Category Archives: US Supreme Court

Sonia Sotomayor apologizes to Brett Kavanaugh in US supreme court justice spat

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In a spilling of the court’s divisions in public, Sotomayor had criticized Kavanaugh over a dissenting ruling on ICE raids

Sonia Sotomayor, a US supreme court justice, issued an apology on Wednesday for her recent criticism of fellow justice Brett Kavanaugh, an unusual public mea culpa that underscores the continuing divisions within the nation’s top judicial body over its direction and actions in high-profile cases.

Sotomayor had criticized Kavanaugh at an event in Kansas last week for an opinion he wrote in September concurring with the court’s decision backing roving immigration raids in California. Kavanaugh is one of the court’s six conservative justices, while Sotomayor is the senior member of the court’s three-justice liberal bloc.

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Supreme court justices appear skeptical of move to end birthright citizenship as Trump attends arguments

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The US president issued an executive order in 2025 that seeks to undo constitutional right to birthright citizenship

The US supreme court on Wednesday appeared poised to protect birthright citizenship, the longstanding policy that babies born in the US are American citizens, in what would be a blow to a key immigration policy for Donald Trump.

The court heard oral arguments with Trump himself in attendance inside the courtroom’s public gallery. A majority of justices asked questions indicating skepticism about the government’s attempt to overturn birthright citizenship. But while some expected the case to be a clearcut win for those challengingthe government, it is unclear how many justices might side with Trump. A decision is expected this summer.

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US supreme court blocks California privacy protections for trans students

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State laws had limited sharing of information with parents about gender identity of trans students in public schools

The US supreme court has decided to block a series of California laws that can limit the sharing of information with parents about the gender identity of transgender students in public ​schools. This ruling marks a victory for parents who challenged these protections on religious and due process grounds.

The emergency request was granted on Monday and the decision was made along party lines, with the three liberal justices dissenting.

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Supreme court hands Republicans win over preserving New York City voting district

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Ruling retains boundaries for 2026 elections despite state court ruling it was unfair to Black and Hispanic residents

The supreme court on Monday sided with Republicans in ruling that the boundaries of the only GOP-held congressional district in New York City do not need to be redrawn for the 2026 elections, despite a court ruling that the district is unfair to Black and Hispanic residents.

Over the dissent of the court’s three liberal justices, the conservative majority halted the state court ruling that had ordered New York’s redistricting commission to redraw the district held by Nicole Malliotakis that covers Staten Island and a small piece of Brooklyn.

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Trump administration warns tariff refund process ‘will take time’

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DoJ says it will not ask US supreme court to rehear tariffs case despite president’s complaint on Truth Social

The Trump administration said refunds of tariffs struck down by the US supreme court “will take time”, according to court documents filed by the Department of Justice.

Businesses including FedEx have lined up to demand reimbursement for US tariffs they have paid but that the court last week deemed were imposed illegally, prompting heavy criticism from Donald Trump.

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Furious Trump signs global 10% duty after supreme court issues tariff blow

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President calls six justices a ‘disgrace to the nation’ while praising three justices who dissented

Donald Trump on Friday railed against the supreme court justices who blocked his use of tariffs, calling them a “disgrace to the nation”, and later signing documents imposing a 10% tariff on all countries.

Trump said he would immediately sign an order increasing tariffs globally by 10% under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and will begin investigations of unfair trade practices allowing further tariffs. He asserted that he had the authority to impose additional tariffs under existing statutes without congressional approval.

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Supreme court blocks order that found Texas congressional map was likely racially biased

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Temporary hold on lower court ruling will remain in place while supreme court considers whether to allow new map

The US supreme court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas’s 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by Donald Trump likely discriminated on the basis of race.

The order, signed by Justice Samuel Alito, will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map, which is favorable to Republicans, to be used in the midterm elections.

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US supreme court lets Trump block passport sex markers for trans and non-binary people

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Decision by high court’s conservative majority is Trump administration’s latest win on emergency docket

The supreme court on Thursday allowed Donald Trump’s administration to enforce a policy blocking transgender and non-binary people from choosing passport sex markers that align with their gender identity.

The decision by the high court’s conservative majority is Trump’s latest win on the high court’s emergency docket, and it means his administration can enforce the policy while a lawsuit over it plays out. It halts a lower-court order requiring the government to keep letting people choose male, female or X on their passport to line up with their gender identity on new or renewed passports.

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US supreme court hears oral arguments on legality of Trump imposing tariffs

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President’s tariffs are being scrutinized in crucial legal test of plan to impose duties on nearly every US trading partner

Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on the world are being scrutinized by the US supreme court today, a crucial legal test of the president’s controversial economic strategy – and his power.

Justices started to hear oral arguments this morning on the legality of using emergency powers to impose tariffs on almost every US trading partner.

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Trump officials ask supreme court to permit national guard in Illinois

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Justice department submits emergency filing as Trump pushes to expand use of military in Democratic-led cities

The Trump administration on Friday asked the US supreme court to permit the deployment of national guard troops to Illinois, as the president pushes to expand the domestic use of the military in a growing number of Democratic-led cities.

In an emergency filing, the justice department urged the court to overturn a lower court ruling that halted the deployment of several hundred national guard troops to the Chicago area. The district judge had raised doubts about the administration’s justification for sending troops, questioning its explanation in light of local conditions.

