Supreme Court

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Obama Should Aim for the Center With Court Choice

President has more to gain from picking a centrist who can lead than from a liberal follower

(Newser) - Justice Souter's sayonara gives Democrats a huge (and rare) opportunity to shape the Supreme Court, but President Obama would be wise not to simply appease the party faithful by picking a left-winger, Jonathan Martin writes in Politico. A centrist with leadership skills would be a better choice, Martin argues—somebody...

GOP Girds for Supreme Court Battle
GOP Girds
for Supreme Court Battle
May 1, 2009 8:00 PM CDT

GOP Girds for Supreme Court Battle

Research team seeks 'crazy opinions' to hurt Dems in 2010

(Newser) - Lacking the votes to block President Obama's Supreme Court pick, Republicans have a gang of researchers digging up prospective candidates' "crazy opinions" to hurt Dems in the 2010 midterm elections, a GOP aide tells Politico. But knowing that Obama's pick will likely be a woman or Latino or both—...

Obama Hopes to Replace Souter by Oct.

(Newser) - President Obama said today he will replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter with someone who shares the president's respect for "constitutional values" and hopes to have "him or her" seated by the start of the next term in October. In a dramatic flourish, Obama interrupted White House...

Hispanic Groups Urge Obama to Pick Latino for High Court

Caucus says Hispanics underrepresented in federal courts

(Newser) - Even before David Souter’s retirement plans became public, leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sent President Obama a letter asking him to fill any Supreme Court vacancy with a Latino justice, the Hill reports. Wednesday’s missive praises Obama for appointing Hispanics to key positions—including two Cabinet posts—...

Demjanjuk Can Be Deported: Appeals Court

(Newser) - A federal appeals court today ruled that alleged Nazi guard John Demjanjuk can be deported to Germany to stand trial, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Demjanjuk’s family had argued that the 89-year-old’s poor health would make the flight tantamount to torture, resulting in a stay last month. An...

Obama May Look Off-Court to Fill Souter Vacancy
Obama May Look Off-Court to Fill Souter Vacancy
ANALYSIS
May 1, 2009 7:54 AM CDT

Obama May Look Off-Court to Fill Souter Vacancy

Expect a woman from outside appeals circuit

(Newser) - With everyone attempting to predict President Obama's thinking on a nominee to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court, CBS News makes two observations. The White House has dropped hints that it wants someone who is not a federal appeals court judge—as all nine current justices once were. And...

Justice Souter to Retire at End of Court Term

(Newser) - Supreme Court Justice David Souter plans to retire at the end of the current term in June, reports Nina Totenberg of NPR. The move will give President Obama his first chance to make his mark on the court. Souter, 69, has reportedly informed the White House of his decision. He...

Accident or No, Gunfire Gets Automatic Penalty: Supremes

(Newser) - The Supreme Court says accidentally shooting a gun during the commission of a crime should bring the same penalties as intentionally using a firearm. The high court today upheld the conviction and sentence of Christopher Michael Dean, who was arrested for trying to rob a bank in Georgia in 2004....

Supreme Court Backs FCC's Profanity Policy
Supreme Court Backs FCC's Profanity Policy
ANALYSIS
Apr 28, 2009 12:51 PM CDT

Supreme Court Backs FCC's Profanity Policy

But justices decline to rule on ban's threat to First Amendment

(Newser) - The Supreme Court ruled today that the Federal Communications Commission may fine broadcasters for even a single utterance of a curse word, Lyle Denniston writes for SCOTUSblog. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the FCC’s recent switch in policy from discouraging “dirty words” to a stringent...

At 89, Influential Justice Stevens Isn't Budging

Oldest Supreme is vindicated as dissents become majorities

(Newser) - John Paul Stevens turned 89 last week, and the senior associate justice of the Supreme Court has lived to see many of his dissenting opinions eventually become the majority during his 33 years on the court. Stevens—who has given no indications of impending retirement—has led a number of...

Obama Looks to Limit Right to Counsel

(Newser) - The Obama administration is pushing for a Supreme Court decision that would curtail the right of criminal suspects to counsel, the AP reports. At issue is a 1986 ruling that prevents police from questioning suspects unless a lawyer is present. The Justice Department says the restriction “serves no real...

High Court Skeptical of Strip-Search Case

And sounds skeptical

(Newser) - Savana Redding’s lawyers made their case before the Supreme Court yesterday, condemning the strip-search of a 13-year-old in a hunt for ibuprofen as unreasonable search and seizure. But the justices were skeptical, the LA Times reports, with their questions indicating they were leery of limiting school officials’ powers to...

Supreme Court Limits Car Searches After Arrests

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today put new limits on police officers' ability to search a car after an arrest, the Washington Post reports. The 5-4 ruling—with an unusual grouping of justices—says police need a warrant unless certain criteria apply, a break from the standard practice of about 30 years....

1st Amendment v. Dogfight Video: High Court to Decide

Conviction rests on First Amendment status of animal abuse tapes

(Newser) - The Supreme Court agreed today to hear that pits the First Amendment against the production and sale of dogfighting videos, the Chicago Tribune reports. The case involves a man jailed for selling several brutally explicit videos of pit bulls fighting. A federal appeals court overturned his conviction on grounds that...

Shakespeare Debate Splits Supreme Court

Stevens finds alternate author theory beyond a reasonable doubt

(Newser) - John Paul Stevens and Antonin Scalia don’t agree often, but the justices are united on one case: Neither believes Shakespeare’s plays could possibly have been written by a hick like William Shakespeare. Stevens has even written papers on the topic, and searched the Bard’s home for clues....

Ginsburg Shows No Signs of Slowing Down

Symposium celebrates 'midpoint' of justice's career

(Newser) - Ruth Bader Ginsburg has shown no signs of slowing, despite cancer surgery in February: Since then, she's attended every Supreme Court session, written more opinions than all but one other justice, and raised plenty of questions from the bench. A symposium celebrating Ginsburg’s service almost seemed designed to quash...

White Firefighters' Bias Claims Head to High Court

Conn. team complained after promotion test dumped

(Newser) - Hoping to become lieutenants, 77 New Haven firefighters took a promotion test—but when none of the 19 black firefighters qualified, the city jettisoned the results. Their hopes dashed, 17 white firefighters sued the city for racial discrimination, and the case is now set for the Supreme Court. It marks...

Supreme Court: Suspects Must Go Before Judge Within 6 Hours

Or confessions will be thrown out of fed court

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today threw out the confession of Johnnie Corley, a Pennsylvania robbery suspect, saying that the 29½ hours federal authorities waited before bringing him to court was too long, the AP reports. In a 5-4 decision, the court said any confessions federal authorities elicited before a prisoner’s...

Supreme Court Won't Hear Mumia's Appeal

Abu-Jamal says was convicted by biased jury in 1981 cop death

(Newser) - Mumia Abu-Jamal has lost his bid for a new trial in the 1981 killing of a police officer, the AP reports. The Supreme Court said today it won’t take up Abu-Jamal's claims that prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering a Philadelphia policeman. The...

Supreme Court Refuses Philip Morris Appeal

$79.5M case was seen as way to clamp down on punitive damages

(Newser) - Big business once hoped that the Supreme Court would use a tobacco lawsuit bouncing around the court system since 1999 to clamp down on the awarding of punitive damages. Instead, the AP reports, the Supreme Court gave a one-sentence order refusing to hear an appeal of a $79.5 million...

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