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Started by S Goldstein; Last updated Feb 27, 08 8:14 PM CST by S Goldstein | View history

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Supreme Court

"Justice is not to be taken by storm. She is to be wooed by slow advances." -Benjamin Cardozo, Supreme Court Justice (1932-8)

Stories

Stories 1 - 20 of 114

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July 2008
- Illegal Search Rule Faces New Challenge
  
  newser | New York Times | Jul 19, 08 8:16 AM CDT
  
  America is the only country in the world where evidence—even a carload of narcotics—is automatically suppressed if the police are found to have acted wrongly in acquiring it, writes the New York Times . Courts in other countries weigh the level of police misconduct with the gravity of the crime and the power of the evidence. In the US, the exclusion is absolute, but a change could be coming. More »
- Supreme Court: It's a Dialog, Not an Isolated Oracle
  
  newser | New York Times | Jul 13, 08 5:00 AM CDT
  
  Rather than boldly paving new roads, the Supreme Court functions largely as a bellwether of public opinion, cementing change “rather than propelling it,” writes Linda Greenhouse, looking back on some 30 years of reporting on the court for the New York Times . The justices don’t constitute a “remote oracle”--instead, they function as part of America’s ever-changing political dialog. More »
- Employers Use Law to Withhold Benefits
  
  newser | Associated Press | Jul 5, 08 6:41 PM CDT
  
  Thomas Amschwand was dying, but made sure his wife would collect on his $426,000 life insurance policy. Yet when he died, his boss withheld the money, and his wife was powerless—because a federal law stops workers from suing employers for large sums of health, life, or retirement benefits. Amschwand’s wife recovered her husband's premiums, which didn't even cover the funeral. More »
- Supreme Court Goofs Up Key Fact in Child Rape Decision
  
  newser | New York Times | Jul 2, 08 2:36 AM CDT
  
  The Supreme Court misconstrued a key fact in reaching its recent decision banning the death penalty for child rape, reports the New York Times . Swing justice Anthony Kennedy mistakenly noted in his decision that child rapists did not face the death penalty in federal jurisdiction. But in fact the rape of a child was made a military capital crime when the military code of justice was revised in 2006. More »
June 2008
- Mayors Call for Middle Ground on Guns
  
  newser | Wall Street Journal | Jun 30, 08 9:44 AM CDT
  
  Extremist-driven debate over gun control “made for good political theater,” but it hasn’t accomplished much, mayors Michael Bloomberg of New York and Thomas Menino of Boston write in the Wall Street Journal. Now that the Supreme Court has clarified the issue, it’s time to implement some common-sense consensus changes to the nation's gun laws. More »
- Chief Justice Ain't Got a Bob Dylan Quote
  
  newser | New York Times | Jun 29, 08 4:22 PM CDT
  
  A Supreme Court decision was livened up this week by a quote from 1960s thinker, Robert Dylan—known to his fans as Bob. Regarding a stand-off between phone companies, Chief Justice John Roberts quoted, "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose," from Bob Dylan's 1965 hit Like a Rolling Stone . But Roberts left out a word that most Dylan fans remember, the New York Times reports. More »
- McCain Would Tilt Split Court Right
  
  newser | Washington Post | Jun 29, 08 1:19 PM CDT
  
  America’s choice for president will likely ripple all the way to the halls of the sharply divided Supreme Court, the Washington Post reports. Since the next justice to retire is likely to be left-leaning, a Barack Obama victory would maintain the status quo of four conservatives, four liberals, and Anthony M. Kennedy serving as the swing vote. But if John McCain appoints the next justice, the court could swing decidedly to the right. More »
- Supreme Court's Gay Rights Revolution
  
  newser | Time | Jun 29, 08 6:15 AM CDT
  
  It’s been five years since the Supreme Court heard Lawrence v. Texas and handed down a landmark decision in effect decriminalizing homosexual activity and paving the way for gay marriage legislation in Massachusetts and California. The decision has been cited in numerous cases around the country challenging morals legislation, and triggered profound changes in law and society, Time reports. More »
- Order in Court Will Be Task for Next President
  
  newser | Boston Globe | Jun 27, 08 3:41 PM CDT
  
  Recent Supreme Court decisions that broke 5-4 underlined the impact the next president could have on top US judicial body, the Boston Globe notes. The liberal bloc—including John Paul Stevens (age 88) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (75)—is more likely to lose members during the next administration, so a President McCain could greatly change the Court's bent by replacing them with conservative Justices. More »
- Gun Ruling Will Trigger Barrage of Lawsuits
  
  newser | New York Times | Jun 26, 08 6:45 PM CDT
  
  Today's Supreme Court ruling upholding an individual's right to bear arms is unlikely to lead to sweeping changes across the nation, the New York Times reports. Gun laws in most cites and states—putting restrictions on felons and the mentally ill, for example, or banning guns in certain settings—appear to be safe. The biggest impact will be in cities with the most restrictive laws—DC, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Detroit—where a wave of legal challenges no doubt awaits. More »
- Justices Nix 'Millionaire's Amendment' for Campaigns
  
