Legal News
Reports on lawmaking, constitutional issues, and court cases. The Daily Signal combines news reporting with conservative commentary and legal analysis.
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- Opinion
Pennsylvania Supreme Court and GOP Cannot Be Complacent
HARRISBURG, Pa.—Central Pennsylvania state Sen. Greg Rothman, the newly elected state Republican Party chairman, will face his first big challenge this year with the control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on the ballot. Rothman, who won the party chairmanship with overwhelming support in a 248-120 vote last month, will look to fill three state Supreme…Salena Zito -
- News
Supreme Court Sides With One of the Nation’s Most Liberal Cities in Challenge to EPA’s Authority
DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The Supreme Court sided with San Francisco on Tuesday in its challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency. A majority on the court held that the EPA exceeded its authority by issuing San Francisco a permit that did not clearly explain the limits on how much sewage it could discharge into the ocean but included…Katelynn Richardson -
- News
The First ‘Mini-Me’ Executive Branch Case Gets to the Supreme Court on an Emergency Appeal
The first case involving judicial interference in the president’s executive authority has reached the Supreme Court in an emergency appeal filed over President Donald Trump’s firing of Hampton Dellinger, the Biden-appointed head of the Office of Special Counsel. In what acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris rightly calls an “unprecedented assault on the separation of powers”…Hans von Spakovsky -
- Opinion
Key Judicial Body Does Sheldon Whitehouse’s Dirty Work With Proposed Changes to Amicus Disclosure Rules
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has declared war on the judicial branch. Among his many complaints, he has insinuated without proof that judicial opinions he disagrees with are influenced by amicus—“friend of court”—briefs entangled in webs of dark money. To combat this supposed problem, he has pushed for onerous disclosure requirements that would essentially reveal everyone…Zack Smith -
- News
Leavitt Slams ‘Judicial Activists’ for Injunctions Against Trump
While legacy media claim there is a “constitutional crisis” in the Trump administration, the real crisis comes from federal judges blocking President Donald Trump’s executive orders, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. “The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch,” Leavitt said at a press briefing, “where district court judges…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- News
Tennessee’s Legal Warrior: Jonathan Skrmetti’s Biggest Case Awaits Supreme Court Verdict
Jonathan Skrmetti is on a winning streak. Tennessee’s attorney general is hoping it continues all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Skrmetti announced Thursday his latest win, a $7.4 billion settlement with members of the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma for fueling the opioid epidemic. Tennessee was among the 15 states that accused the…R.E. Wermus -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Rebuffs Free Speech Defense in Upholding TikTok Divestment
At least one branch of the federal government is not prepared to make way for TikTok. On Friday, a mere seven days after oral arguments in TikTok v. Garland, the Supreme Court in a per curiam opinion unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the divestment law against challenges that it violated the First Amendment. The court…Jack Fitzhenry -
- News
‘It Stole My Childhood’: Supreme Court Urged to Protect Kids From Online Porn
Taylor Muthoka was first exposed to pornography at the age of 7. A friend showed it to her online, and all the children had to do to access the website was check a box saying they were 18. Little did she know that moment would lead to a 10-year addiction. “That one moment of exposure…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- Opinion
TikTok Tries to Head Off Divestment Law at the Supreme Court
TikTok and a coterie of its users came before the Supreme Court on Friday to mount their last-resort First-Amendment challenge to the law that will force ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, to sell the platform or cease its U.S. operations in less than two weeks on Jan. 19. For 2 1/2 hours, lawyers led the…Jack Fitzhenry -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Could Send Message on Climate Change Lawsuits
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether to hear cases with major impacts for the separation of powers and for left-leaning states’ and municipalities’ ability to use their state courts as pawns to establish national climate change policy. To preserve federalism, the stability of the rule of law, and separation of powers in our Republic,…Donald J. Kochan -
- Opinion
Chief Justice Identifies Threats to Judicial Independence—And Maybe Tips His Hand in TikTok Case?
In a new report, Chief Justice John Roberts details several critical concerns that he feels threaten the ability of our judicial system to carry out justice impartially and according to the rule of law. At the end of each year—only hours before a new year begins—Roberts releases his “Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary.” Think…Zack Smith -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Justice’s Broadway Debut Puts Spotlight on Left’s Double Standard
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joined the Broadway cast of “& Juliet” in New York City this past Saturday. On the surface, Jackson is having fun and fulfilling what she said was a dream of hers, but the implications of such a stint are much more reprehensible than meets the eye. “& Juliet” is…Elise McCue -
- Opinion
How Government Unions Won in Wisconsin by Stacking Judicial Deck
Remember when impassioned protesters stormed a Capitol building and disrupted the democratic process? No, not the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. I’m talking about the pro-union one that stormed the Wisconsin state Capitol on Feb. 21, 2011. More than a decade ago, hundreds of protesters charged into and occupied the state…David Osborne -
- Opinion
In Transgender Case, Can Supreme Court Cut to the Moral Heart of the Issue?
The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in this term’s marquee case, United States v. Skrmetti. The case, out of Tennessee, nominally involves a state law banning minors’ use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for purposes of so-called gender-affirming care—which, stripped of all euphemism, means genital mutilation and chemical castration. And the justices…Josh Hammer -
- News
Cruz Leads Brief to Supreme Court Over Mexico’s Lawsuit Against US Gunmakers
THE CENTER SQUARE—U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, led a bicameral coalition filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court requesting it to uphold American sovereignty in a $10 billion lawsuit brought by Mexico blaming U.S. gun manufacturers for cartel gun violence in Mexico. The bicameral appeal was made in concert with one by a…Bethany Blankley -
- News
Supreme Court Case on ‘Transgender’ Procedures for Kids Could Threaten Women’s Sports, Defendant Says
Does the fact that cross-sex hormones affect children differently based on their sex make it unconstitutional for states to protect minors from transgender medical procedures? This is the key issue of the case heard Wednesday by the Supreme Court, says Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a Republican who is the named respondent in United States…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- News
What I Saw Outside the Supreme Court Amid Oral Arguments About Whether States Can Protect Minors from ‘Gender-Affirming Care’
About 1,000 transgender activists and parental rights champions rallied outside the Supreme Court as it heard oral arguments in a case that will decide whether states may ban transgender medical interventions for children. LGBTQ+ activists with the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, the Human Rights Campaign, the Gender Liberation Movement, the Young Feminist Party, and other groups…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- Opinion
Understanding the ‘Transgender’ Case Before the Supreme Court
After the Civil War, the equal protection clause was added to the Constitution as part of the 14th Amendment to protect the rights of black Americans. Simply stated, the equal protection clause provides that every American is to be treated equally under the law. In the case United States v. Skrmetti, attorneys representing the U.S….Virginia Allen -
- News
6 False Claims Backing ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ in Key Supreme Court Case
The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on the pivotal transgender case U.S. v. Skrmetti, and both the lawyers arguing against a Tennessee ban on “gender-affirming care” and three Supreme Court justices made dubious claims and stated outright falsehoods in support of experimental transgender “treatments.” Tennessee’s SB1 bans medical procedures on minors for the purpose of…Tyler O’Neil -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Case Exposes Medical Scandal of Epic Proportions
It’s hard to wrap your head around just how grotesque it is that many medical associations and the federal government have adopted the idea that it’s healthy to sterilize children in an attempt to “affirm” a stated transgender identity. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will shed much-needed sunlight on this medical scandal of epic proportions….Tyler O’Neil