North, National Labor Relations, Independent, Trump, Federal, “, UNC Locations: Colorado, Washington , DC, United States, “, Rome, Illinois, American, Moore, North Carolina

☆ By striking down affirmative action, the Supreme Court put forth a dangerous and false ideal of 'colorblindness'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Trisha Gopal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Sotomayor and Thomas are both the likely beneficiaries of affirmative action. A student at Harvard University at a rally in support of keeping affirmative action policies outside the Supreme Court on October 31, 2022. A young boy at the University of California, Berkeley in 1995 as students and families protested to keep affirmative action policies. In a statement following the ruling, former president Barack Obama wrote, "Like any policy, affirmative action wasn't perfect. Roberts accused the colleges' affirmative action programs of "employ[ing] race in a negative manner" without any "meaningful end points."

Persons: Sotomayor, —, Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, colorblindness, Colorblindness, Howard Schultz, Tomi Lahren, Plessy, Ferguson, John Marshall Harlan, Antonin Scalia, Justice Roberts, Harlan's, David Butow, Roberts, Barack Obama, Michelle, haven't, Evelyn Hockstein, Michelle Obama, Katherine Phillips, Phillips Organizations: Supreme, Service, Harvard University, University of North, Latina, Yale Law School, Starbucks, Washington Post, Getty, Black, Seattle School District, University of California, Harvard, UCLA, UC, REUTERS, Princeton, Scientific, Columbia Business Locations: Berkeley, University of North Carolina, California, Idaho

☆ Supreme Court's affirmative action decision sets 'race-neutral' standard in college admission decisions
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —When the Supreme Court cut affirmative action out of college admissions programs Thursday, it did not outlaw the goal of achieving diversity, but it set a new “race-neutral” standard for considering applicants. Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote his own concurring opinion, uses the term “race neutral” repeatedly, offering it as an antidote to affirmative action. For more on this view, read this piece in The Atlantic by scholars Uma Jayakumar and Ibram Kendi: “‘Race Neutral’ Is the New ‘Separate but Equal.’”What have race-neutral admissions policies accomplished? They can, presumably, still utilize affirmative action even though they are the higher learning institutions over which the federal government has the most control. Multiple corporations – from Apple to IKEA – asked the Supreme Court to allow affirmative action to continue so that their potential workforce is more diverse.

Persons: John Roberts, Roberts, they’ve, Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, ”, Uma Jayakumar, Laura Coates, CNN’s Nicquel Terry Ellis, Zack Mabel, Terry Ellis, CNN’s Leah Asmelash, Ronald Brownstein Organizations: CNN, Public, Institute of California, University of California’s, UC, UC enrollees, UC Berkeley, Harvard University, Georgetown University Center, Education, Workforce, Georgetown’s Center for Education, IKEA –, Republican Locations: California, Michigan, Thomas, California In California, enrollees, UC enrollees, American, America, Apple

The US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on Friday, June 30, 2023. Anna Rose Layden/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesCNN senior Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic says that over the past day, "all of the tensions on so many issues" were on display among the justices. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, sitting right next to him, then drew a contrast in her dissent. And she said, 'At this kind of time, what does the Supreme Court do? On the student loans decision: In a "brisk voice and tone," Chief Justice John Roberts "cut to the chase," according to Biskupic.

Persons: Anna Rose Layden, Joan Biskupic, Biskupic, Neil Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, Sotomayor, Lorie Smith, John Roberts, —, Elena Kagan, Roberts, Kagan Organizations: Bloomberg, Getty, CNN, Civil Locations: Washington ,, Colorado, America

☆ US Supreme Court sidesteps 'acquitted conduct' cases for now
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( John Kruzel | Industry Insight | Corporate Attorneys Don T Want To Pay Law Firms For Chatgpt When They Could Use It Themselves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The justices turned away appeals in cases that would have given them an opportunity to prohibit the consideration of "acquitted conduct" in sentencing decisions in criminal cases. Sentencing Commission, a bipartisan panel responsible for crafting U.S. criminal sentencing policy, before addressing the issue. The commission in January proposed amending federal sentencing guidelines to prohibit judges from considering a defendant's acquitted conduct with only narrow exceptions. Numerous criminal defendants have asked the justices to revisit a 1997 Supreme Court ruling that said a jury's verdict of acquittal does not prevent a sentencing judge from considering conduct underlying an acquitted charge. Some current and former Supreme Court justices have questioned whether judges should be permitted to extend a defendant's prison sentence based on acquitted conduct.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, John Kruzel, Nate Raymond, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Supreme, U.S . Sentencing, U.S . Justice Department, Liberal, Constitution's, National Association of Criminal Defense, Thomson Locations: Boston

