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
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… -
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. … -
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…. -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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?… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
opinion
Chuck Schumer’s Despicable Attack on the Supreme Court
“If, then, the courts of justice are to be considered as the bulwarks of a limited Constitution against legislative encroachments, this consideration will afford a strong argument for the permanent tenure of judicial offices,” argued Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 78. If we ever needed a pristine example of why justices are bestowed lifetime appointments… -
opinion
Schumer Owes Kavanaugh, Gorsuch a Real Apology
It would be a gross understatement—and in no way a pun, intended or otherwise—to describe as “injudicious” what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday to and about Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. “Injudicious” is defined by Webster’s New World College Dictionary as “showing poor judgment; not discreet or wise,” and the… -
news
Schumer Faces Rare Censure for Threatening Supreme Court Justices
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer may become only the ninth senator in the body’s history to be censured by his colleagues. Lawmakers in the Senate and House introduced resolutions to censure him Thursday, a day after Schumer made inflammatory comments that seemed to some to advocate violence if two Supreme Court justices did not rule… -
news
As Backlash Grows, Schumer Denies Threatening Gorsuch, Kavanaugh Over Abortion Case
Amid widespread condemnation, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backpedaled Thursday from inflammatory remarks the day before about two conservative Supreme Court justices, but blamed political opponents for misinterpreting what he said. “I should not have used the words I used yesterday. They didn’t come out the way I intended [them] to,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said. Speaking… -
opinion
In Abortion Case, Key Questions Come From Alito, Ginsburg, Sotomayor
This week, the Supreme Court heard its first major abortion case since Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh joined the court. The case, June Medical Services v. Russo, involves a Louisiana law that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Admitting privileges enable doctors to accompany their patients to… -
news
Schumer Threatens Gorsuch, Kavanaugh on Abortion Case: They ‘Will Pay the Price’
Editor's update: Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement Wednesday condemning Chuck Schumer's remarks, saying: "Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned two Supreme Court justices Wednesday that they… -
news
States Can Prosecute Illegal Aliens for Identity Theft, Supreme Court Rules
The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that state governments can prosecute illegal aliens of identity theft, including aliens who use false Social Security numbers to unlawfully gain employment. In a tight 5-4 decision, a majority of justices on the nation’s highest court ruled that there is nothing in federal immigration law that forbids state prosecutors from… -
opinion
In New Supreme Court Case, Religious Liberty Is at Stake
In recent years, local and state governments have forced numerous faith-based adoption and foster care agencies out of business because of their religious beliefs about marriage. While some of those agencies closed with little protest, Catholic Social Services chose to fight back in the courts. Catholic Social Services filed a lawsuit alleging that the city…