In November 2018, voters in Florida approved an amendment to the state’s constitution that permits people with prior felony convictions to vote once they complete “all terms of” their sentence. In 2019, the state’s legislature enacted a law that defined “all terms of” a sentence to include the payment of all court costs, fees and fines. Voters challenged the 2019 law in federal court, arguing (among other things) that making the right to vote hinge on the payment of court costs and fees violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on poll taxes and discriminates based on wealth.
The district court agreed with the voters and barred the state from enforcing the law. Florida appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which on July 1 granted the state’s request to have the full court hear the case and to put the district court’s ruling on hold until it could decide the state’s appeal.
The voters asked the Supreme Court in early July to reinstate the district court’s ruling in time for the state’s August primary election, but the justices declined to intervene. Justice Sonia Sotomayor – joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan – dissented from that decision, arguing that the issue was “exceptionally important” because the 2019 law would prevent “nearly a million” people from voting.
The 11th Circuit heard oral argument in August and, on Sept. 11, issued a decision that upheld the 2019 law.
The Supreme Court sides with Sen. Ted Cruz in his First Amendment challenge to a federal campaign-finance law that limits how and when candidates can recoup loans that they make to their own campaigns. The vote is 6-3 along ideological lines.
In an immigration case, SCOTUS rules 5-4 that federal courts do NOT have jurisdiction to review certain executive-branch factual findings that determine whether non-citizens are eligible for "adjustment of status." Those findings can dictate whether a person is deported.
SCOTUS agrees to take up two new cases: Jones v. Hendrix (a habeas corpus case) and SEC v. Cochran (a case about the power of district courts to hear challenges to the constitutionality of the SEC's administrative law proceedings). Full order list here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/051622zor_hgcj.pdf
We're live now on SCOTUSblog's homepage or at https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/05/announcement-of-orders-and-opinions-for-monday-may-16/
Today at SCOTUS: The court will issue one or more opinions in argued cases at 10 a.m. EDT. But first, orders on pending petitions at 9:30. We'll fire up our live blog at 9:25 to break it all down and answer your questions. Grab some ☕️ and come join us: https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/05/announcement-of-orders-and-opinions-for-monday-may-16/
Today at SCOTUS: The court will issue one or more opinions in argued cases at 10 a.m. EDT. But first, orders on pending petitions at 9:30. We'll fire up our live blog at 9:25 to break it all down and answer your questions. Grab some ☕️ and come join us:
Announcement of orders and opinions for Monday, May 16 - SCOTUSblog
On Monday, May 16, we will be live blogging as the court releases orders from the May 12 conference and opinio...
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We can announce, however, that we'll be liveblogging the release of orders from today's conference AND opinions, starting at around 9:25 @SCOTUSblog. Please join us to discuss the leak, pending opinions, and whatever other SCOTUS-related issues are on your mind. https://twitter.com/AHoweBlogger/status/1524788054434660353
#SCOTUS will release opinions from argued cases at 10 am on Monday. The Court does not announce in advance how many opinions it will release or which ones.