Conflicts for Supreme Court Justices Halt Appeal in Apartheid Case
Financial and personal conflicts of interest affecting four Supreme Court justices left the court without a quorum last week and unable to decide whether to hear an appeal brought by more than 50 companies that did business in apartheid-era South Africa.
In 6-3 Vote, Supreme Court Upholds Indiana Voter ID Law
The Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter identification law on Monday, concluding in a splintered decision that the challengers failed to prove that the law’s photo ID requirement placed an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote.
Supreme Court Turns Down Two Cases Concerning Church-State Separation
One contentious topic missing from the Supreme Court’s docket as the new term opened Monday was religion. The justices evidently plan to keep it that way, at least for now.
Justices Uphold Partial-Birth Abortion Ban in a 5-4 Decision
The Supreme Court reversed course on abortion on Wednesday, upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-4 decision that promises to reframe the abortion debate and define the young Roberts court.
Supreme Court Declines to Hear Detainees' Habeas Corpus Case
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear urgent appeals from two groups of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The 45 men sought to challenge the constitutionality of a new law stripping federal judges of the authority to hear challenges to the open-ended confinement of foreign citizens held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba and designated as enemy combatants.
EPA Has Power to Regulate Gases, Rules Supreme Court
In one of its most important environmental decisions in years, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate heat-trapping gases in automobile emissions. The court further ruled that the agency could not sidestep its authority to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change unless it can provide a scientific basis for its refusal.