Yesterday, an evenly divided 4–4 U.S. Supreme Court, with Justice Barrett having recused herself, decided in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond to leave in place the holding of the Oklahoma Supreme Court...more
5/23/2025
/ Charter Schools ,
Educational Institutions ,
Executive Powers ,
Federal Reserve ,
First Amendment ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
NLRB ,
Religious Institutions ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Supreme Court Justices
On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative that will leverage the federal False Claims Act (FCA) to investigate and litigate against universities, contractors, health...more
On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative that will leverage the federal False Claims Act (FCA) to investigate and litigate against universities, contractors, health...more
Late on Friday, May 16, in the case of A.A.R.P. v. Trump, the U.S. Supreme Court enjoined the Trump administration from carrying out further deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (the “Act”) of 176 Venezuelan...more
The most anticipated event at the U.S. Supreme Court today was the oral argument in the birthright citizenship case....more
The U.S. Supreme Court did not publish any opinions last week, but I note with sadness the death of retired Justice David Souter on May 8.
I got to know Justice Souter first during his vetting in 1990....more
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court again decided only a single case, that of Feliciano v. Department of Transportation, and, to many Court observers, the most interesting thing about it is the lineup of Justices—one that...more
In its 2022 decision in Becerra v. Empire Health Foundation, for Valley Hospital Medical Center, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the phrase “entitled to [Medicare Part A] benefits” applied to “all those qualifying for the...more
Immigration-related cases have recently been highly controversial and much in the news.
Thus, it should be unsurprising that the U.S. Supreme Court was sharply divided in the case of Monsalvo Velázquez v. Bondi, the...more
Notwithstanding its mounting backlog, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved only one case today, an unsurprising unanimous decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University....more
Late in the day on April 10, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion relating to an order in the case of Noem v. Abrego Garcia....more
The motions docket of the U.S. Supreme Court remains busy. Following the April 4 decision in Department of Education v. California—in which the Court, treating a temporary restraining order (TRO) as if it were a preliminary...more
While not a decision on the merits, the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion on April 4, 2025, in Department of Education v. California is worth considering....more
On March 28, 2025, a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that President Donald Trump likely has the authority to remove National Labor Relations Board...more
3/31/2025
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employee Rights ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRB ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Quorum ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Trump Administration
The Supreme Court decided two cases today, continuing the release of opinions on which the Court is not deeply divided. The tougher ones are yet to come....more
The U.S. Supreme Court resolved more textual battles yesterday, one in a fully argued case, the other on procedural motions. The combinations of Justices continue to defy stereotypes, and at least one of those combinations,...more
3/6/2025
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Veterans Affairs ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Aid ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Supreme Court Justices ,
Veterans
Only a few readers of SCOTUS Today are lawyers who are professionally occupied with environmental matters. However, almost all of my readers are constantly occupied with administrative law matters, governed in the...more
Yesterday was a day of unanimity at the U.S. Supreme Court, and what the Justices were unanimous about was a textually literal approach to applying dictionary definitions to resolve statutory disputes....more
2/27/2025
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Lanham Act ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks
The U.S. Supreme Court decided two cases yesterday, one of which, Lackey v. Stinnie, involved an action brought pursuant to 42 U. S. C. §1983 and should be of particular interest to the many readers of this blog who practice...more
2/26/2025
/ 42 U.S.C. §1983 ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Criminal Procedure ,
Due Process ,
Equal Protection ,
Evidence ,
False Evidence ,
False Testimony ,
Jurisdiction ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Prevailing Party ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS
President Donald Trump has made several significant and sudden changes at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC” or “the Commission”), the agency responsible for enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of...more
2/12/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
NLRB ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “EO”), which aims to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies...more
In one of his first acts as President in his second term in office, Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 21, 2025, entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (“Order”)....more
1/29/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
OFCCP ,
Trump Administration
The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the nationwide injunction that had been blocking the enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) while the merits of the CTA are pending a decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for...more
As the snow has fallen on Washington, DC’s First Street over the past few days, the Supreme Court has begun to issue opinions in the current term....more
In its first decision on the merits in the current term, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court (per Jackson, J.) has held in Bouarfa v. Mayorkas that revocation of an approved visa petition under 8 U.S.C. §1155, based on a...more