  newser | Associated Press | Jun 26, 08 3:20 PM CDT
  
  The Supreme Court today voided the “millionaire’s amendment,” ruling by 5-4 that the law—which raised donation limits for candidates who face wealthy, self-financed opponents—violates the First Amendment, the AP reports. The majority said it would have been a different story if all candidates saw their limits raised. Notably, Barack Obama (in his Senate primary) may be the biggest beneficiary of the 2002 law to date. More »
- Gun Ruling a Sea Change for 2nd Amendment
  
  newser | Washington Post | Jun 26, 08 2:28 PM CDT
  
  The Supreme Court’s decision today striking down Washington's handgun ban represented a change in interpreting the Second Amendment. The court’s 5-4 vote split down partisan lines, the Post reports, with Justices Scalia, Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito in opposition to Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer. "The enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table," Scalia wrote. More »
- Gun Ruling Sends Chicago Mayor Into Rage
  
  newser | Chicago Tribune | Jun 26, 08 12:08 PM CDT
  
  Today’s Supreme Court ruling striking down a handgun ban in Washington, DC, is “a very frightening decision,” says Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, vowing to fight for Chicago’s own strict gun law, which will likely now be challenged. Mayors across the country must protect their cities, Daley said, predicting that most will be outraged by the decision, the Tribune reports. More »
- Court Strikes Down DC Handgun Ban
  
  newser | Associated Press | Jun 26, 08 9:57 AM CDT
  
  The Supreme Court says Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in US history. The court's 5-4 ruling strikes down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with the Second Amendment, the AP reports. But the decision probably leaves most firearms laws intact. More »
- Justices Strike Death Penalty for Child Rape
  
  newser | Associated Press | Jun 25, 08 10:19 AM CDT
  
  The Supreme Court found today that the “death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” striking down a Louisiana law as cruel and unusual punishment. While the court split 5-4 on the hot-button issue—swing justice Anthony Kennedy penned the opinion—there has not been an execution in 44 years for a crime that didn’t involve a victim’s death. More »
- Supreme Court Will Hear Navy Sonar Appeal
  
  newser | Los Angeles Times | Jun 23, 08 1:06 PM CDT
  
  The Supreme Court today agreed to hear the US Navy's objection to a court order that ships may not use sonar within 12 miles of the California coast because high-frequency signals are harming whales and other marine life, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Bush administration argues that the judge exceeded her authority in putting environmental concerns before national security. More »
- Advisers to Bush: You Asked for It
  
  newser | Washington Post | Jun 21, 08 3:44 PM CDT
  
  President Bush ignored warnings that his detainee policy would spark a Supreme Court backlash, the Washington Post reports. Top lawyers both in and outside Washington said that jailing suspects without Congressional approval would push the court to rule on national security—but the White House either ignored the advice or disagreed. More »
- Supreme Court Sides With Workers on Age Discrimination
  
  newser | New York Times | Jun 19, 08 4:33 PM CDT
  
  The Supreme Court ruled today that it is up to employers in age-discrimination lawsuits to prove that their actions resulted from “reasonable factors other than age,” the New York Times reports. With the opinion making it easier for employees to sue, the court explained to opponents that Congress’ wording of the law “set the balance where it is.” More »
- Justices Will Decide If Immigrant Can Sue Ashcroft
  
  newser | Los Angeles Times | Jun 16, 08 3:01 PM CDT
  
  The Supreme Court today agreed to hear an appeal from John Ashcroft, with the former attorney general insisting top government officials cannot be sued by immigrants who allege they were beaten and abused after 9/11. Lower courts have refused to dismiss a suit from a man who was held for 6 months before being deported to Pakistan—without being charged, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »
- Bush Forced Ruling on Detainees
  
  newser | Newsweek | Jun 15, 08 7:45 PM CDT
  
  President Bush forced the Supreme Court’s hand by overplaying his own over Guantanamo detainees, Stuart Taylor, Jr. writes in Newsweek . Courts usually defer to Washington on national security, but Bush so flouted ordinary "ideas of justice and liberty" that he "put the Supreme Court in an impossible position." Stuck with detainees who say they are innocent, justices have granted them full access to federal courts. More »

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Members of the Supreme Court sit for a group portrait at the Supreme Court in Washington in this March 3, 2006 file photo. Seated in the front row, from left to right are (Associated Press)

The U.S. Supreme Court meets in this chamber. (KRT Photos)

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Related Threads

The Roberts Court • Capital Punishment • John Roberts • Antonin Scalia • Election 2008 • The Gitmo Gulag • Crime • Guns in America • Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Bush 43

Background

The Supreme Court
PBS

Video from the PBS miniseries.

» Read more about The Supreme Court at PBS

Supreme Court of the United States
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Final court of appeal in the U.S. judicial system and final interpreter of the Constitution of the United States. The Supreme Court was created by the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as the head of a federal court system, though it was not formally established until Congress passed the Judiciary ...

» Read more about Supreme Court of the United States at Encyclopedia.com

More Recommend Reading

Supreme Court of the United States
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court Historical Society
supremecourthistory.com
Legal Information Institute: Supreme Court Collection
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FindLaw Supreme Court Opinions
FindLaw
Oyez Project Supreme Court Multimedia
oyez.org
History of the Supreme Court
historyofthesypremecourt.org

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