Every post published in June 2014, most recent first.
Believe it or not, the end is almost here. Today the Justices are scheduled to issue orders from their June 26 Conference at 9:30, followed by opinions in argued cases at 10 a.m. We will start our live-blog coverage at 9:15 a.m. There are only two undecided cases left.
The order list is here. The Court has granted five new cases and called for the views of the Solicitor General in one case. In Harris v. Quinn the Court limits the power to compel contributions to public employee unions, but does not forbid it.
[Update July 3, 2014, 9:00 AM: We have updated the Stat Pack to reflect orders and a summary reversal released on Tuesday, July 1. The links below will send you to the new Stat Pack and the takeaways below have been updated to reflect the new information.]
UPDATE 9:22 p.m. Over the dissents of two Justices, the Supreme Court on Monday evening temporarily barred enforcement of the birth-control mandate against Wheaton College, a non-profit religious institution in Illinois.
Analysis In an opinion filled with strongly implied invitations to file a new case to go even further, the Supreme Court, dividing five to four, ruled on Monday that public employees cannot routinely be required to join labor unions or to support them by paying dues.
The Court’s decision in Hobby Lobby takes pains to emphasize that it is resolving only the dispute before it, but the principles it has adopted will have an obvious impact in other kinds of religious freedom claims in other contexts.
The Supreme Court refused on Monday to step in to save the Mt. Soledad Christian cross that stands on a hilltop north of San Diego, choosing to let the long-challenged monument’s future be examined first by a federal appeals court.
It’s the last day of June, and we know the Court is sitting for its last day of opinions this Term. June 30 is the latest the Court has sat since 1996, when the Justices took the bench on July 1 to issue just a single opinion, United States v. Winstar.
It was déjà vu all over again. On the last day before its summer recess, we expected the Court to rule on a challenge to the Affordable Care Act, the president’s signature legislative achievement. Lines to get into the courtroom formed early, and crowds gathered outside.
Ayesha N. Khan is Legal Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. She served as lead counsel for the plaintiffs in Town of Greece, filed an amicus brief in support of the government in Hobby Lobby, and represents female students defending the ACA regulations’ accommodation for religious non-profits against a challenge brought by the University of Notre Dame.