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
Trump’s Lawsuits Against Big Tech Will Go ‘All the Way’ to Supreme Court, Backers Say
Former President Donald Trump’s lawsuits against censorship by Big Tech companies likely will reach the U.S. Supreme Court, the leaders of a public policy group backing the legal action say. “Ultimately, we are going to take [the case] all the way,” Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, said in a… -
opinion
Supreme Court Denies a Woman’s Free Exercise of Christianity
Can Barronelle Stutzman, a Christian, run her flower shop in keeping with her faith? The Supreme Court—with determinative votes cast by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh—has effectively decided she cannot. “My faith is a part of every aspect of my life,” Stutzman said in a sworn statement presented… -
opinion
‘Scholars and Scribes’ Preview: 5 Big Cases From Supreme Court’s 2020 Term
Now that the Supreme Court’s 2020 term has concluded, it is time to review it. This was the first term we saw Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the court in October 2020, in action. Hopefully it’s the last term that has telephonic oral arguments (although we hope that Justice Clarence Thomas continues to ask… -
news
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Appeal of Christian Florist in Same-Sex Wedding Case
The Supreme Court on Friday announced it had declined to review the case of a Christian florist in Washington state involving same-sex marriage, again punting on major constitutional questions involving religious freedom. Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito expressed support for hearing the case, but to take a case requires the votes of at… -
opinion
What You Need to Know About Supreme Court Rulings on Faith-Based Foster Care, Student Speech, and More
The Supreme Court has issued a number of significant rulings this term that affect everything from collegiate athletics to adoption agencies. Among the most notable decisions, the high court ruled 9-0 in favor of religious liberty in the case of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. The case gives a Catholic social service agency in Philadelphia… -
opinion
Supreme Court: Religious Liberty Prevails in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia
Saturday is the six-year anniversary of the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, in which the Supreme Court redefined marriage to include same-sex couples. The Supreme Court’s decision has created questions of how it will treat discrimination claims by same-sex couples and supporters of traditional marriage between one man and one woman. Critics of proponents of traditional… -
opinion
Unanimous Supreme Court Gives Win to Religious Foster Care Agency
In a unanimous judgment Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a faith-based foster care agency, saying the city of Philadelphia could not disqualify it because of its religious beliefs. The high court noted that Catholic Social Services has “long been a point of light in the city’s foster-care system” and that the agency simply wishes to be allowed to “continue serving the children of Philadelphia in a manner consistent… -
opinion
The Real Reason These Democrats Want to Expand Supreme Court
Four Democratic members of Congress have introduced legislation to expand the Supreme Court from nine justices to 13. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., introduced the bill April 15 with Reps. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., and Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y. Markey said he supports expanding the high court because it “is broken.” GianCarlo Canaparo,… -
news
‘A Pure Political Ploy’: Sen. Rubio Accuses Democrats of Trying to Pack Courts for Their Own Agenda
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., criticized legislation introduced by Democratic members of Congress intended to add four justices to the Supreme Court. Rubio told Fox News Thursday that the bill is a “political ploy” that serves the Democratic Party’s political agenda. He added that issues with the court sprang up once the conservatives made up a… -
opinion
Left Is Using Supreme Court Commission to Change Court’s Decisions, Not to Improve It
Today, President Joe Biden signed an executive order creating the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. The White House announcement and the members chosen for this commission raise serious questions about its real purpose and concerns about its impact on the independence of the judiciary. The most obvious question is why… -
opinion
Supreme Court Punted on Protections for Religion in Workplace. Justice Gorsuch Wasn’t Having It.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday released various opinions and orders, as it does in the flurry of activity in the spring season that precedes the court’s summer recess. While most orders are released without commentary, among this week’s batch was a denial of a petition for writ of certiorari that included a strongly worded… -
news
Democrat Senator Calls for Biden’s New AG to Examine ‘Fake’ Kavanaugh Investigation
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., called on the nation's new attorney general, Merrick Garland, to examine the FBI’s “fake” investigation into allegations that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a fellow high school student. The Rhode Island Democrat suggested that the FBI's investigation into Kavanaugh’s conduct had been incomplete, and asked Garland to examine how… -
opinion
Justices’ Title VII ‘on Basis of Sex’ Ruling Spawning Unintended Consequences in Lower Courts
A Supreme Court case decided last year is a cautionary tale of the legal equivalent of the law of unintended consequences. The high court issued a decision last June in Bostock v. Clayton County, a landmark 6-3 opinion holding that discrimination “on the basis of sex” for the purposes of Title VII (which forbids discrimination… -
opinion
In Pivotal Ruling, Supreme Court Removes Barrier to Protecting First Amendment
A near-unanimous Supreme Court decided Monday that two Christian students have the right to sue the Georgia college that violated their free speech rights in the past. The impact of the ruling is far greater than what at first sounds like a run-of-the-mill decision on a procedural issue that might prompt non-lawyers to take a… -
news
7 Takeaways as Merrick Garland Gets Hearing for Attorney General
Merrick Garland, whose nomination five years ago to the Supreme Court was doomed, finally got a hearing Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee—as President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general. Judging from their statements, the panel’s Republican senators seemed likely to confirm Garland. After President Barack Obama nominated Garland for the Supreme Court in March… -
news
Smithsonian’s Clarence Thomas Exhibit Guilty of ‘Irresponsible Bias,’ Black Conservatives Say
A group of black conservative leaders has called on the National Museum of African American History and Culture to update its exhibit on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to correct what it calls “irresponsible bias” in the display. "Black history cannot and should not be political," Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., wrote in a letter last week… -
opinion
Federal Judge Is Right to Enjoin Biden’s Plan to Halt Deportations
In his first few days in office, President Joe Biden has issued a flurry of executive orders and memorandums. And according to one federal judge, not all of them are lawful. Judge Drew Tipton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has enjoined the Biden administration’s Jan. 20 memorandum that would have suspended… -
opinion
The Left’s Push to ‘Reform’ the Courts Only Will Politicize Them
President Joe Biden has announced the creation of a commission to examine “reforming” the courts. This move is not only a “solution” in search of a problem, but will itself likely damage the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. It is based on the dangerous idea that the political branches should manipulate… -
opinion
As Biden Attorney General, Merrick Garland Will Face Political Pressures
With President-elect Joe Biden’s choice of federal Judge Merrick Garland as his new attorney general last week, the question arises: Will Garland carry out his responsibilities in a nonpartisan manner, or will he return the Justice Department to the days of the Obama-Biden administration — when, as I have argued, Eric Holder politicized the department more than… -
opinion
Discrimination Against Churches Didn’t Have a Prayer at the Supreme Court
COVID-19 made 2020 an incredibly hard year for Americans. Governors and mayors made it worse by shrinking religious freedom. It didn’t have to be this way. Most Americans have shown that they’re willing to take sensible precautions. But some of those in leadership positions have overreacted, to put it mildly. As Supreme Court Justice Samuel…