☆ US Supreme Court's liberals warn of LGBT ruling's ripple effects
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Andrew Chung | Industry Insight | Corporate Attorneys Don T Want To Pay Law Firms For Chatgpt When They Could Use It Themselves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

June 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative-majority ruling letting certain businesses refuse to provide services for same-sex marriages could impact an array of customers beyond LGBT people, according to the court's liberal justices. Smith said, for instance, she would happily serve an LGBT customer who wants graphics for an animal shelter. Critics said that distinction between message and status was not so clear-cut and could quickly veer into targeting people instead. The ruling takes LGBT rights backwards, Sotomayor wrote. The ruling's rationale cannot be limited to discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity and could exclude other groups from many services, Sotomayor said.

Persons: Lorie Smith, Neil Gorsuch, Gorsuch, Colorado's, Smith, Critics, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sotomayor, Jim Bourg Sotomayor, Phil Weiser, of Jesus Christ, Weiser, Lambda, Jennifer Pizer, Amanda Shanor, Shanor, Andrew Chung, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Supreme, REUTERS, of Jesus, Lambda Legal, University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Thomson Locations: Denver, Colorado, Washington , U.S

But under a Colorado public accommodations law, she said she cannot post the statement because the state considers it illegal. The ruling – rooted in free speech grounds – will pierce state public accommodation laws for those businesses who sell so-called “expressive” goods. It is the latest victory for religious conservatives at the high court and will alarm critics who fear the current court is setting its sights on overturning the 2015 marriage case. When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in February 2022, the justices sidestepped whether the law violated Smith’s free exercise of religion. In court, Waggoner said that the law works to compel speech in violation of the First Amendment.

Persons: Justice Neil Gorsuch, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Lorie Smith, Gorsuch, ”, Smith’s, ” Gorsuch, Sotomayor, “, ’, Kristen Waggoner, Matthew Shepard, ” Sotomayor, Bostock, Trump, Kelley Robinson, Ritchie Torres, ” Torres, Waggoner, Smith, Smith –, –, ” Smith, ” Waggoner, Eric Olson Organizations: CNN, Chief, U.S, Supreme, Pride Month, Civil, American Civil Liberties Union, ”, Democratic, Twitter, Appeals Locations: Colorado, United States, Clayton County

☆ What the Supreme Court’s LGBTQ rights decision means
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Devan Cole | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

“So I think the category of businesses that will be able to claim free speech rights against anti-discrimination laws is not at all clear. Jennifer Pizer, the chief legal officer for Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ rights group, also said the court wasn’t clear on what types of businesses are included within the category the court mentioned. Sepper similarly said that the majority didn’t specifically limit the decision to LGBTQ people. So this opens the door to race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin discrimination – any kind of discrimination,” she said. But in the fallout of Friday’s decision, LGBTQ advocates and experts cautioned that, far from settling the issue at the center of the case, the ruling will likely embolden opponents of LGBTQ rights and spur a fresh wave of litigation that could strip away civil rights protections in other areas of life.

Persons: Neil Gorsuch, Lorie Smith, ”, Elizabeth Sepper, Sepper, “ There’s, Jennifer Pizer, “, ” Pizer, Sonia Sotomayor, ” Gorsuch, Sotomayor, Smith, Katherine Franke, ” Franke, Phil Weiser, Gorsuch, Pizer Organizations: Washington CNN, CNN, University of Texas, Creative, Lambda Legal, Virgin Islands, Movement Advancement, Columbia Law School Locations: Colorado, Virgin, Washington

☆ Sotomayor says Supreme Court is opening the door to racial discrimination and sending 'the message that we live in a society with social castes'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor argued that the ruling could allow for racial discrimination too. She also said the court sends the symbolic message that "we live in a society with social castes." Sotomayor argued that the logic of the case could easily be extended to allow for racial discrimination as well. "A website designer could equally refuse to create a wedding website for an interracial couple, for example," Sotomayor wrote. "Apparently, a gay or lesbian couple might buy a wedding website for their straight friends," Sotomayor wrote.

Persons: Sotomayor, —, Sonia Sotomayor, Lorie Smith, Smith, — Sotomayor, George Organizations: Service, Creative, Black Americans Locations: Colorado, United States, Virginia

☆ Sotomayor slams the Supreme Court for finding that a Colorado web designer shouldn't be forced to make sites for same-sex couples: 'Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives o
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Justice Sonia Sotomayor blasted the Supreme Court for siding with a web designer who wanted to not serve same-sex couples. Sotomayor wrote a firey dissent, arguing that high court's decision will lead to LGBTQ+ Americans becoming second-class citizens. "Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people," she wrote. "Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people," Sotomayor wrote in her dissenting opinion. "The opinion of the Court is, quite literally, a notice that reads: 'Some services may be denied to same-sex couples,'" Sotomayor wrote.

