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
The Barr Exam: 5 Expected Issues for Trump’s Attorney General Pick
President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general faces a Senate committee Tuesday in what could turn into a proxy fight and speechifying over the probe of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. Nominee William Barr, who was attorney general 27 years ago, will act to head off some questions from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary… -
opinion
What Justice Ginsburg’s Absence From the Supreme Court Means—and What It Doesn’t
The Supreme Court justices returned for the court’s first oral arguments of 2019 this week without America’s favorite octogenarian, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Seasoned litigators and Ginsburg fanatics alike were shocked by Chief Justice John Roberts’ announcement on Monday that Ginsburg would miss oral arguments. The announcement came less than three weeks after the Supreme… -
news
Supreme Court: ‘No Evidence’ of Cancer Remaining for Justice Ginsburg
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recovery from a lung cancer operation is proceeding apace and there are no signs of further disease, the Supreme Court announced Friday afternoon. Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her lungs at the Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center on Dec. 21. The procedure is called a pulmonary lobectomy. “Justice Ginsburg will continue… -
opinion
Thanks to Senate Democrats, Our Judicial Vacancy Crisis Is More Out of Order Than Ever Before
Some people in government don’t even need a shutdown to avoid work. Consider how Senate Democrats are handling President Trump’s judicial nominees. Or, to be more precise, not handling them. Just before the Christmas break, The Hill reported, Democrats vowed to “reject any end-of-the-year deal on judicial nominations, signaling they’ll toe a tougher line on court appointments amid… -
opinion
How America’s Greatest Chief Justice Shaped the Supreme Court
John Marshall may not have a Broadway play about his life, but the Founding Father deserves recognition from Americans as one of the chief architects of our system of government. A new book by Richard Brookhiser, a senior editor at National Review and an esteemed historian, presents an interesting character study of one of the… -
news
Democrats Question Judicial Nominee About Membership in Catholic Association
Two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are pressing a nominee for the Nebraska federal trial court about his membership in the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal service organization of the Catholic Church. Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Kamala Harris of California submitted written questions in December to Brian Buescher, an Omaha lawyer nominated to the U.S. District Court for… -
opinion
6 Gifts for the Supreme Court Fanatic in Your Life
Are you wondering what to give that friend, family member, or colleague who loves the Supreme Court? Here are some gift ideas that should delight any Supreme Court watcher, brought to you by The Heritage Foundation’s “SCOTUS 101” podcast. 1. “I Like the Strong Silent Type” T-shirt, $22.99 On the bench, Justice Clarence Thomas is… -
opinion
By Democrats’ Own Standard, We Have a Judicial Vacancy Crisis
Words like “crisis” are in the eye of the political beholder. But it’s hard to pick a better one to describe the current state of vacancies in the federal courts. Today, 126 positions on the U.S. District Court and U.S. Court of Appeals are vacant. In fact, we’re in the longest period of triple-digit vacancies… -
opinion
Supreme Court’s Refusal to Hear Planned Parenthood Case Is a Missed Opportunity
The Supreme Court on Monday missed an opportunity to bring clarity to an area of the law about which the lower courts are divided: Whether states can prevent Medicaid funds from going to pay for non-abortion services at Planned Parenthood clinics. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the court’s decision not to take up the case,… -
news
Students Want to Remove the Name of Clarence Thomas From Building, but Can’t Say Why
Some students at a Georgia college continue to call for removing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ name from a campus building, but aren’t able to say why. “We should probably just take his name off of the building,” a young woman tells Cabot Phillips, Campus Reform’s media director, in a video posted Monday by the conservative… -
news
Unions Defy Supreme Court on Mandatory Dues, Suit Says
Labor unions are collecting dues from public employees without their “affirmative consent” in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling that state laws requiring nonunion government workers to make such payments are unconstitutional, a new lawsuit alleges. The Freedom Foundation, a free market think tank based in Washington state, joined with the National Right to Work… -
news
George H.W. Bush Has a Far-Reaching Supreme Court Legacy
Former President George H.W. Bush, who died peacefully Friday night, made far-reaching changes to the Supreme Court, appointing two justices to the nation’s highest judicial tribunal and clearing the way for three more. His appointments helped set the trajectory of the nascent conservative legal establishment, and permanently altered Republican perceptions of the judicial selection process…. -
news
Flake Continues to Hold Judicial Confirmations Hostage to Vote on Mueller Protection Bill
Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake is staying true to his pledge to not advance judicial nominees in the Senate Judiciary Committee, unless a bill that would prevent President Donald Trump from firing special counsel Robert Mueller gets a Senate vote. “It is not productive,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, per Politico. “One of the greatest substantive… -
opinion
Where Trump’s Judicial Picks Stand at the End of This Congress
The 115th Congress is almost finished, with the Senate expected to adjourn by Dec. 14. What does that mean for the process of filling positions in the judicial and executive branches? First, here’s how it usually works. The majority and minority typically agree to confirm a group of nominees in the last few days of… -
opinion
The Supreme Court Signals It May Rein in Abusive Property Seizures
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in a case that may rein in abusive property seizures by state and local governments through the highly controversial legal tool known as civil asset forfeiture. The case at issue involves a man named Tyson Timbs, who sold $225 worth of heroin to undercover police officers… -
opinion
Frequent 5-4 Supreme Court Rulings Belie Chief Justice Roberts’ Argument Justices Are Unbiased
Chief Justice John Roberts has been drawn into President Donald Trump’s web. Last week the president criticized the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, calling it “a lawless disgrace.” The New York Times writes, “Trump’s remarks came after a federal trial judge ordered the administration to resume accepting asylum… -
opinion
3 Upcoming Supreme Court Cases to Watch
After a two-week break, the Supreme Court has returned to hear its final round of cases for 2018. Among the issues that the court will address are whether half of Oklahoma is an Indian reservation, excessive fines, and double jeopardy. The following are three cases to watch in the Supreme Court’s last sitting of the… -
news
Justice Sonia Sotomayor Shares How She Welcomed Brett Kavanaugh After His Confirmation
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor related one of her first exchanges with Justice Brett Kavanaugh following his bitter confirmation during a wide-ranging interview Saturday with CNN. In welcoming Kavanaugh, Sotomayor recounted a story about Justice Clarence Thomas’ arrival at the Supreme Court in 1991. “It was Justice Thomas who tells me that when he first came to… -
news
Trump Taps Regulatory Czar to Succeed Kavanaugh on DC Circuit
President Donald Trump will nominate Neomi Rao, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Speaking at the White House’s Diwali celebration Tuesday, the president said he was slated to make the announcement on Wednesday, but was so delighted by the… -
opinion
A New Way of Tracking Trump’s Judicial Nominees
Addressing a convention of labor commissioners in 1889, prominent government statistician Carroll D. Wright reminded his audience that “figures will not lie,” but warned that “liars will figure.” He urged them to “prevent the liar from figuring”—that is, from “perverting the truth, in the interest of some theory he is trying to establish.” To that…