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US supreme court begins new term with nation’s democratic governance at stake

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Scrutiny on the nine justices is about to reach a new level of intensity as Trump aggressively asserts executive power

Context may be everything in the precedent-shattering era of the current US supreme court.

For several years – since conservatives, gained a six-three majority on the bench thanks to Donald Trump’s nominations during his first presidency – the court has been delivering transformative rulings that have reverberated across the social and political landscape.

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US supreme court allows Trump to strip temporary status from Venezuelans

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Justices’ order puts on hold lower-court ruing that found officials had wrongly ended temporary protected status

The US supreme court on Friday allowed Donald Trump’s administration to strip legal protections from more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants.

The justices issued an emergency order, which will last as long as the court case continues, putting on hold a lower-court ruling by US district judge Edward Chen in San Francisco that found the president’s administration had wrongly ended temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans. The three liberal justices dissented.

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Trump again asks supreme court to end protections for Venezuelans in US

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Justice department urges court to overturn ruling that Kristi Noem lacked authority to end TPS program

The Trump administration asked the US supreme court on Friday to intervene for the second time in a case involving its bid to end deportation protections the former president, Joe Biden, granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States.

The justice department filed an emergency application asking the justices to lift a federal judge’s ruling that the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, lacked the authority to end the protections for Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program.

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Supreme court lifts restrictions on Los Angeles immigration raids in win for Trump

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Conservative majority lifts restraining order from judge who found’roving patrols’ were conducting indiscriminate arrests

The US supreme court on Monday cleared the way for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration operations in Los Angeles, the latest victory for Donald Trump’s administration at the high court.

The conservative majority lifted a restraining order from a judge who found that “roving patrols” were conducting indiscriminate arrests in LA. The order had barred agents from stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.

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Amy Coney Barrett says supreme court rulings are ‘not opinion polls’

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Justice believes court should not ‘impose’ own values as it weighs request to overturn same-sex marriage decision

US supreme court rulings are “not just an opinion poll” of its nine judges’ beliefs, conservative Amy Coney Barrett says, as she and her colleagues weigh a request to overturn the legalization of same-sex marriage.

“The court should not be imposing its own values on the American people,” Barrett remarked in a preview of an interview airing on the latest episode of CBS News Sunday Morning. “That’s for the democratic process.”

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Amy Coney Barrett says supreme court rulings are ‘not opinion polls’

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Justice believes court should not ‘impose’ own values as it weighs request to overturn same-sex marriage decision

US supreme court rulings are “not just an opinion poll” of its nine judges’ beliefs, conservative Amy Coney Barrett says, as she and her colleagues weigh a request to overturn the legalization of same-sex marriage.

“The court should not be imposing its own values on the American people,” Barrett remarked in a preview of an interview airing on the latest episode of CBS News Sunday Morning. “That’s for the democratic process.”

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Trump asks US supreme court to overturn trade tariffs ruling

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Move follows federal appeals court decision that sweeping ‘liberation day’ levies on imports had overstepped presidential powers

Donald Trump has asked the US supreme court to overturn a lower court decision that most of his sweeping trade tariffs were illegal.

The US president filed a petition late on Wednesday to ask for a review of last week’s federal appeals court ruling in Washington DC, which centred on his “liberation day” border taxes introduced on 2 April, which imposed levies of between 10% and 50% on most US imports, sending shock waves through global trade and markets.

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US supreme court clears way for Trump officials to resume mass government firings

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Justices lift lower court order that froze ‘reductions in force’ federal layoffs while litigation in case proceeded

The US supreme court has cleared the way for Donald Trump’s administration to resume plans for mass firings of federal workers that critics warn could threaten critical government services.

Extending a winning streak for the US president, the justices on Tuesday lifted a lower court order that had frozen sweeping federal layoffs known as “reductions in force” while litigation in the case proceeds.

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US supreme court rules in favor of age checks for pornography websites to keep children away

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Court’s conservative justices said Texas law requiring online age verification didn’t violate free expression. PornHub had gone dark in Texas in protest of the law

The US supreme court ruled that a Texas law requiring that pornography websites verify the ages of their visitors was constitutional on Friday, the latest development in a global debate over how to prevent minors from accessing adult material online.

“HB 1181 simply requires adults to verify their age before they can access speech that is obscene to children,” Clarence Thomas wrote in the court’s 6-3 majority opinion. “The statute advances the state’s important interest in shielding children from sexually explicit content. And, it is appropriately tailored because it permits users to verify their ages through the established methods of providing government-issued identification and sharing transactional data.” Elena Kagan dissented alongside the court’s two other liberal justices.

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Supreme court paves way for South Carolina and other states to defund Planned Parenthood

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Decision could embolden red states in US to block clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid funds

The US supreme court has paved the way for South Carolina to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program over its status as an abortion provider, a decision that could embolden red states across the country to effectively “defund” the reproductive healthcare organization.

The case, Medina v Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centers around a 2018 executive order from South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, that blocked clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. “Payment of taxpayer funds to abortion clinics, for any purpose, results in the subsidy of abortion and the denial of the right to life,” McMaster said at the time, even though the reimbursements could not be used for abortions. Abortions are also now banned in South Carolina after six weeks of pregnancy.

More details soon…

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