Latest in Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday directed a lower court to toss out a lawsuit over whether Donald Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked followers from his then-active Twitter account. Lower court rulings had found that such actions violated the First Amendment, but the justices found the case moot, as Trump is…

UPDATE, April 6, 8:29 AM: The Copyright Alliance, which represents content companies and creators, warned that the Supreme Court’s decision in favor of Google “has the potential” to broaden the fair use doctrine, something that would open the door to greater unauthorized use of copyrighted material. CEO Keith…

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the FCC was within its legal authority to relax a series of media ownership rules in 2017, when Republicans still held the majority on the commission. In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh (read it here), the justices held that the FCC “made a reasonable…

Hustler founder Larry Flynt has died at 78. The Washington Post confirmed the news with his brother Jimmy. No cause of death was given. Flynt made his fortune with Hustler magazine and associated businesses, but he made a name for himself by challenging cultural norms. He unapologetically called himself “a…

The Supreme Court on Tuesday waded into a two-decade long debate over the extent to which the FCC can relax media ownership rules. At stake are recent FCC moves toward deregulation, allowing the common ownership of a newspaper and broadcast stations in the same market, as well as giving more leeway for media companies…

Major metropolitan areas could face the loss of considerable revenue if the US Supreme Court upholds a bid to restrict how states can tax workers who no longer commute. The Wall Street Journal <a…

UPDATE, 6:13 AM PT: President Donald Trump continued to rail against the Supreme Court’s rejection of a Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the election results in favor of Joe Biden in four states. “WE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!!!” Trump tweeted. But he, his campaign and his supporters have all but run out of legal…

The Supreme Court weighed in on Trump supporters’ post-election challenge to Joe Biden’s victory, rejecting an effort to reverse Pennsylvania’s certification of the results in that state. “The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied,” the court said in…

UPDATE, 6:36 PM PT: Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice at another White House ceremony amid the pandemic. Unlike her introduction ceremony in September, which became a “super-spreader event” in the words of Dr. Anthony Fauci, most of the attendees in the crowd on the South Lawn wore masks and…

Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court will likely be finalized Monday night after it cleared its last procedural hurdle today. The Senate vote today was split 51-48 along partisan lines. GOP Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine joined Democrats in voting against limiting…

The Senate Judiciary Committee gave the greenlight to Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, even as Democrats boycotted the vote. Barrett’s nomination now heads to the Senate floor, with a vote scheduled for next week, where she is expected to be confirmed by a narrow majority. Instead of appearing at…

UPDATED with latest: The Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett on Thursday at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT at the Hart Senate Office Building at the U.S. Capitol. It is the last of four scheduled days of hearings by the Republican-led Senate panel to confirm…