Outside the Beltway

Comments from one Republican Senator are raising the possibility we could see hearings and a vote on Merrick Garland during the post-election lame duck session of Congress.

Early indications are the Ruth Bader Ginsburg and other older Justices don’t plan on leaving any time soon.

Justice Ginsburg made some recent comments about the election that have, to say the least, raised some eyebrows.

Depending on the outcome of the election, the Supreme Court’s just concluded term will most likely be remembered as the point at which the Court’s rightward tilt that began at the end of the Warren Court Era came to an end.

A true legend in legal journalism is moving on.

The Supreme Court has once again issued a ruling that further chips away at the protections of the Fourth Amendment.

With Donald Trump now confirmed as the GOP nominee, some conservatives are suggesting that the Senate GOP should just give in on the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

It may be the talk of Washington, but the political fight over Justice Scalia’s vacant Supreme Court seat does not seem to be something voters care very much about.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case challenging the President’s deportation relief plan, but it’s unlikely we’ll see a ruling on the merits.

Justice Sotomayor argued last week that we ought to look somewhere other than just the Courts of Appeal, the Ivy League, and the Northeast for Supreme Court Justices. She’s right.

Two Republicans who broke with their party to support hearings for Judge Merrick Garland have changed their minds and gotten back in line with the Senate GOP Caucus.

The Supreme Court appears to be looking for a way to resolve an issue that has been mired in controversy for six years now.

Thanks to an equally divided Supreme Court, public employee unions won a case they most likely would have lost had Justice Scalia lived.

Conservatives are doing all they can to make sure Merrick Garland does not get either a hearing or a vote in the Senate, and it’s working.

Another Republican Senator has broken ranks and called for hearings on the nomination of Merrick Garland, as another poll shows most Americans support hearings as well.

The Supreme Court appeared deadlocked during oral argument in the latest case dealing with the PPACA’s contraceptive coverage mandates.

It increasingly appears that the GOP is on the losing side of the argument over whether to hold hearings and a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

A crack in the wall.

President Obama has selected his nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, now the question is whether the Senate will act.

The coming political battle over President Obama’s effort to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia will likely be unlike anything we’ve seen before.

The President could nominate someone to fill the vacancy created by Antonin Scalia’s death as soon a next week, but Republicans in the Senate remain firmly committed to their decision to deny the as yet unnamed nominee any consideration.

Another poll shows that most Americans would prefer that the vacancy on the Supreme Court be filled by President Obama than that it be left open for the next President to fill, but other factors make it unlikely the Senate will act.

Is President Obama planning a Checkmate move in the SCOTUS nomination fight?

Notwithstanding polling that indicates the American public disagrees with them, Senate Republicans emerged from a meeting today largely united on the idea of not giving any Supreme Court nominee named by President a hearing, or even the courtesy of a meeting.

Conservatives are sending a message to Senate Republicans about the vacancy on the Supreme Court, and it may require them to initiate a suicidal game plan.

In 1992, Joe Biden said that no action should be taken on any potential Supreme Court nominations until after that year’s Presidential election. Sound familiar?

Two new polls show that Americans are basically split equally on the question of who should appoint the Justice that will replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.

The unity of the Republican Senate on the idea of no hearings or votes, if it ever really existed, appears to be cracking.

A crack in the Republican wall?

Republicans are putting much on the line in their refusal to consider any Supreme Court nomination from President Obama.

The politicization of Supreme Court appointments didn’t start with Republicans last night.

It didn’t take long for the political battle over the seat held by the late Justice Antonin Scalia to become another part of the 2016 political battle.

In the short term, Justice Scalia’s death will have a significant impact on cases the Supreme Court has already heard, and cases it is scheduled to hear in the next two months.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in what is guaranteed to be a high profile case heading into the 2016 elections.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in a case that could have big implications for redistricting, and the make-up of state legislatures and the House of Representatives.

The Supreme Court has declined to accept an appeal challenging a law barring certain types of so-called ‘assault weapons’ in a Chicago suburb.

After requesting a 30 day extension to reply to the Federal Government’s request for appeal in the case challenging President Obama’s immigration executive action, the states get only eight days.

The Obama Administration is asking the Supreme Court to review a ruling that kept a hold on last year’s immigration execution action in place.

The Supreme Court has accepted a case involving a new Texas abortion law for review, the first abortion rights case it will hear in eight years.

The marriage equality issue is resolved, but that doesn’t mean the Supreme Court won’t have a lot of high profile cases on its docket over the next eight months.

Thanks mostly to Republicans unhappy with the Court’s decisions on same-sex marriage and the Affordable Care Act, public disapproval of the Supreme Court is nearing a new high.

A Federal Appeals Court has upheld a 1949 law that bars protesters from the property around the Supreme Court building. This seems inconsistent with the Court’s recent First Amendment jurisprudence.

Public opinion on the Supreme Court has declined significantly, largely because Republicans don’t like the Supreme Court very much right now.

A new poll shows that solid majorities of Americans support the Supreme Court’s decisions on Obamacare subsidies and marriage. It’s a different story for Republicans.

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the way the death penalty is administered, dealing a serious blow to opponents of the death penalty.

As early as tomorrow, the Supreme Court could issue its ruling in the latest Obamacare case. Depending on the ruling, Republicans could find themselves in a political firestorm.

The Supreme Court ruled that states don’t have to grant license plates that display the Confederate flag. Their decision has the potential to seriously harm the First Amendment.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court let stand a ruling striking down North Carolina’s mandatory ultrasound law.

Starting tomorrow, we can expect to see the Supreme Court hand down decisions in some of its most high profile cases. Here’s a preview.

The Supreme Court accepted a case that will require the Justices to decide just what it meant when it established the “one person, one vote” rule for drawing legislative districts.