u.s. supreme court
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US Supreme Court to Weigh In on Whether Census Can Ask Citizenship Status
It’s funny how the “construction” of the U.S. Constitution only really seems to matter to conservatives when said construct conforms to a belief near and dear to their hearts. Like, let’s say, the Second Amendment, and what it has to say about guns. So-called constructionists and gun advocates often argue that any changes to law…
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Supreme Court to Hear Whether ‘DC Sniper’ Lee Boyd Malvo Deserves New Sentencing
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of Lee Boyd Malvo, who participated in one of the most notorious, murderous shooting sprees in U.S. history, to determine if he should be re-sentenced because he was a minor at the time of his crimes. In September and October 2002, 17-year-old Malvo and…
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Does a New Supreme Court Ruling Mean Police Can No Longer Use Asset Forfeiture to Enrich Their Departments?
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution limits the ability of state and local police to seize and keep cash, property, and other assets that may have been used to commit crimes, particularly when it’s used to enrich police departments. Written by Ruth Bader Ginsburg on her first day back at…
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Clarence Thomas Sexual Harassment Accuser Wants Him Impeached
Angela Wright-Shannon accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in the 1980s, and now, in a scathing op-ed, she’s calling for his impeachment and removal from the bench. Wright-Shannon, a former Charlotte Observer editor, wrote in her HuffPost essay published Monday that she and several other women, including Anita Hill, accused Thomas of…
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Trump’s Travel Ban Is Back On, Says Supreme Court
The Supreme Court said Monday that it will allow President Donald Trump’s travel ban to be fully enforced while legal challenges against it wend their way through the lower courts. In layman’s terms, individuals from six majority-Muslim nations and two others will no longer be able to travel to the United States. There’s also a…
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Justice Clarence Thomas Gets Exhibit in National Museum of African American History and Culture
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture unveiled its latest exhibit, one featuring Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a figure whose absence from the museum when it opened a year ago raised eyebrows among conservatives. According to the Washington Times, Thomas appears as part of an exhibit that was installed just before…
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US Supreme Court Grants Last-Minute Stay of Execution for Ga. Man Convicted by a Racist Juror
Keith Tharpe, a Georgia man who was convicted of murder in 1991 and sentenced to death, did not die as scheduled Tuesday. Instead, the U.S. Supreme Court intervened at the last moment and granted Tharpe a stay of execution just three-and-a-half hours after he was scheduled to be put to death by legal injection, the…
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Black Man Takes Miss. Flag to Supreme Court Because … Look at It
A black Mississippi man who argues that the state’s flag is a symbol of white supremacy is taking his fight to the Supreme Court of the United States, setting the stage for the possibility that SCOTUS could ban all official use of Confederate imagery. According to an Associated Press report, in February 2016, Carlos Moore…
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US Supreme Court Ruling on Offensive Trademarks Means Washington Redskins Will Likely Keep Their Name
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that the government cannot refuse to register a trademark because some may find the trademarked words offensive, saying that the disparagement clause of the copyright law is not an anti-discrimination clause but, rather, a “happy-talk” clause. The 39-page opinion (pdf) in Matal v. Tam ruled in favor of…
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Senate Democrats Secure Enough Votes to Filibuster Gorsuch; GOP Rule Change Likely
A few weeks ago, when a day of Senate hearings on Donald Trump’s nominee for the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court ended on what was described as a “confrontational note,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that Democrats would filibuster the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch, and on Monday, they secured…