Recent Updates
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Without Ginsburg, high court support for health law in doubt
Litigation Reports 11/08/2020Until six weeks ago, defenders of the Affordable Care Act could take comfort in some simple math. Five Supreme Court justices who had twice preserved the Obama-era health care law remained on the bench and seemed unlikely votes to dismantle it.But Ju...
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Supreme Court to hear case about juvenile life sentences
Legal Compliance 11/04/2020The Supreme Court is to hear arguments in a case that could put the brakes on what has been a gradual move toward more leniency for children who are convicted of murder. The court has concluded over the last two decades that children should be treate...
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Supreme Court issues flurry of last-minute election orders
Litigation Reports 10/31/2020North Carolina, yes. Pennsylvania, yes. Wisconsin, no. That’s how the Supreme Court has answered questions in recent days about an extended timeline for receiving and counting ballots in those states. In each case, Democrats backed the extensio...
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US to get 9th justice with Dems powerless to block Barrett
Litigation Reports 10/27/2020A divided Senate is set to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, giving the country a ninth justice Monday as Republicans overpower Democratic opposition to secure President Donald Trump’s nominee the week before Election Day. Democra...
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Trump, Biden lawyer up, brace for White House legal battle
Litigation Reports 10/24/2020President Donald Trump’s and Democratic rival Joe Biden’s campaigns are assembling armies of powerful lawyers for the possibility that the race for the White House is decided not at the ballot box but in court. They have been engaging in ...
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Despite rhetoric, GOP has supported packing state courts
Litigation Reports 10/20/2020Republican claims that Democrats would expand the U.S. Supreme Court to undercut the conservative majority if they win the presidency and control of Congress has a familiar ring. It's a tactic the GOP already has employed in recent years with state s...
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Pennsylvania high court to settle voter signatures fight
Litigation Reports 10/17/2020Pennsylvania’s highest court granted a request Wednesday to wade into a fight over whether counties should count mail-in ballots when a voter’s signature doesn’t necessarily match the one on their registration. In its brief order, t...
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Health care law on line at court, but is it likely to fall?
U.S. Court News 10/13/2020To hear Democrats tell it, a Supreme Court with President Donald Trump’s nominee Amy Coney Barrett could quickly get rid of the law that gives more than 20 million Americans health insurance coverage. But that’s not the inevitable outcome...
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High court nominee served as ‘handmaid’ in religious group
Litigation Reports 10/09/2020Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett served as a “handmaid,” the term then used for high-ranking female leaders in the People of Praise religious community, an old directory for the group’s members shows.Barrett has thus far refu...
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High court reinstates S. Carolina ballot witness requirement
Litigation Reports 10/06/2020The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a requirement that South Carolina voters using absentee ballots in November’s election get a witness to sign their ballots.Democrats had sought to have the requirement put on hold because of the coronaviru...
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High Court Won't Take up Ex-Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis' Case
Litigation Reports 10/05/2020The Supreme Court is leaving in place a decision that allowed a lawsuit to move forward against a Kentucky clerk who was jailed in 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.The high court said Monday it would not take the cas...
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Virus spreads on panel handling Supreme Court nomination
Legal Compliance 10/03/2020Two Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have tested positive for the coronavirus, raising questions about the timing of Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett and whether additional senators may have been exp...