Articles for Federal Courts

The One Big Roadblock to Trump’s Mass Deportation Plans
6 days, 22 hours ago

The One Big Roadblock to Trump’s Mass Deportation Plans

Slate  

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. As the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court explains, this freedom to interpret state constitutional rights more broadly than federal constitutional rights is “fundamental to the vigor of our Federal system of government.” Indeed, given Trump’s sustained disregard for the law, …

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Federal courts 'not likely to be sympathetic' to Musk’s proposed budget cuts: legal expert
1 month ago

Federal courts 'not likely to be sympathetic' to Musk’s proposed budget cuts: legal expert

Raw Story  

Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are eager to fire thousands of federal government employees. The Hill recently reported that the billionaires' so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" may be in for a rude wake-up call from the federal courts, despite their belief that two Supreme Court decisions will help them demolish a slew of regulations on the private sector. In …

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Musk and Ramaswamy are banking on the Supreme Court letting Trump unilaterally slash spending
1 month ago

Musk and Ramaswamy are banking on the Supreme Court letting Trump unilaterally slash spending

Salon  

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, two billionaires appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to oversee the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, say they will rely on recent Supreme Court rulings to justify unilaterally cut down federal agencies and wipe away existing regulations. In 2022, the court found that federal agencies cannot address "major questions" with broad economic or social impact without …

Supreme Court Court Trump Musk Ramaswamy
Federal courts trumpet steps to protect workers after #MeToo movement
1 month ago

Federal courts trumpet steps to protect workers after #MeToo movement

NPR  

Federal courts trumpet steps to protect workers after #MeToo movement toggle caption Drew Angerer/Getty Images The federal courts have taken "extensive" steps to protect workers from abuse, discrimination and harassment since the rise of the #MeToo movement, by creating more paths to report misbehavior and offering a new training session for in-house investigators, U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad Jr. said …

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A Last-Minute Effort to Mess With the 2024 Vote Is Underway. It’s Scarier Than Expected.
54 years, 11 months ago

A Last-Minute Effort to Mess With the 2024 Vote Is Underway. It’s Scarier Than Expected.

Slate  

With early voting already underway, one might think that the rules of the game for November’s election are set, and that it will all just come down to turnout, as the cliché goes. There, the state election board, which is dominated by Trumpian election-deniers, has enacted a series of last-minute rule changes that could muck up the timing of ballot …

Georgia Supreme Court Constitution Trump Election Courts Changes
Federal judge says New Jersey’s ban on AR-15 rifles is unconstitutional
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Federal judge says New Jersey’s ban on AR-15 rifles is unconstitutional

LA Times  

An AR-15-style rifle is fired at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives facility in Martinsburg, W.Va. New Jersey’s ban on the AR-15 rifle is unconstitutional, but the state’s cap on magazines over 10 rounds passes constitutional muster, a federal judge said Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan’s 69-page opinion says he was compelled to rule as he did …

Law Firearms Gun Rights New Jersey Gun Ban Murphy
Can we end the Supreme Court's assault on voting rights? This legal scholar says there's hope
7 months, 1 week ago

Can we end the Supreme Court's assault on voting rights? This legal scholar says there's hope

Salon  

Joshua Douglas is an optimistic guy. Your first three chapters describe a trio of cases that eroded the protections that voting rights had gained with the Warren court — what is known as “strict scrutiny.” How did that begin with Anderson v. Celebrezze, a case out of the 1980 election? Anderson is the case that begins to pull back on …

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Advocates say Supreme Court must preserve new, mostly Black US House district for 2024 elections
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Advocates say Supreme Court must preserve new, mostly Black US House district for 2024 elections

Associated Press  

NEW ORLEANS — Voting rights advocates said Wednesday they will go to the Supreme Court in hopes of preserving a new majority Black congressional district in Louisiana for the fall elections, the latest step in a complicated legal fight that could determine the fate of political careers and the balance of power in the next Congress. Jared Evans, an attorney …

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How Trump’s lawyers would fail my constitutional law class
8 months, 2 weeks ago

How Trump’s lawyers would fail my constitutional law class

Raw Story  

Former President Donald Trump claims that the president of the United States is absolutely immune from criminal prosecution. Trump also argues that, according to the Constitution, “federal courts cannot sit in judgment directly over the President’s official acts.” This assertion is contrary to scores of cases where federal courts have reviewed presidential acts. Several conservative-leaning states challenged the loan forgiveness, …

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The Supreme Court Loophole That Could Allow States to Sabotage the 2024 Election
10 months, 1 week ago

The Supreme Court Loophole That Could Allow States to Sabotage the 2024 Election

Slate  

Many Americans are rightly afraid for the state of democracy, with the right to vote under attack from state legislatures across the country and the Supreme Court doing little to stand in their way. If a legislature can pass election laws knowing that courts won’t enjoin them even if they are unconstitutional or illegal, then self-interested election officials could use …

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Trump joins media outlets in pushing for his federal election interference case to be televised
1 year, 1 month ago

Trump joins media outlets in pushing for his federal election interference case to be televised

LA Times  

Donald Trump is pushing for his federal election interference trial in Washington to be televised, joining media outlets that say the public should be able to watch the case unfold. Federal court rules prohibit broadcasting proceedings, but the Associated Press and other news organizations say the unprecedented trial of a former president on accusations of trying to subvert voters’ will …

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Workers at Mexico’s federal courts launch a 4-day strike over president’s planned budget cuts
1 year, 2 months ago

Workers at Mexico’s federal courts launch a 4-day strike over president’s planned budget cuts

Associated Press  

MEXICO CITY — Hundreds of judicial employees, from administrative staff to judges, took to the steps of Mexico City’s largest federal court Thursday to launch a national, four-day strike against proposed budget cuts. “In the legislative branch there are people who are not educated, they don’t have a university degree; they’re just elected,” he said, adding the federal courts serve …

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How the Texas backlash to Obama fueled the conservative drive to reinterpret the U.S. Constitution
1 year, 4 months ago

How the Texas backlash to Obama fueled the conservative drive to reinterpret the U.S. Constitution

Raw Story  

In November 2008, almost 70 million people turned out to vote for the nation’s first Black president and their hope for once-in-a-generation political change. True believers Ted Cruz, who would ride Texas’ Obama outrage to a U.S. Senate seat in 2012, laid the foundation for the solicitor general’s office as a legal champion of conservative causes. “I thought it would …

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Illegal voting maps were used in some states in 2022. This legal idea allowed them
1 year, 5 months ago

Illegal voting maps were used in some states in 2022. This legal idea allowed them

NPR  

Illegal voting maps were used in some states in 2022. The high court, which later struck down part of the measure in 2013, was asked to weigh in on this legal challenge in 2006, when a federal appeals court temporarily blocked Arizona from enforcing the new voter ID rules close to five weeks before the last day of voting in …

Legal Court Voting Election Law Congress Election Courts
Just because you can vote with lever machines, online elections or punch cards doesn’t mean you should
1 year, 5 months ago

Just because you can vote with lever machines, online elections or punch cards doesn’t mean you should

Raw Story  

In light of the holiday, here’s an homage to historical election practices that were bad ideas — bad ideas officials were often warned about and went ahead with anyway. Let’s talk about lever machines — the hulking, metal behemoths that New York state refused to stop loving until 2010. From Votebeat Texas: Texas fixes some obstacles to mail voting that …

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John Roberts’ Big Complaint About Elena Kagan Is Deeply Ironic
1 year, 5 months ago

John Roberts’ Big Complaint About Elena Kagan Is Deeply Ironic

Slate  

This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. Kagan, pulling no punches, wrote that the court majority “violates the Constitution” by “exercis authority it does not have.” Roberts lamented the “disturbing feature of some recent opinions to criticize the decisions with which they disagree as going beyond the proper role of …

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There’s a Time Bomb in Progressives’ Big Supreme Court Voting Case Win
1 year, 5 months ago

There’s a Time Bomb in Progressives’ Big Supreme Court Voting Case Win

Slate  

This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. It is indeed a cause for celebration that the United States Supreme Court, on a 6–3 vote in Moore v. Harper, rejected an extreme version of the “independent state legislature” theory, which could have upended the conduct of elections around the country and …

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The trial America deserves to watch
1 year, 6 months ago

The trial America deserves to watch

Raw Story  

Donald Trump’s criminal trial in federal court in Florida is scheduled to begin in August, although most likely it’ll be months later, given all the issues around classified documents and Trump’s penchant for delay as a legal strategy. In the Senate, Republicans Chuck Grassley and John Cornyn have been joined by Democrats Amy Klobuchar, Dick Durbin, Richard Blumenthal, and Ed …

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Crusading judge tests boundaries of free speech in Brazil
1 year, 10 months ago

Crusading judge tests boundaries of free speech in Brazil

LA Times  

With his Batman-like gown, athletic build and bald head, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes cuts an imposing figure. Whether it is investigating former President Jair Bolsonaro, arresting protesters on slim evidence or banishing his far-right supporters from social media, De Moraes has been aggressively pursuing those suspected of undermining Brazil’s fragile democracy. The Supreme Court decided in 2019 …

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The Supreme Court can’t escape the 2020 presidential race and is already involved in 2024 politics
2 years, 3 months ago

The Supreme Court can’t escape the 2020 presidential race and is already involved in 2024 politics

CNN  

CNN — An obscure legal theory promoted by allies of former President Donald Trump during the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election will soon have its day before the Supreme Court. The state court acknowledged that redistricting is primarily delegated to the legislature but said it must be performed in “conformity with the State Constitution.” The Republican lawmakers appealed …

Elections Supreme Court Constitution Court Trump Election Courts
Biden nominates three judges to federal courts in California
2 years, 4 months ago

Biden nominates three judges to federal courts in California

LA Times  

President Biden on Friday announced three more nominees to serve on federal courts in California, including the first out gay judge, the first Chinese American woman and the second Latina to serve on their respective courts. If confirmed, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Daniel Calabretta would be the first judge who has come out as gay to serve on the U.S. …

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Rejected by courts, retirees take last shot to save pensions
2 years, 4 months ago

Rejected by courts, retirees take last shot to save pensions

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Dave Muffley thought he had it made when it came to a solid retirement. Presidential candidate Joe Biden said in September 2020 he would work to help restore Delphi workers’ retirement savings. When GM went through bankruptcy in June 2009 due to massive losses during the Great Recession, the company said it would not assume pension liabilities for …

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Supreme Court rules against inmates in right-to-counsel case
2 years, 7 months ago

Supreme Court rules against inmates in right-to-counsel case

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled along ideological lines Monday against two Arizona death row inmates who had argued that their lawyers did a poor job representing them in state court. But on Monday the court said the federal Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act bars federal courts from developing new evidence related to the ineffectiveness of the postconviction lawyers. …

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U.S. Supreme Court declines to stop deportation of Indian citizen
2 years, 7 months ago

U.S. Supreme Court declines to stop deportation of Indian citizen

The Hindu  

The United States Supreme Court, on Monday, ruled 5-4 against an Indian citizen who faces deportation from the country for ticking a box on driver’s license application form stating he was a U.S. citizen. USCIS had denied his adjustment application for permanent residence because it was aware that Mr. Patel had falsely stated he was a U.S. citizen on a …

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