Supreme Court

Stories 1901 - 1920 | << Prev   Next >>

Supreme Court Returns for a Big Session

Right-moving bench will rule on lethal injection, Gitmo prisoner rights

(Newser) - The Supreme Court enters its second session with Bush appointees John Roberts and Samuel Alito tomorrow, which means it will likely resume last session’s rightward slant, Reuters says. Before the court will be big cases on Guantanamo inmates’ right to habeas corpus, the legality of the lethal injection death...

Judges Condemn Sentencing Guidelines

High court, Mukasey may give them leeway

(Newser) - Judges across the country are condemning federal sentencing guidelines, 1980s-era anti-drug laws that force them to impose “irrational” sentences, the LA Times reports. “When I have to sentence a midlevel drug dealer to more time than a murderer, something is wrong,” said a judge forced to sentence...

Texas Won't Halt Executions, Despite Stay

State will stick to schedule after Supreme Court ruling

(Newser) - Texas officials plan to go forward with death-row executions, even as other states put them on hold in the wake of the Supreme Court's last-minute stay for Carlton Turner earlier this week. More stays like Turner's are expected in Texas as the court deliberates on the legality of lethal injections,...

Clarence Thomas Settles Scores
Clarence Thomas Settles Scores
Sep 29, 2007 9:06 AM CDT

Clarence Thomas Settles Scores

Book lashes out at media, liberal elites

(Newser) - In a scathing new memoir, Justice Clarence Thomas unleashes his wrath upon those who afflicted him during his 1991 Senate confirmation hearings, calling them a "high-tech lynching" by "left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony." The book, My Grandfather's Son, chronicles the Supreme Court justice's life from his...

Pakistani Judge Frees Political Prisoners

With Musharraf ruling imminent, government clamps down

(Newser) - The chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court today told the government to release more than 100 opposition workers and politicians, the New York Times reports. The arrests were aimed to prevent protests as the court deliberates President Pervez Musharraf's right to run for re-election—a candidacy Musharraf made official...

Supreme Court Will Take Up Lethal Injection

Constitutionality at issue; docket also includes voting rights

(Newser) - The Supreme Court will take up the constitutionality of lethal injections in what a public defender called one of the most critical death penalty cases “in decades.” The challenge stems from a 2004 suit by two Kentucky inmates on death row who charged that the method constitutes cruel...

Senior Justice Is Court's Unlikely Liberal Voice

Stevens calls himself conservative but is stalwart vote for left

(Newser) - “I don’t think of myself as a liberal at all,” John Paul Stevens told the New York Times, but the longest-serving Supreme Court justice is the head of liberal dissent in an increasingly conservative court. Stevens was appointed by Gerald Ford as a moderate Republican in 1975,...

Habeas Corpus Bill Withers in Senate

Combatants' rights measure lacks enough support to force a vote

(Newser) - A bill to allow terrorism suspects to challenge indefinite detention faltered in Washington today as only 56 Senate votes could be mustered to cut off debate on the habeas corpus measure. Sixty are needed for bills to move forward for a vote in the upper chamber; supporters said they might...

Sharif Deported as He Lands in Roiling Pakistan

Arrests, tear gas and blockades greet exiled prime minister's brief return

(Newser) - Within hours of landing back home in Pakistan late last night, exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif  was deported to Saudi Arabia, as his supporters clashed with police near the airport and hundreds were arrested. Thousands more had been arrested in advance of his return. Police escorted Sharif onto a...

Supreme Court Slays Patent Trolls
Supreme
Court Slays Patent Trolls
Aug 21, 2007 6:38 PM CDT

Supreme Court Slays Patent Trolls

Three recent decisions clamp down on frivolous patents and lawsuits

(Newser) - Technology Review looks at three recent Supreme Court decisions—taken together, "historic"—that crack down on "patent trolls," unscrupulous companies that file thousands of patents and just as many lawsuits, aggressively hunting for license fees. The new rulings make it harder to launch these licensing campaigns,...

