Outside the Beltway

For the second time in two years, the Supreme Court starts a new term down one Justice. That isn’t as big a problem as it might seem.

Initial polling on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court find the public more divided than they have been for other recent SCOTUS picks, but that’s unlikely to impact the fate of his nomination.

As Washington gets ready to fight a new battle over Roe v. Wade an new poll shows that most Americans oppose overturning that decision.

President Trump is reportedly considering the 47-year-old Utah Senator to replace Anthony Kennedy.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that public sector unions cannot force employees to pay membership fees.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court struck down a California law requiring Crisis Pregnancy Centers to provide information about abortion.

The Supreme Court has largely rejected a challenge to state and Federal redistricting maps in the State of Texas.

In Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, Samuel Alito authored a 5-4 opinion ruling that removing voters from the rolls after four years is perfectly legal.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that a police officer violated the Fourth Amendment when he conducted a search on a vehicle parked in a Defendant’s driveway without a search warrant.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument in the challenge to President Trump’s Muslim Travel Ban. It didn’t appear to go well for the challengers.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument yesterday in a case alleging that Texas’s Congressional and state legislative districts were drawn with the intent to discriminate based on race.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument in the second partisan gerrymandering case of the term, and once again they appear to be divided.

The Supreme Court appears ready to strike down a California law requiring Crisis Pregnancy Centers to provide information on abortion.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a case pitting the First Amendment against the right of states to regulate elections.

The Supreme Court has declined to stay a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling requiring the legislature to redraw the state’s Congressional District map.

The Supreme Court heard argument today in a case challenging a 1992 law barring sports gambling in all but a handful of states, and the Justices appeared skeptical of the law.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument yesterday in what could end up being a landmark case on the issue of the scope of Fourth Amendment rights in the 21st Century.

The Supreme Court ruled today that states may not exclude church-run schools from an aid program with a wholly secular purpose.

In a decision that hands a victory to both sides, the Supreme Court has partly upheld, and partly lifted, the stay on President Trump’s Executive Order that banned travel from six majority-Muslim nations.

The Supreme Court rules that states cannot bar convicted felons from using social media sites.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court accepted a case that will determine whether the Fourth Amendment allows law enforcement to obtain location data without a search warrant.

The Supreme Court made it harder for states to keep fines and other payments in cases where defendants are exonerated.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument yesterday in a case dealing with whether Missouri can deny a religious school from participating in a program to make school playgrounds safer.

Next week’s big news is likely to be the Senate’s vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, which could mean invocation of the so-called ‘nuclear option’ by Senate Republicans.

John McCain said that Senate Republicans will unite to block any Supreme Court appointment by a President Hillary Clinton.

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.

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.

What would Jed Bartlet do?

The Supreme Court is now considering a case that deals with the problem of overly broad civil asset forfeiture laws and a Defendant’s right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment.

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

SCOTUS has upheld the use of election commissions to draw Congressional district lines.

The era of legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act is over.

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.

A sharply divided Court heard argument today on an issue that has sharply divided the nation.

By refusing to stay the legalization of same-sex marriage in Alabama, the Supreme Court has sent the strongest signal yet that it is ready to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

The next President will have a profound ability to shape the future of the Supreme Court, but that is unlikely to be the most important issue on voters minds in 2016.

The Supreme Court has limited the ability of public employee unions to force people to join their ranks.

A legal setback for Voter ID laws in Wisconsin.

Yesterday the Supreme Court greatly expanded the circumstances under which police can rely on anonymous tips.

The Supreme Court heard argument in a major campaign finance case yesterday.

If you can name at least one of these people, you know more than two-thirds of your fellow citizens.

Today, the Supreme Court decided that mandatory life sentences for juveniles violate the 8th Amendment.

This week’s hearings in the Supreme Court caught many proponents of the Affordable Care Act off guard.

By the end of today’s first day of hearings on the Affordable Care Act, the Justices seem eager to take the consider the case on the merits.

Voter ID laws are a good idea, but we have to be careful in how we implement them.

In a 24/7 media climate, there is no single presidential thought that isn’t endlessly aired and debated.

Did Speaker Boehner insult President Obama by snubbing his speech request? If so, so what?

A few liberal law professors say Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg should resign now so President Obama can pick her successor.