U.S. Supreme Court

Wisconsin bar redefines ‘diversity’ to settle challenge to clerkship program; both sides claim success

The State Bar of Wisconsin has agreed to redefine “diversity” as it applies to its Diversity Clerkship Program to settle a challenge filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

Apr 9, 2024 2:49 PM CDT

After man is sentenced for threat to kill chief justice, ABA president says threats risk ‘very fabric of our democracy’

ABA President Mary Smith issued a statement Monday that condemned “false statements and scurrilous accusations against judges for partisan, personal gain” that are being made by “national leaders and private citizens.”

Apr 9, 2024 11:07 AM CDT

Should Justice Sotomayor retire? Chemerinsky, White House haven’t joined calls for her to step down

Paul Campos, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School, is among the commentators who are calling for 69-year-old Justice Sonia Sotomayor to retire from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Apr 4, 2024 1:23 PM CDT

State affirmative-action bans decreased racial diversity by up to 47% at top public law schools, study finds

Representation of minority students in public law schools has “decreased substantially” in states that banned affirmative action after 1996, according to a study of first-year law students.

Apr 3, 2024 3:23 PM CDT

Florida Supreme Court allows one of nation’s strictest abortion bans to take effect

Florida’s conservative supreme court ruled Monday that the state’s constitution does not protect abortion rights, allowing one of the country’s strictest and most far-reaching abortion bans to take effect May 1.

Apr 2, 2024 4:00 PM CDT

A ‘divinely created’ being: States try to define fetal personhood

When is a human embryo not simply a clump of cells but a person with distinct legal rights? The answer, which holds much consequence in a post-Roe world, depends on the state where that embryo resides.

Apr 1, 2024 3:30 PM CDT

Relying on ‘secret evidence’ to deny visa for spouse violates due process, ABA says in SCOTUS amicus brief

The U.S. Supreme Court should rule that the government can’t deny visas for noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens without explaining the reason and disclosing the evidence that was the basis for the decision, the ABA has said in an amicus brief.

Apr 1, 2024 1:08 PM CDT

DNA issues ‘cast a pall’ over murder conviction, warranting SCOTUS review, ABA amicus brief says

The U.S. Supreme Court should once again consider the case of a Texas death row inmate whose conviction was based on DNA evidence tested by a lab that “consistently and egregiously mishandled DNA evidence,” the ABA has said in an amicus brief.

Mar 28, 2024 9:02 AM CDT

Supreme Court skeptical of efforts to restrict access to abortion pill

The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed unlikely to limit access to mifepristone, a key medication that is used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions and has emerged as the next front in the battle over how and whether women can terminate their pregnancies.

Mar 27, 2024 9:30 AM CDT

5th Circuit rules for prisoner allowed to sleep no more than 3.5 hours per night

A sleep-deprived prisoner can show that his treatment constituted cruel and unusual punishment without proving that his health issues stemmed from the restricted bedtime hours, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Mar 26, 2024 3:10 PM CDT

Law student’s suit alleges Chicago Bears didn’t hire him as ‘legal diversity fellow’ because he is white man

A first-year student at the DePaul University College of Law in Chicago claims in a lawsuit that the Chicago Bears football team refused to consider him for a “legal diversity fellow” position because he is a white man.

Mar 25, 2024 10:05 AM CDT

Retired Justice Stephen Breyer discusses new book in interview with ABA Journal

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer makes his case in Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism, scheduled for release on Tuesday. After 40-plus years as a judge, Breyer’s book is a logical capstone. “For better or for worse, it might be helpful to put down my approach how I go about interpreting difficult phrases, the Constitution or statutes.”

Mar 25, 2024 8:23 AM CDT

Texas officials ask appeals court to allow state immigration crackdown

Texas officials on Wednesday urged a U.S. appeals court to unblock a new law that would allow authorities to arrest and deport migrants, saying the state has been forced to take extraordinary measures to try to stop soaring levels of illegal border crossings.

Mar 21, 2024 10:45 AM CDT

Supreme Court revisits abortion debate in case over access to pregnancy-ending drug

Next week, a case about federal regulation of the primary drug used in medication abortions will be taken up by the justices, returning a major issue in the abortion debate to them perhaps sooner than they would have wished.

Mar 21, 2024 10:34 AM CDT

Appeals court again blocks Texas from arresting and deporting migrants

A federal appeals court has again blocked a law that makes it a state crime for migrants to illegally cross the border into Texas, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority allowed the law to take effect while challenges to it continue through the court system.

Mar 20, 2024 9:50 AM CDT