US Supreme Court

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Prop 8 Is Dead: Gay Marriage Legal in California (but Not Nationwide)

Supreme Court avoids sweeping decision on pivotal case

(Newser) - After issuing a sweeping decision on the Defense of Marriage Act , the court effectively punted on its other major same-sex marriage case on the validity of Proposition 8. In another 5-4 decision, the court said that the defenders of Prop 8 didn't have the standing to step in and...

High Court Strikes Down DOMA
 High Court Strikes Down DOMA 
UPDATED
Jun 26, 2013 9:28 AM CDT

High Court Strikes Down DOMA

Broad ruling declares marriage benefits a matter of equal protection

(Newser) - The Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act today, in a broad ruling arguing that it violates the Constitution's equal protection clause. The decision was 5-4, with Anthony Kennedy joining the court's more liberal justices (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan), and...

History Cometh: Supreme Court to Rule on Gay Marriage

A primer in advance of today's decisions

(Newser) - It's a day for the history books: Two landmark Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage are coming today, something we know with certainty because it's the last day of the term. The justices will convene at 10am ET and issue their rulings shortly thereafter, reports the New York ...

Texas Puts Voter ID in Effect After Supreme Court Ruling

Now that the Voting Rights Act can no longer stop it

(Newser) - Here's one tangible result from today's Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act: Texas is going to require voters to have photo IDs "immediately," says state attorney general Greg Abbott. “Redistricting maps passed by the Legislature may also...

Sharpton: Court Just Killed MLK's Dream

Voting Rights Act decision provokes outcry on left

(Newser) - "They just canceled the dream." That was Al Sharpton's reaction to the Supreme Court's Voting Rights Act decision , which has provoked a full-on outcry from the left, from President Obama on down. Sharpton was perhaps the most vociferous. "Part of, at least half, of what...

Supreme Court Rules for Indian Girl's Adopted Parents

Lower court had returned Veronica to Cherokee dad

(Newser) - The Supreme Court sided with a South Carolina couple today in a contentious adoption battle. Matt and Melanie Capobianco cared for baby Veronica since birth, until a family court ordered her returned to her biological father, Dusten Brown, at the end of 2011 when she had just turned 2; the...

Dear Justice Alito: This Isn't Middle School

So save your eye-rolling, head-shaking and meet Dana Milbank at recess

(Newser) - Samuel Alito needs to clean up his act—and his opinions have nothing to do with it. The George W. Bush appointee to the Supreme Court has a tendency to visibly ridicule his fellow justices, Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post . His habit was on full display yesterday as...

Court Takes Ax to Voting Rights Act

Says Congress needs to change it

(Newser) - The Supreme Court dealt what looks like a mortal wound to the Voting Rights Act today, striking down the law's key enforcement metric. The court did not, as some had expected, strike down Section 5, which gives the federal government oversight over states and localities with a history of...

Thomas: Race Only a Concern in Preventing 'Anarchy'

Plus, reaction to affirmative action ruling

(Newser) - The Supreme Court didn't outlaw affirmative action with today's 7-1 ruling—but Clarence Thomas thinks it should have. "There is no principled distinction between the University's assertion that diversity yields educational benefits, and segregationists' assertion that segregation yielded those same benefits," Thomas wrote in his...

Supreme Court Deals Blow to Affirmative Action

Justices sent Abigail Fisher case back for review

(Newser) - The Supreme Court overwhelmingly struck down a lower court decision upholding the University of Texas at Austin's affirmative action program today, sending Abigail Fisher's case back to a lower court for review. The decision was 7-1, with only Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissenting (and Elena Kagan recusing herself). Anthony...

Supreme Court Rejects Anti-Prostitution Pledge

Ruling strikes down restrictions on AIDS funding

(Newser) - The government can't make opposition to prostitution a prerequisite for federal funding for non-profits, the Supreme Court ruled today. In doing so, it struck down a 2003 law that required any group getting federal funding for HIV-prevention programs overseas to have a blanket policy against sex trafficking and prostitution....

Supreme Court Kills Arizona 'Proof of Citizenship' Law

Justices say anti-immigrant measure interferes with federal law

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today struck down an Arizona law requiring people to show proof that they're US citizens in order to register to vote. In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that the law, which was approved by voters as a ballot proposition, conflicted with a 1993 federal law...

Elena Kagan Ruling Cites ... Tommy Tutone Song

She makes reference to '867-5309' in decision

(Newser) - The Supreme Court ruled today that truckers at the Port of Los Angeles can't be forced to affix "How Am I Driving?" placards on their trucks, reports the LA Times . The decision is getting more attention than you might expect, however, thanks to Elena Kagan's sense of...

For Cops, DNA Databases Are the New Fingerprints

Departments around the country keeping profiles

(Newser) - Across the country, local cops are quietly building DNA databases in much the same way they might build a fingerprint catalog, the New York Times reports. New York City has the genetic info of some 11,000 suspects on file, and Orange County, Calif., makes even that trove look tiny,...

Supreme Court: No, You Can't Patent Our DNA

But court rules that synthetic genes are fair game

(Newser) - Sorry, corporate America, you can't own our genes. The Supreme Court declared that unanimously today, ruling against Utah-based Myriad Genetics, which holds patents on a pair of genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. But in something of a compromise, the court ruled that while it was unconstitutional to...

Supreme Court DNA Ruling Has Scary Echoes of Gattaca

Decision opens path to swabbing without suspicion: Noah Feldman

(Newser) - In a 5-4 decision yesterday , the Supreme Court ruled that those arrested for "serious crimes" can have DNA samples taken from their cheeks—even without suspicion. And that "represents a major step toward a Gattaca world," writes Noah Feldman at Bloomberg . In short, evidence can now be...

Supreme Court Upholds DNA Swabs of Those Under Arrest

Not a violation of 4th Amendment

(Newser) - DNA swabbing the cheek of a person arrested—but not yet convicted—for a "serious offense" is just as acceptable as fingerprinting and photographing that person, the Supreme Court ruled today. Such DNA swabs do not violate a person's Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches, the justices found....

Supreme Court Rejects Alabama Immigration Case

Only Scalia votes to hear it

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has rejected Alabama's appeal to revive portions of a state immigration law, including a section that made it a crime to harbor people who are living in the country illegally. The justices today left in place a federal appeals court ruling that blocked parts of the...

Supreme Court's Stephen Breyer Falls Off Bike, Breaks Shoulder

It's his third major accident

(Newser) - One of Stephen Breyer's Supreme Court clerks might gently suggest that it's time to put away the bike: Breyer broke his shoulder today after taking a spill in DC near the Korean War memorial, reports the Los Angeles Times . It's actually his third major bike accident, notes...

No More Mandatory Deportation for Minor Pot Busts
No Mandatory Deportation
for Minor Pot Busts Anymore
supreme court
Apr 24, 2013 5:49 AM CDT

No Mandatory Deportation for Minor Pot Busts Anymore

Possession of small amounts not a federal felony: supreme court

(Newser) - The federal government should stop kicking people out of the country with no chance of appeal for possessing tiny quantities of marijuana, the Supreme Court has decided. The justices ruled 5-2 that those whose crime is only "social sharing of a small amount of marijuana" should no longer be...

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