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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- News
500 Investigations Probe Arson, Destruction of Property in Riots, Attorney General Says
Attorney General William Barr said Thursday that the Department of Justice is conducting about 500 investigations into acts of arson and destruction associated with the protests and riots over the past several weeks. The DOJ is ramping up investigations into the activists who participated in destruction of private and public property over the last several weeks, Barr…Chris White -
- Opinion
Supreme Court’s LGBTQ Decision Is Formula for Chaos
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that homosexual and transgender individuals are covered by the anti-discrimination provision, Title VII, of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in his opinion: “An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned…Star Parker -
- Opinion
2 Federal Courts, 1 Constitutional Right
Two federal appeals courts last week issued decisions on challenges to coronavirus-related executive orders by the governors of Illinois and Louisiana. In each case, churches and religious organizations challenged a governor’s restrictions on meeting in person at houses of worship while allowing other group activities to proceed, saying those orders violated the First Amendment. Illinois…Lathan Watts -
- Opinion
Justice Gorsuch’s Misguided Sex Discrimination Opinion Fails Logic Test
Justice Neil Gorsuch’s majority opinion claims to apply a simple and straightforward test: “An employer violates Title VII when it intentionally fires an individual employee based in part on sex.” But he refuses to consider what applying this simple—in reality, simplistic—test actually requires. And not just under Title VII, but under every nondiscrimination law that includes “sex”…Ryan T. Anderson -
- Opinion
DACA Ruling Is Supreme Court’s Latest Act of Political Timidity
With the Supreme Court’s latest erroneous decision on immigration, Chief Justice John Roberts and other justices have done lasting damage to the Constitution, the rule of law, and accountable government. It is not just the legally wrong decision Thursday in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, in which Roberts and…Hans von Spakovsky -
- Opinion
Problematic Women: How Women Lose in Supreme Court’s Decision to Redefine Sex
American women have lost an important battle. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of protecting new LGBT rights Monday in the case of R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The ruling redefines sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Kate Anderson, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, joins…Virginia Allen -
- News
Left Hails Supreme Court Decision That ‘Sex’ Includes Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
The Supreme Court’s landmark decision that federal laws against discrimination based on sex also protect LGBT individuals has liberals and conservatives alike considering the effects on employment polices across America. The high court ruled 6-3 Monday that laws banning discrimination based on sex include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The decision saw…Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
Gorsuch Helps Transform the Supreme Court Into the Supreme Legislature on LGBT Rights
In what dissenting Justice Samuel Alito called one of the most “brazen abuse[s]” of the Supreme Court’s authority, a six-member majority of the court led by Justice Neil Gorsuch has rewritten Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sexual orientation and gender identity in the definition of “sex.” Why bother trying…Hans von Spakovsky -
- News
Supreme Court Rules Federal Employment Discrimination Laws Protect LGBT Employees
The United States Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision Monday that federal law protects LGBT and transgender employees from discrimination. Justices Neil Gorsuch and John Roberts joined the court’s four liberal judges in a landmark ruling that involved a 1964 civil rights law that barred discrimination of employees based on sex, according to USA Today. The Supreme…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
Attorney General Reassures Black Community on Criminal Justice, Vows to Prosecute ‘Extremist Agitators’
Attorney General William Barr said Thursday the Justice Department will work with law enforcement agencies to find ways to restore confidence among African Americans in the criminal justice system. During an online press conference, Barr also said law enforcement should prosecute “extremist agitators” of all ideological stripes. He specifically cited Antifa and the Boogaloo movement. …Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
Costa Rica Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage Via Judicial Activism
Headlines like a recent one in the New York Post said, “Costa Rica latest country to legalize same-sex marriage.” But it wasn’t really Costa Ricans who made it happen. Instead, Costa Rica became—like the United States five years ago—the victim of a multilayer attack of judicial activism. In an interview with the Family Research Council, Jose L….Peter Sprigg -
- Opinion
What You Need to Know About 4 Pivotal Supreme Court Cases This Term
The Supreme Court is hearing some major cases this term that could have longstanding implications. The cases span a variety of issues: President Donald Trump’s financial records, the Electoral College, and religious liberty, and more. Tom Jipping, deputy director of the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and senior legal fellow at…Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
The Supreme Court Was Right: ‘Bridgegate’ Was Tawdry but Not Illegal
In a case that became known as “Bridgegate,” a unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday held in Kelly v. United States that New Jersey state officials who exercised their regulatory authority to slow traffic as a means of imposing a political punishment on a mayor who had refused to support the governor’s reelection did not violate…Paul J. Larkin -
- Opinion
What Happened at the Little Sisters of the Poor Hearing Before the Supreme Court
The world’s most tenacious nuns were back at the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, when the justices heard oral arguments in the latest round of the nearly eight-year saga surrounding the Affordable Care Act’s onerous contraception mandate. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the high court made the unusual and unprecedented move of hearing the…Melanie Israel -
- Opinion
The Little Sisters of the Poor Are Back at the Supreme Court, Needlessly So
The Little Sisters of the Poor—a religious order that serves the poor and elderly—will be back at the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the second time about the same issue; namely, former President Barack Obama’s infamous Affordable Care Act contraceptive mandate, enacted about a decade ago. The court will hear oral arguments via telephone, due…Nicole Russell -
- Opinion
Liberals Try to Use COVID-19 Crisis to Halt Judicial Confirmations
The Senate got back to business Monday and, while the coronavirus is still the 800-pound gorilla, senators will also attend to other aspects of the nation’s business. That includes the federal judiciary. Vacancies on life-tenured federal courts around the country are on the rise again, reversing a yearlong downward trend. >>> When can America reopen?…Thomas Jipping -
- Opinion
Supreme Court Refuses to Rewrite Civil Rights Law in Comcast Case
In a decision applying the 1866 Civil Rights Act as written and intended by Congress, the Supreme Court on Monday unanimously overturned the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (no surprise there) and held that entrepreneur Byron Allen had not established a case against Comcast Corp. for failing to carry his television channels. Allen, a…Hans von Spakovsky -
- News
Supreme Court Cancels Oral Arguments for March, Delaying a Hearing on Trump’s Tax Returns
The Supreme Court on Monday postponed oral arguments scheduled for later in March amid the growing coronavirus pandemic, a move that could delay a decision on whether President Donald Trump must release his tax returns. “In keeping with public health precautions recommended in response to COVID-19, the Supreme Court is postponing the oral arguments currently…Chuck Ross -
- Opinion
Joe Biden Owes Clarence Thomas an Apology
On the day Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was threatening Supreme Court justices in front of a pack of cheering partisans, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., told the same crowd: “We have two alleged sexual predators on the bench of the highest court of the land, with the power to determine our reproductive freedoms. I still…David Harsanyi -
- News
Supreme Court Allows Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ Program to Stay in Place
The Supreme Court delivered a win for the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, blocking a federal court injunction that would have limited a program that requires asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico. The nation’s highest court on Wednesday ruled that the White House’s "Remain in Mexico" program, also known as Migrant Protection Protocols, can remain effective for the entire…Jason Hopkins