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
Supreme Court Gives Ominous Forecast for State Laws Regulating Social Media
The modern public square is private. That paradox is the lesson handed down by the Supreme Court in NetChoice v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice, two cases in which the world’s largest social media empires challenged state laws in Texas and Florida that curtailed their practice of online content moderation. Just a few terms ago,…Jack Fitzhenry -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Charts New Course in Sea Change for Administrative Law
A few fishermen just brought about a sea change in administrative law. In Loper Bright v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce, herring boat owners took aim at a mainstay of the Supreme Court’s administrative law jurisprudence: the doctrine of Chevron deference that required judges to defer to executive branch agency interpretations of ambiguous laws….Jack Fitzhenry -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Decides Legislatures, Not Judges, Should Address Homelessness
The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision Friday holding that the government may punish the homeless by fines or imprisonment for trespassing or camping on public property. In 2013, the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, had a population of roughly 38,000 and as many as 600 homeless individuals on any given day. Many of…John G. Malcolm -
- News
Supreme Court Rules on Anti-Obstruction Law in Jan. 6 Case
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of a Capitol riot defendant, a decision that could affect hundreds of other cases, and raises the question of whether federal prosecutors went too far in enforcing a statute about “corruptly” obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding. The high court’s ruling could affect the prosecutions of about…Fred Lucas -
- News
Supreme Court Throws Back ‘Chevron Deference’ in Ruling on Fishermen’s Case Against Government
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of commercial fishermen who challenged the U.S. government’s imposition of charges for onboard federal inspections. The case deals a massive blow to the power of federal agencies. Commercial fishermen in New Jersey initiated the case, Loper Bright Enterprises vs. Raimondo. The fishermen argued that they were unjustly charged…Jarrett Stepman -
- News
Supreme Court Rules Cities Can Ban Homeless Sleeping Outside
The Supreme Court sided with a small Oregon city’s crackdown on homeless people sleeping in public in its ruling Friday in the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who dissented along with Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote, “Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime. For…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Deals Major Blow to the Administrative State
The Constitution separates power, the administrative state fuses it. The Constitution gives Congress the power to make law, the president the power to enforce law, and the courts the power to apply law to specific cases. The administrative state takes all three for itself. On Thursday, however, the Supreme Court delivered an important blow against…GianCarlo Canaparo -
- Opinion
Americans’ Right to Speak Suffers a Body Blow From Supreme Court
In a setback for First Amendment free speech rights, the Supreme Court on Wednesday held in Murthy v. Missouri that no plaintiff in the case had established standing to challenge the government’s coordinated censorship of dissenting views on COVID-19 and the 2020 election on social media platforms. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the majority opinion,…Jack Fitzhenry -
- News
BREAKING: Supreme Court Strikes Down Injunction Preventing Government From Pressuring Big Tech to Suppress Free Speech
The Supreme Court struck down a lower court’s injunction preventing the federal government from pressuring Big Tech companies to suppress free speech in a pivotal ruling Wednesday. The court did not rule on the question of whether the government may pressure social media companies to suppress speech in a way that would be illegal for…Tyler O’Neil -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Upholds Law Allowing Confiscation of Firearms. Why All Is Not Lost.
After a string of consecutive victories at the Supreme Court, Second Amendment advocates suffered their first major setback Friday, failing for the first time since 2008’s landmark decision in D.C. v. Heller to convince the nation’s highest court to strike down a gun control law as unconstitutional. In an 8-1 opinion written by Chief Justice…Amy Swearer -
- News
Supreme Court Upholds Law Banning Gun Ownership by Those Under Domestic Violence Restraining Orders
The Supreme Court upheld the federal law banning gun ownership by those under domestic violence restraining orders on Friday morning. In its U.S. v. Rahimi ruling, the court rejected Zackey Rahimi’s claim that the statute that prohibits the possession of firearms by persons subject to domestic violence restraining orders violates the Second Amendment. The court…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- News
BREAKING: Supreme Court Rules ‘Bump Stock’ Ban Illegal
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court has found that the federal government cannot use a decades-old ban on machine guns to ban bump stocks. “Semiautomatic firearms, which require shooters to reengage the trigger for every shot, are not machineguns. This case asks whether a bump stock—an accessory for a semiautomatic rifle that allows the…Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell -
- News
Secret Alito Recording Reveals Deeper Agenda to Delegitimize SCOTUS, Experts Say
Democratic lawmakers are escalating their attacks on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in the wake of secret recordings that were obtained last week of the justice agreeing that America should return “to a place of godliness.” Experts say that the legacy media and the Left’s ongoing campaign to target conservative justices is a concerted effort…Dan Hart -
- Opinion
Here’s Why Hunter’s Conviction Doesn’t Prove the Justice System Isn’t Weaponized
Those claiming that the Hunter Biden conviction proves our justice system has not been weaponized and that Donald Trump and others who have been claiming that to be the case (The Heritage Foundation included) are mistaken couldn’t be more wrong. Examples abound of a weaponized—or if you prefer, politicized—justice system. Hunter’s Conviction in Perspective Biden…Hans von Spakovsky -
- Opinion
Another Left-Wing Attempt to Smear Justice Thomas Fails
The American people just won’t govern themselves the way the Left tells them to. Caring more about power than liberty, the Left believes that its political ends justify their means. Just consider how leftists try to manipulate the Supreme Court, including smearing as “unethical” justices the Left considers too independent, hoping Americans will automatically question…Thomas Jipping -
- Opinion
When Lady Justice Lifts Blindfold From Only Her Left Eye
Many things human come in pairs. Eyes, ears, hands, feet, and lungs appear in twos. Even a single nose features two nostrils. Similar examples should be easy to ponder. In this context, America’s new, two-track justice system might be perfectly natural: One for the Left—in which they suffer few consequences, if any, for their misdeeds—and one for the…Deroy Murdock -
- Opinion
Guns, Germs, and Speech: Unanimous Supreme Court Sides With NRA in First Amendment Case
What do epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff and the National Rifle Association have in common? More than is first apparent. Both advocate for views unpopular with left-wing politicians, a “herd immunity” approach to COVID-19 in the doctor’s case and gun ownership in the NRA’s. Because of their views, both had their dealings with third parties curtailed by…Jack Fitzhenry -
- Opinion
Should Sotomayor Cry Some More?
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor visited Harvard University last week to accept the Radcliffe Medal, which, says Harvard, “is presented annually to an individual who has had a transformative impact on society.” In 2018, Harvard gave the award to Hillary Clinton—the former secretary of state who lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump. In…Terence Jeffrey -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Rebuffs Claim of Partisan South Carolina Redistricting as Race Bias
Four years after the 2020 census and the redistricting that occurred across the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday held that a lower court in South Carolina failed to distinguish between political and racial motivations by that state’s Republican-controlled Legislature when lawmakers made slight revisions in the boundary lines of the state’s seven congressional…Hans von Spakovsky -
- News
Supreme Court Rules South Carolina Did Not Racially Gerrymander Congressional District Map
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Thursday that a lower court “clearly erred” when it held that South Carolina racially gerrymandered its congressional district map. The majority held that the “circumstantial evidence falls far short of showing that race, not partisan preferences, drove the districting process” behind the creation of the map. “First, a party challenging a map’s…Katelynn Richardson