U.S. Supreme Court

‘Partial’ Abortion Ban Puts Justices’ Faith at Issue

Last week’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to ban so-called partial birth abortion has sparked contentious discussion about the religious views of the nine justices who rendered the 5-4 ruling. A majority reportedly are Catholic In an article today detailing the controversy, ABC characterizes the issue as a “backlash”…

Apr 24, 2007 8:59 PM CDT

Court Declines School Recruiting Case

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear an appeal by the University of Phoenix seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act, according to the Los Angeles Times. The suit claims the school defrauded the federal government by paying school staffers to recruit students in violation…

Apr 24, 2007 4:29 PM CDT

Justices Skeptical of Traffic Stop

The U.S. Supreme Court considered the rights of passengers in cars during oral arguments yesterday. The New York Times reports that a majority of the justices reacted with skepticism to arguments that a passenger would feel free to leave during a traffic stop. The California Supreme Court had ruled in…

Apr 24, 2007 1:42 PM CDT

Two State Abortion Cases Remanded

The U.S. Supreme Court has remanded two cases challenging state “partial-birth” abortion laws. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Gonzales v. Carhart, No. 05-380 (PDF), last week upheld a federal ban on so-called partial-birth abortions. Most laws regulating abortion are at the state level, SCOTUSblog points out. In one of…

Apr 23, 2007 7:37 PM CDT

LSU Prof Lands Supreme Fellowship

Elizabeth Murrill, an assistant law professor at Louisiana State and mother of four to boot, recently learned she was chosen as a U.S. Supreme Court fellow. The Fellows Program, begun in 1973 by Warren Burger, gives lawyers, academics and others a chance to peer behind the curtains of the Supreme…

Apr 23, 2007 6:07 PM CDT

Court Accepts Money Laundering Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the ban on money laundering applies if a criminal operation didn’t turn a profit, SCOTUSblog reports. The court also remanded two cases challenging state partial-birth abortion laws.

Apr 23, 2007 4:38 PM CDT

Justice Thomas’ Struggles Recounted

The nephew of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was illiterate and was in and out of jail throughout his life. When Mark Elliot Martin was convicted in 1997 of pointing a gun at another person, Thomas took custody of Martin’s son, Marky. The boy, now a teen, excelled in…

Apr 23, 2007 3:51 PM CDT

First, Abortion. Next, Integration and Campaign Cash?

The New York Times talked to U.S. Supreme Court pundits who are debating how far Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s replacement will move the court to the right. Justice Samuel A. Alito was in the majority in last week’s decision upholding a law banning so-called partial birth abortions. O’Connor had voted…

Apr 23, 2007 1:35 PM CDT

Former U of C Law Dean Slams Abortion Ruling

A former dean of the University of Chicago Law School joined today with vociferous critics of this week’s U.S. Supreme Court abortion ruling, castigating its so-called partial-birth abortion ban as “unreasonable” and saying that it appeared to have been influenced by many of the justices’ personal religious views. “It is…

Apr 20, 2007 11:48 PM CDT

Prof: Court Will Move ‘Step by Step’ to Right

This week’s abortion decision illustrates how the U.S. Supreme Court will “move to the right step by step,” a law professor tells the Washington Post. The emerging conservative majority is willing to reconsider precedent, says A. E. Dick Howard of the University of Virginia law school. But he believes the…

Apr 20, 2007 3:35 PM CDT

More Abortion Battles to Come

The fight over abortion moves to the states following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week upholding a ban on so-called partial birth abortion.

Apr 20, 2007 2:01 PM CDT

This Day in Legal History: Anti-KKK Legislation, Supreme Court Upholds Busing

On this day in 1871, Congress passed a law intended to end the terror tactics being used against African-Americans and others by a white supremacist group called the Ku Klux Klan that had been formed after the end of the Civil War. Popularly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act,…

Apr 20, 2007 11:00 AM CDT

Alito Vote Crucial in Abortion Decision

The justice who replaced Sandra Day O’Connor had the most important vote in yesterday’s 5-4 decision upholding the ban on so-called partial birth abortions, according to a story in the New York Times. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. joined the majority. O’Connor had voted to strike down a similar law…

Apr 19, 2007 1:57 PM CDT

Harriet Miers Rejoins Texas Firm

Former White House counsel Harriet Miers is rejoining her Texas law firm. Miers, a former chair of the ABA Journal Board of Editors, will be back at her desk at Locke Liddell & Sapp on May 1, according to reports in Texas Lawyer and the Dallas Morning News. Managing partner…

Apr 18, 2007 5:16 PM CDT

Ban on ‘Partial Birth’ Abortion Upheld

The U.S. Supreme Court has for the first time upheld a ban on so-called partial birth abortions in a 5-4 decision. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion.

Apr 18, 2007 4:11 PM CDT