Oliver Hill, Civil Rights Crusader, Dies

Virginia lawyer played key role in Brown v. Board of Education

(Newser) - Oliver Hill, a Virginia civil rights crusader whose work contributed to the Brown v. Board of Education decision against school segregation, died yesterday at 100. Described as "last lion of the civil-rights movement," Hill was a survivor of D-Day's Omaha Beach landing, and close friends with Justice Thurgood...

Chief Justice Checks Out of Hospital

Roberts 'doing fine' after suffering seizure at vacation home

(Newser) - Chief Justice John Roberts left a Maine hospital today in good condition, a day after suffering a seizure of unknown cause. The 52-year-old jurist told President Bush he was doing just fine, reports the AP. He waved as he scooted out of the hospital and headed back to his vacation...

Chief Justice Is 'Fully Recovered' After Seizure

It's his second mystery collapse

(Newser) - Chief Justice John Roberts was  "fully recovered" yesterday evening following  a seizure at his island summer home off Maine, according to a Supreme Court spokeswoman as Roberts spent the night in a hospital for observation. Roberts had a thorough neurological evaluation that revealed no cause for concern, the Washington ...

Chief Justice Takes a Tumble
Chief Justice Takes a Tumble
Jul 30, 2007 4:28 PM CDT

Chief Justice Takes a Tumble

Roberts taken to hospital as a precaution after fall at Maine vacation home

(Newser) - Chief Justice John Roberts was taken to the hospital in an ambulance this afternoon after falling at his Maine vacation home, the Supreme Court announced. A spokeswoman said he was conscious after the fall, and an EMT told NBC he was alert on the trip to the hospital. The cause...

New Court Overturns O'Connor
New Court Overturns O'Connor
Jul 10, 2007 6:51 AM CDT

New Court Overturns O'Connor

Dahlia Lithwick writes on the jurist's fast- dismantled legacy

(Newser) - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor legal legacy is one of the first casualties of the new Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick writes. After being hailed as the most powerful women in America, the former justice has seen her judgments "explicitly minimized" or "stepped distastefully...

Bush Directs Aides to Defy Subpoenas

Cites executive privilege in bid to stop Miers, Taylor testimony

(Newser) - In an aggressive use of executive privilege, President Bush instructed two of his former aides yesterday to disregard congressional subpoenas demanding they testify about the attorney firings scandal. In a letter to Congress, Bush's counsel rebuffed Democratic senators for encroaching on internal White House affairs, bringing the two branches closer...

Appeals Court Won't Rule on Domestic Spying

Panel KOs warrantless wiretapping case on procedural grounds

(Newser) - Although it raises a "cascade of serious questions," a federal appeals court will not hear a case about the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program because the plaintiffs can't prove they've suffered direct harm. In a 2-1 decision, the Sixth Circuit court dismissed the case, brought by the ACLU and...

Kennedy Is Swing Vote as Supreme Court Shifts Right

The term in review

(Newser) - As the Supreme Court wrapped up its first term under Chief Justice John Roberts Friday, the new court's conservative bent was obvious: the Court swung to the right in most of the ideological cases decided this year by a 5-4 margin. Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered the swing vote, making him...

Supremes Will Hear Gitmo Cases
Supremes Will Hear Gitmo Cases
Jun 29, 2007 10:25 AM CDT

Supremes Will Hear Gitmo Cases

Inmates seek right to challenge confinement in federal court

(Newser) - Two Guantanamo Bay detainees will have their say before the Supreme Court, which today unexpectedly agreed to hear their cases in the term that begins this fall. The prisoners want permission to challenge their indefinite confinement in federal court. The high court had rejected an identical appeal in April, and...

Dems Fret Over School Ruling
Dems Fret Over School Ruling
Jun 29, 2007 8:10 AM CDT

Dems Fret Over School Ruling

Howard U. debate concentrates on race

(Newser) - The Supreme Court decision limiting the role of race in public-school assignments was the talk of the town yesterday—even at the Democratic debate. The agenda at historically black Howard University was minority issues, and although attention naturally fell on Barack Obama, his seven competitors also had their moments in...

Stories 1901 - 1920 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser