US supreme court sides with Germany in Nazi art dispute

Court ruled unanimously that Germany had sovereign immunity in US courts from claims over the Guelph collection

The US supreme court rejected a suit on Wednesday by the heirs of Nazi-era Jewish art dealers for compensation from Germany for a storied collection of medieval art treasures.

Related: Nazi art dispute goes to US supreme court in landmark case

Continue reading...

Dominion Voting Systems sues Giuliani for $1.3bn over baseless election claims

Complaint accuses ex-mayor of having ‘manufactured and disseminated’ conspiracy theory related to voting machines

Dominion Voting Systems, the voting equipment manufacturer at the centre of baseless election fraud conspiracy theories pushed by Donald Trump and his allies, has sued the former president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in a $1.3bn defamation lawsuit.

Related: Schumer promises quick but fair trial as Trump impeachment heads to Senate

Continue reading...

Woman who allegedly helped steal Pelosi laptop to be released from jail

Federal judge directed that Riley June Williams be released into the custody of her mother, with travel restrictions

A Pennsylvania woman facing charges that she helped steal a laptop from the office of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, during the attack on the US Capitol will be released from jail, a federal judge decided on Thursday.

US magistrate judge Martin Carlson directed that Riley June Williams be released into the custody of her mother, with travel restrictions, and instructed her to appear on Monday in federal court in Washington to continue her case.

Continue reading...

‘This is not justice’: supreme court liberals slam Trump’s federal executions

The supreme court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer have excoriated the Trump administration for carrying out its 13th and final federal execution days before the president leaves office.

Related: Dustin Higgs becomes 13th and final federal prisoner executed under Trump

Continue reading...

Nancy Pelosi says lawmakers who aided in Capitol attack may be prosecuted

House speaker’s comments come after a congresswoman said she saw colleagues leading ‘reconnaissance’ tours before the riot

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has said it is possible that members of Congress could face prosecution if found to have “aided and abetted” the violent attack on the Capitol earlier this month that left five people dead.

“Justice is called for as we address insurrection perpetrated against the Capitol last week,” the Democratic speaker told reporters on Friday.

Continue reading...

Trump Twitter: Republicans and Democrats split over freedom of speech

Twitter’s decision to permanently suspend Donald Trump’s account in the wake of the storming of Capitol Hill on Wednesday continues to stoke fierce debate, supporters and critics split on partisan lines as they contest what the suspension means for a cherished American tradition: freedom of speech.

Related: Insurrection Day: when white supremacist terror came to the US Capitol

Continue reading...

US Capitol attack: Trump at bay as first Republican senator calls for resignation

Donald Trump’s grip on the US presidency appeared increasingly tenuous on Saturday as Democrats advanced plans to impeach him for a second time, political allies continued to abandon him and Twitter banned his account, removing his most powerful way to spread lies and incite violence.

Continue reading...

Enrique Tarrio, leader of rightwing Proud Boys, arrested ahead of rallies

He was charged with destruction of property – related to his role in burning a Black Lives Matter banner – and a firearms offense

The leader of the Proud Boys, the violent far-right group, was arrested in Washington DC and charged with destruction of property and a firearms offense, according to local police.

The arrest of Enrique Tarrio on Monday comes ahead of pro-Donald Trump protests in Washington planned for Tuesday and Wednesday to coincide with the US Congress’ vote on Wednesday affirming Joe Biden’s election victory.

Continue reading...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg remembered by Lisa Beattie Frelinghuysen

15 March 1933 – 18 September 2020

The revered US supreme court justice’s former clerk recalls a friend who cared passionately about the dignity and rights of all

Before she became the Notorious RBG, Justice Ginsburg was my hero. I had worked at the American Civil Liberties Union and knew of her advocacy establishing gender equality in the law. I was beyond excited years later to interview for a judicial clerkship with her, and yet the interview began in the most awkward way. She appeared at the door of her Watergate apartment, elegant and soft spoken. I noticed my writing samples in her left hand, a bright red circle around a few words on the first page. My heart sank. Did I actually send an article with an error?! She noted that I omitted a “per curium” parenthetical following a case name. I smiled at her precision – she was of course correct – and explained that I was writing for a lay audience, omitting the Latin to keep their attention. She gave me a kind pass. We proceeded to have a rich discussion about gender equality and reproductive justice. I was thrilled when she then offered me the clerkship.

That year, October term 1995, a big women’s rights case came before the supreme court: United States v Virginia, challenging the male-only admission policy at Virginia Military Institute (VMI). The experience of researching, drafting, and polishing the landmark opinion brought us close together. She cared a great deal about this case. Drawing on case law she helped establish as a women’s rights litigator, this was her first gender equality opinion as a supreme court justice. She was persuasive here too: a large majority of the justices joined her opinion, in which she noted that VMI had continued to exclude women, when our constitutional understanding of who was included in “We the People” had expanded.

Continue reading...

Supreme court rejects Trump-backed Texas lawsuit aiming to overturn election results

Court blocks baseless effort by Republicans to undo Joe Biden’s victory in four states

The US supreme court has unanimously rejected a baseless lawsuit filed by Texas seeking to overturn the presidential election result, dealing the biggest blow yet to Donald Trump’s assault on democracy.

In a brief, one page order, all nine justices on America’s highest court dismissed the longshot effort to throw out the vote counts in four states that the president lost: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Continue reading...

Hunter Biden says US attorney’s office is investigating his ‘tax affairs’

President-elect’s son, who has been targeted by Trump for unproven corruption charges, said he handled his affairs ‘legally and appropriately’

President-elect Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, said on Wednesday that the US attorney’s office in Delaware had opened an investigation into his “tax affairs”.

Hunter Biden, who has long been a target of Donald Trump and his allies, said he had learned about the federal investigation on Tuesday from his lawyer, who was informed of the matter by the US attorney’s office earlier that day.

Continue reading...

Texas sues four states over election results in effort to help Donald Trump

Long-shot lawsuit against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin is latest legal effort intended to reverse Biden’s victory

The state of Texas, aiming to help Donald Trump upend the results of the US election, decisively won by Joe Biden, said on Tuesday it has filed a lawsuit against the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the US supreme court, calling changes they made to election procedures amid the coronavirus pandemic unlawful.

Continue reading...

Nazi art dispute goes to US supreme court in landmark case

Heirs of Jewish art dealers bring case over Guelph Treasure that defence lawyers say could open floodgates

A 12-year wrangle over a rare collection of medieval ecclesiastical art sold by Jewish art dealers to the Nazis in 1935 will arrive in front of the highest court in the US on Monday, in a landmark case defence lawyers say could open the floodgates for restitution battles from all over the world to be fought via the US.

The supreme court will hear oral arguments on whether the dealers’ heirs can sue in US courts to retrieve the church reliquaries, known as the Guelph Treasure or Welfenschatz, from Germany.

Continue reading...

Can Trump actually stage a coup and stay in office for a second term?

The president refuses to acknowledge Biden’s win, but experts say there is no constitutional path forward for him to remain in the White House

Joe Biden won the presidential election, a fact that Donald Trump and other Republicans refuse to acknowledge.

There are worries the president and other Republicans will make every effort to stay in power. “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, said last week. William Barr, the attorney general, has also authorized federal prosecutors to begin to investigate election irregularities, a move that prompted the head of the justice department’s election crimes unit to step down from his position and move to another role. On Tuesday, Trump fired Christopher Krebs, the director of the federal agency that vouched for the reliability of the 2020 election and had pushed back on the president’s baseless claims of voter fraud.

Continue reading...

Ivanka Trump calls New York fraud inquiries ‘harassment’

Authorities reportedly looking at consulting fees that may have gone to president’s eldest daughter

Authorities conducting fraud investigations into Donald Trump and his businesses are reportedly looking at consulting fees that may have gone to his daughter Ivanka Trump, prompting her to accuse them of “harassment”.

The New York Times said there were twin New York investigations, one criminal and one civil.

Continue reading...

Conservative US supreme court justices suggest Obamacare will be upheld

Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts indicated law could be upheld even if court deems one part of it unconstitutional

Two conservative supreme court justices have suggested the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could be upheld, as oral arguments began in a suit backed by the Trump administration which threatens the healthcare of millions amid a global pandemic.

Continue reading...

Supreme court to hear Obamacare case that may lead to 20m losing insurance

Court will hear a case a week after election day that could result in the law being overturned – or only one provision eliminated

For more than a decade, Republicans have sought to destroy the signature achievement of the Obama administration – the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Exactly one week after election day, they might succeed.

Continue reading...

Seven new charges brought against adult film star Ron Jeremy

He has now been accused by 23 alleged victims and faces a total of 11 counts of rape, eight of sexual battery and 16 other sexual offenses

Porn star Ron Jeremy was charged on Wednesday with an additional seven counts of rape and sexual assault, bringing to 23 the number of his alleged victims, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said.

Jeremy, 67, one of the biggest names in the adult film industry, was initially charged in June with raping three women and sexually assaulting a fourth, but more women have come forward to police since then.

Continue reading...

Biden attacks Trump’s ‘rushed and unprecedented’ confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett – US politics live

Donald Trump Jr has just retweeted Derek Hunter saying that “Leftists really seem to want dead police officers” in connection to the shooting of Walter Wallace Jr in Philadelphia.

Police shot and killed a guy coming at them with a knife who was given ample opportunity to drop it and didn't. Leftists really seem to want dead police officers. https://t.co/askRXGpEzs

Related: Philadelphia protesters take to streets after police killing of black man

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany once praised Joe Biden as “a man of the people” capable of “coming off as human” and “resonating with middle class voters”.

In an interview with a New York radio station in 2015, she also said that though she thought Donald Trump would be more likely to beat Biden, then considering a run for president, than Hillary Clinton, “I think the juxtaposition of kind of the man of the people and kind of this tycoon, is a problem.”

Continue reading...

Amy Coney Barrett’s appointment is a wake-up call for women voters | Cecile Richards

It’s not only Roe v Wade on the line. Parental leave, affordable childcare, equal pay, the Affordable Care Act - all are under threat

The pandemic and its collateral economic crisis have illustrated like never before that women are the backbone of America. Before Covid-19, women made up more than half the workforce, nearly two-thirds of minimum-wage workers, and the majority of caregivers. One in three jobs held by women has been designated as essential. Right now, millions of women are pulling off an impossible balancing act: working while trying to keep their families safe and healthy during a terrifying time. Others have lost jobs, have had their wages or hours cut, and more than 800,000 women have left the workforce.

This crisis is disproportionately burdening women, especially women of color. They need immediate relief, but instead of solving this crisis, Donald Trump and Senate Republicans have focused on one thing: pushing through a supreme court nominee who wants to take away healthcare for millions and strip away rights women have had for decades. And they’re doing it against the will of the majority of Americans, who believe that voters should decide who makes the next appointment to the court.

Continue reading...