Supreme Court News

Black firefighters object to white promotions
AP – Wed Nov 18, 3:22 pm ET

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A group of black Connecticut firefighters hopes to block promotions for white firefighters who won a discrimination case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Full Story »
Justice Scalia speaks about Constitution in Ohio
AP – Tue Nov 17, 7:57 pm ET

AP

COLUMBUS, Ohio - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (AN'-toh-nihn skuh-LEE'-uh) has said in a speech at Ohio State University the Constitution is best treated as an original document within the context of its historical creation, not as a text subject to modern reinterpretation. Full Story »
Md. city aims for balance with Dred Scott plaque
AP – Tue Nov 17, 5:21 pm ET

AP

FREDERICK, Md. - More than 150 years after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the notorious Dred Scott decision affirming slavery, a Maryland city unveiled a plaque Tuesday to educate visitors about the opinion and the local man who wrote it — and to quell a local controversy. Full Story »
CAPITAL CULTURE: Sotomayor adds celebrity to court
AP – Tue Nov 17, 12:40 am ET

WASHINGTON - Apparently, no one told Sonia Sotomayor that Supreme Court justices are supposed to be circumspect, emerging from their marble palace mainly to dispense legal wisdom to law schools, judges' conferences and lawyers' meetings. Full Story »
Supreme Court won't hear Redskins name case
Reuters – Mon Nov 16, 12:17 pm ET

Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court said on Monday that it rejected an appeal by six American Indians in their long-running legal challenge of the Washington Redskins' name, which they find racially offensive. Full Story »
Court won't hear complaint about Redskins name
AP – Mon Nov 16, 12:06 pm ET

AP

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a group of Native Americans who think the name of the NFL's Washington Redskins football team is offensive. Full Story »
Court turns down student over religious speech
AP – Mon Nov 16, 11:50 am ET

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a student who complained that high school officials violated her constitutional rights when they turned off her microphone during her religion-tinged graduation speech. Full Story »
Retired Justice O'Connor's husband dies
AP – Wed Nov 11, 7:34 pm ET

AP

WASHINGTON - John J. O'Connor III, the husband of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, has died. Full Story »
US justice Sandra Day O'Connor's husband dies
AFP – Wed Nov 11, 6:16 pm ET

AFP/Getty Images/File

WASHINGTON (AFP) - John O'Connor, the husband of retired US Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor, died Wednesday in Arizona after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease, the US high court announced. Full Story »
Gitmo detainee challenges judge who halted case
AP – Wed Nov 11, 5:51 pm ET

WASHINGTON - A man from Tajikistan seeking his freedom from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is challenging a practice among federal judges here who are short-circuiting the cases of some long-time detainees. Full Story »
Supreme Court reinstates death penalty of Ohioan
AP – Mon Nov 9, 6:38 pm ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated the death penalty against an Ohio man who killed and mutilated a man he met in a gay bar in 1985, rejecting a claim that his lawyers erred during the sentencing phase of his trial. Full Story »
US Supreme Court refuses to stop sniper execution
AP – Mon Nov 9, 5:48 pm ET

AFP/Pool/File

RICHMOND, Va. - The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block Tuesday's scheduled execution of sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad. Full Story »
High court looks at life sentences for juveniles
AP – Mon Nov 9, 4:26 pm ET

AP

WASHINGTON - A seemingly divided Supreme Court wrestled Monday with whether teenagers can be locked away forever for their crimes. The question arose in two cases involving Florida men who are serving life prison terms with no chance of parole for crimes they committed as teenagers. Their lawyers argue that the sentences for people so young are cruel and unusual, in violation of the Constitution, because young people have greater capacity to change. Full Story »
Juveniles serving life get US high court hearing
AFP – Mon Nov 9, 3:54 pm ET

AFP/Getty Images/File

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A deeply divided US Supreme Court opened hearings Monday into whether juveniles can be sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes that do not involve murder. Full Story »
Supreme Court considers life in prison for juveniles
Reuters – Mon Nov 9, 2:49 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared reluctant on Monday to make it unconstitutional for any juvenile who commits a crime other than murder to be sentenced to life in prison without possible release. Full Story »
At Supreme Court, no accord over life sentences for juveniles
The Christian Science Monitor – Mon Nov 9, 4:00 am ET

Washington - A sharply divided US Supreme Court on Monday debated whether to invalidate state laws that permit juveniles to be sentenced to life in prison without parole for nonhomicide crimes. Full Story »
US Supreme Court to examine life behind bars for juveniles
AFP – Sun Nov 8, 6:05 pm ET

AFP/File

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Supreme Court will Monday wrestle with the merits of convicting juveniles who have not committed murder to life in prison without the possibility of parole -- a fate shared by 109 US prisoners, almost all of whom are non-white. Full Story »
SC high court says gov's ethics probe is public
AP – Thu Nov 5, 3:43 pm ET

AP

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an ethics investigation into Gov. Mark Sanford's travel must be made public, clearing the way for lawmakers considering impeachment to review a report on the probe. Full Story »