The federal judge who struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriages last week refused on Thursday to postpone his decision, but did rule that it would not take effect until the Ninth Circuit Court has a chance to “consider the issue in an orderly manner.”  The order can be found here.  U.S. More here:  Same-sex marriage: Close, but ...

The Supreme Court refused on Monday to hear any new cases, bypassing a number of significant issues — including a test of defense lawyers’ right to challenge a juror who admitted to a bias against the Muslim religion, when a believer of that faith was on trial.   The Court left intact a sentence of 28 ...

NOTE: This post discusses the second of two major rulings Friday in lower courts in Washington on campaign finance law, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s January decision in Citizens United v. FEC.  The other ruling is explored in a separate post (see below). ———————- In a major new ruling on money in politics, ...

Resuming its increased use of deciding cases without full briefing or argument, the Supreme Court ruled summarily on Monday that a trial judge need not personally observe a potential juror’s behavior in deciding later whether that juror was denied a seat on the panel because of race, despite the prosecutor’s claim that she was excluded ...

FURTHER UPDATE: New material added at 11:59 a.m.  (See Erin’s post below for documents.) The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to order emergency measures sought by the state of Michigan to stop the migration of an invasive fish species, Asian carp, toward Lake Michigan from rivers and a sanitary canal in Illinois.  Without comment, the ...

The Supreme Court added five new cases to its decision docket Friday, including a significant test case on a plea for confidentiality for the identities of voters who sign petitions to get policy measures on election ballots.  The Court expedited the briefing of all five cases, thus giving the Justices the option of scheduling all ...

Splitting 5-4, the Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked any television broadcast to the general public of the trial in a San Francisco federal court of the challenge to California’s ban on same-sex marriage.  The stay will remain in effect until the Court rules on a coming appeal challenging the TV order.  The Court, chastizing the trial ...

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered at least a two-day postponement of any broadcast of the trial — opening later in the day in San Francisco — of the constitutional challenge to California’s “Prop. Original post:  Delay in broadcast of Prop. 8 trial

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to rule on a state prison inmate’s right to challenge in federal court when a new sentence has been imposed.  The key issue is whether such a challenge is barred when it could have been pursued in an earlier habeas plea. See the original post here:  Court adds one new case