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
Lawfare Isn’t Beaten—in France or America
Elections are supposed to be decided at the ballot box, not in the courtroom—unless you’re French or, in this country, a liberal. What a judge in France has just done by disqualifying Marine Le Pen from running in that nation’s next presidential election is what Democrats dream of doing here. The controversial populist was ahead… -
news
Progressives Keep Wisconsin Supreme Court; More Democrat US House Seats Likely
Wisconsin residents voted on Tuesday to elect Susan Crawford as the next member of their state supreme court, according to the Associated Press, which declared Crawford the winner. The vote will put the liberals in charge of the state’s highest court during a time when the court’s decisions on congressional redistricting in the state could… -
opinion
Supreme Court Justices Seem Inclined to Uphold Religious Charity’s Claim for State Tax Exemption
The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday, on one of its last days of oral arguments for cases from the October 2024 term, in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission. The case concerns the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s state unemployment tax exemption as applied to the work of the Catholic Charities Bureau. At… -
opinion
It’s All Lawfare: Everyone but the Cronies Get Cheated, Mistreated by Big Government
Not to get all Old World on you, but the Oxford Dictionary defines “lawfare” thusly: “Legal action undertaken in order to exert power or control, esp. as part of a hostile campaign against a particular country or group.” In New World parlance? Author Malcolm Feeley in 1979 published a tome with a title that best… -
news
Euro-Lawfare? France Bans Nationalist Candidate From Running for Office
A French court banned the leader of France’s conservative nationalist party—Marine Le Pen—from running for public office for the next five years after her embezzlement conviction. Le Pen lost the 2022 French presidential election to current President Emmanuel Macron. The sentence, which also includes a partially suspended four-year prison sentence, disqualifies her from running for… -
news
GOP Senators Unveil Bill to Bring Hammer Down on Supreme Court Leakers
DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Senate Republicans will reintroduce a bill Thursday to impose criminal penalties on individuals who leak confidential information pertaining to the U.S. Supreme Court. Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi are the primary sponsors of the Stop Supreme Court Leakers Act. The legislation would require… -
news
Trump Appeals Deportation Case to Supreme Court
The Trump administration made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to hear its case for using the Alien Enemies Act to deport members of a Venezuelan gang. The alleged members were sent to an El Salvador prison. The administration is asking the high court to reverse an order from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, of… -
opinion
Supreme Court Reconsiders Constitutionality of Agency Policymaking
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case testing the limits of the nondelegation doctrine, an issue that may sound lawyerly, but which is of the utmost importance in ensuring separation among the federal branches and accountability for the important decisions that affect us all. Nondelegation is the principle that one branch of… -
opinion
Abraham Lincoln Charted a Course for Trump on Judicial Overreach, Josh Hammer Says
President Donald Trump faces a bevy of district court judges issuing restraining orders and injunctions blocking his executive actions, and Josh Hammer suggests the president take a leaf out of Abraham Lincoln’s book on the issue. Trump has responded to the orders with calls for Congress to impeach lower court judges or restrain them in… -
opinion
Supreme Court Should Uphold State’s Rights to No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Businesses
Next month, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, a case challenging South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s 2018 executive order disqualifying abortion businesses from receiving taxpayer dollars. As a homegrown South Carolinian, there is nothing more pervasive to my state’s values, nor diametrically opposed to our health… -
news
Supreme Court Rejects Trump Donor’s Defamation Lawsuit Against the Associated Press
The Supreme Court doomed a lawsuit from Trump donor Steve Wynn Monday, declining to revisit the defamation case New York Times v. Sullivan (1964). Wynn, a casino developer, resigned as CEO and chairman of the board of his company Wynn Resorts amid sexual assault allegations in 2018—allegations he denied. He had previously served as vice… -
news
Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Key Redistricting Case
THE CENTER SQUARE—The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a critical case regarding Louisiana’s redrawn congressional districts on Monday. The state is defending the existing map and plaintiffs seek an overturn on grounds of racial gerrymander. The case could be pivotal as justices could examine the criteria required of state legislatures under the Voting… -
opinion
Trump Racking Up Important Legal Victories as Left’s Lawfare Ramps Up
The Left couldn’t defeat President Donald Trump at the ballot box. Now, their only hope seems to be defeating him at the courthouse. More than 130 cases have been filed against the Trump administration since Trump’s return to office just two months ago. With the help of activist federal judges, the Left’s large-scale lawfare operation… -
news
Supreme Court to Decide if States Can Withhold Medicaid Funding From Planned Parenthood
The Supreme Court could soon strike a blow to America’s largest abortion provider. Amid growing concerns about the quality of care at Planned Parenthood facilities and the fact that taxpayer funding is going to facilities that provide abortions, the Supreme Court could effectively decide whether states can withhold taxpayer dollars from the organization in an… -
news
DOJ Reviewing Lawfare Case of Colorado Election Clerk Tina Peters
The Department of Justice announced in a March 3 court filing that it will conduct a “review” of Colorado’s prosecution of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County election clerk convicted in connection with her efforts to prove election software had been tampered with in the 2020 election. Colorado Attorney General Philip Weiser is none too… -
news
Counselor Fights to Advise Minors Against Gender Transition in Supreme Court Case
When Erin Brewer was 6 years old, she and her older brother were accosted by two grown men. She was raped. Her brother was not. Brewer called herself a boy for the next several years because, she said, she felt vulnerable as a girl. She wore her brother’s hand-me-downs, used the boys bathroom at… -
opinion
3 Reasons Elon Musk and George Soros Are Fighting It Out in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Race
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race on April 1 may be technically nonpartisan, but it is already shaping up to be a battle between two billionaires with incompatible political worldviews: Elon Musk and George Soros. The race appears on track to become the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. Democrats have spent almost $18 million… -
news
GOP Lawmakers File SCOTUS Brief Supporting Parents’ Lawsuit Against Schools Forcing Gender Ideology on Kids
DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Dozens of congressional Republicans will file an amicus brief to the Supreme Court Tuesday morning in support of parents’ constitutional rights to opt their children out of left-wing gender ideology and sexuality content in schools. The 66 lawmakers signed on to an amicus brief in support of parents’ legal challenge to a Maryland… -
news
Justice Alito Slams Majority for Failing to Rein in ‘Judicial Hubris’ Against Trump Admin
DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Justice Samuel Alito wrote Wednesday that he is “stunned” by the majority’s failure to call out a lower court’s “judicial hubris” in the case considering the Trump administration’s foreign aid spending freeze. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court declined to block U.S. District Judge Amir Ali’s order requiring the government to… -
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…