Persons: Sonia Sotomayor, Sotomayor, —, Neil Gorsuch, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Gorsuch Organizations: Service, Creative Locations: Colorado, America

☆ Kagan says the Supreme Court risks becoming 'a danger to a democratic order' after it axed Biden's student loan forgiveness plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Justice Elena Kagan slammed the Supreme Court for striking down Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. The high court, Kagan argued, is approaching a future that is "a danger to a democratic order." "That is no proper role for a court," Kagan wrote. "Congress knew that national emergencies would continue to arise," Kagan wrote. "From the first page to the last, today's opinion departs from the demands of judicial restraint," Kagan wrote.

Persons: Elena Kagan, Kagan, SCOTUS, —, John Roberts, Biden, Joe Biden, Roberts, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Obama Organizations: Service, Education Department

Student debt relief activists stand in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 30, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)The Supreme Court on Friday rules against President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, prohibiting up to $20,000 in loan relief per borrower from proceeding. The plan, first announced in August 2022, would have forgiven $10,000 for all federal student loan borrowers and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients who earn less than $125,000 a year ($250,000 for married couples). The Biden administration has also recently beefed up existing programs, making it easier to qualify for student loan relief. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) has become easier for federal borrowers to obtain under the Biden administration.

Persons: Kevin Dietsch, Joe Biden's, Biden, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Pell Grant, servicers Organizations: U.S, Supreme, Higher Education, Department of Education, Federal, Aid Locations: Washington ,

The liberal justices, including Biden's appointee Ketanji Brown Jackson, found themselves in the role of the dissenting minority in some of the nine-month term's biggest cases. The conservative justices invoked the "major questions" doctrine, a muscular judicial approach that gives judges broad discretion to invalidate executive agency actions of "vast economic and political significance" unless Congress clearly authorized them. In those cases, the conservative justices were unified in the majority and the liberal justices dissented. In that case, the liberal justices were joined by one conservative justice, Trump appointee Brett Kavanaugh, in dissenting on the new test. The justices on Friday agreed to decide whether a 1994 federal law that bars people under domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms violates the Constitution's Second Amendment.

Persons: Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M, Gorsuch, Brett M, Kavanaugh, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, John G, Roberts, Jr, Samuel A, Alito, Elena Kagan, Read, Joe Biden's, Donald Trump's, Erwin Chemerinsky, Trump's, Chemerinsky, Trump, Brett Kavanaugh, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Roe, Wade, Jackson, Justice Jackson, Adam Feldman, Biden's, John Kruzel, Andrew Chung, Will Dunham Organizations: Supreme, U.S, Republican, Harvard University, University of North, University of California Berkeley Law School, U.S . Environmental, Alabama, Senate, Consumer, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, WASHINGTON, University of North Carolina, U.S, Texas

☆ The Supreme Court justices paid an average of $42,539 to go to college. Today, they'd have to pay around $320,531.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Sarah Al-Arshani | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Supreme Court struck down Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. Student loan payments will likely resume in October. For the justices behind the decision, the cost of an undergraduate degree was much cheaper when they were in school. According to EDI, there was a 2,807% increase in the average student loan debt at graduation between 1970 and 2021 before adjusting for inflation. Student loan borrowers gathered at the Supreme Court today to tell the court that student loan relief is legal on January 2, 2023.

Persons: —, Joe Biden's, Biden, Clarence Thomas, Wally McNamee, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, John Roberts, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Roberts, Jackson, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, Larry French, Thomas, Gorsuch Organizations: Service, Republicans, White, Education Data Initiative, The College of, Princeton University, Harvard, Yale, Columbia University, Rhodes College, Associated Press, AP

☆ People are dunking on JFK's half-assed Harvard admission essay in the wake of the Supreme Court axing affirmative action
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Supreme Court ruled to overturn race-based affirmative action on Thursday. After the ruling, many focused on John F. Kennedy's underwhelming 1935 Harvard admission essay. The essay, which was first published by The Washington Post in 2013, reappeared on social media on Thursday after the Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action in college admissions was unconstitutional. Although Kennedy's example was extreme and unlikely to cut muster today, US colleges do explicitly favor applicants whose parents went there, via the legacy system. Commentators — including President Joe Biden — on Thursday noted that the legacy system remained untouched by the court ruling.

Persons: John F, Kennedy's, Kennedy, —, — Rebecca Brenner Graham, SATs, Robert Kennedy, Joe Biden —, Ivy, Sonia Sotomayor Organizations: Harvard, Service, The Washington Post, Ivy League, Arts, Harvard Crimson, Harvard University Locations: America

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