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
Neil Gorsuch Draws Praise From Democrats as Confirmation Hearings Open
Judge Neil Gorsuch’s dedication to upholding the rule of law became the focus of the Supreme Court nominee’s first day of Senate confirmation hearings. “My decisions have never reflected a judgment about the people before me—only my best judgment about the law and facts at issue in each particular case,” Gorsuch said in his prepared… -
news
Former Female Student Making Allegations Against Gorsuch Has Ties to Obama, Democrats
Judge Neil Gorsuch’s former law student who is accusing the Supreme Court nominee of encouraging firms to engage in sexist and possibly illegal hiring practices has close ties to the Democratic Party, The Daily Signal has learned. Jennifer Sisk, a 2016 graduate of the University of Colorado Law School, wrote a scathing letter to the… -
news
Former Clerk Explains Her Support for Gorsuch
Janie Nitze has known Judge Neil Gorsuch for nearly a decade. In 2008, after graduating with honors from Harvard Law School, she clerked for him at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, based in Denver. Since then, Nitze’s career has taken her to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she clerked for Justice Sonia Sotomayor,… -
opinion
How Neil Gorsuch’s Senate Confirmation Process Compares to Recent Ones
On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin its hearing on the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is confident that the Senate will confirm Gorsuch before the Easter recess, which is set to begin April 10. As Senate Democrats have scrambled to… -
news
Here Are 4 Possible Outcomes for Gorsuch’s Confirmation Process
Confirmation hearings for Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court choice, will begin Monday, with the process culminating in one of four likely outcomes. Gorsuch, a 49-year-old federal appeals judge, could potentially see these outcomes as his confirmation process unfolds: He is confirmed with at least 51 votes after there are 60 votes to end… -
news
Long Before Neil Gorsuch, Judges Had to Be Liberal Enough for Chuck Schumer
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer arguably telegraphed his opposition to Neil Gorsuch as the next Supreme Court justice almost 16 years ago when, as a freshman Democrat from New York, he broke what he called a taboo to say the Senate publicly should make ideology a factor in confirming judges. “Schumer deserves credit or blame—depending… -
opinion
Justice Clarence Thomas Questions Congress’ Power to Regulate Business Abroad
Is the United States the world commerce police? In a recent opinion, in which he dissented from the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a case, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that Congress’ power to regulate international commerce may be broad, but not as broad as some lawmakers and judges would have it. In his dissenting opinion… -
opinion
Clarence Thomas Casts Doubt on the Constitutionality of Civil Forfeiture
This week, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas signaled his belief that civil asset forfeiture laws have strayed too far from their narrow historical precedent and questioned whether “modern civil-forfeiture statutes can be squared with the Due Process Clause and our nation’s history.” The news stems from a case, Lisa Olivia Leonard v. Texas, which—like so… -
opinion
Supreme Court’s Pass on Transgender Case Will Ignite Further Lawsuits
For the past few months, the legal community has been preparing for a grand showdown before the Supreme Court on student privacy rights. The central question at hand: Must schools allow a student into sleeping facilities, locker rooms, and restrooms reserved for the opposite sex if that student subjectively identifies with that sex? The prospects… -
news
Supreme Court Watchers Hail Neil Gorsuch as a Judge Who ‘Goes Deep’
Neil Gorsuch will be a defender of the rule of law and a worthy successor to Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, a panel of prominent lawyers said Tuesday at The Heritage Foundation. “I think that with this addition [of] Judge Gorsuch, we’ll see … a lot more pressure put on the Congress to do… -
opinion
Neil Gorsuch’s Proven Track Record of Protecting Religious Liberty
President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch is a solid originalist and textualist when it comes to interpreting the Constitution and statutory authority. This alone is reason to believe he will be a good Supreme Court justice, but his strong rulings on religious liberty only bolster his qualifications. On this issue, he has… -
opinion
Court Ruling Against Trump’s Executive Order Shows the Worst of Judicial Activism
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has repeated the mistakes made by the district court judge who stayed President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily suspending visas from seven terrorist havens. Both the judge in Washington state and the San Francisco-based circuit court have now refused to recognize the authority of Congress… -
opinion
Neil Gorsuch Is Trump’s Best Revenge for Judicial Activism
We do not yet know whether the Trump administration will appeal Thursday’s setback in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court. Regardless, the challenge to President Donald Trump’s immigration order is but one of what will surely be a long series of pitched legal battles—many reaching the high court—as progressives pursue… -
news
Why This Group of Nuns Is Defending Neil Gorsuch
After President Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, Democrats promised a fight, calling the federal appeals judge an extremist and a threat to women’s health care. “I have deep, serious concerns about Judge Gorsuch,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “An extreme ideologue on the court will threaten privacy rights, including women’s health… -
news
Senate Confirms Jeff Sessions as Attorney General
The Senate voted 52-47 Wednesday night to confirm Jeff Sessions, a longtime U.S. senator and former federal prosecutor, as the nation’s 84th attorney general. Only one Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, joined Republicans in confirming Sessions, who voted “present.” Sessions, a Republican representing Alabama in the Senate since 1997, will take over a Justice… -
news
Liberals Likely to Use Courts to Thwart Trump Agenda
After the president scolded judges for not ruling his way, some critics accused him of seeking to intimidate an independent judiciary. “If a judge oversteps that constitutional role and acts as a super legislature, then that judge should be criticized,” @HvonSpakovsky says. That was in 2010, after the State of the Union address when President… -
news
How Neil Gorsuch Could Help Courts Take Power From ‘Unelected Bureaucrats’
The writings of Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, make clear his skepticism about government regulation and executive power. If confirmed as a member of the Supreme Court, Gorsuch could push to limit or overturn a 33-year-old legal doctrine, known as Chevron, which says the courts should defer to executive… -
opinion
Chuck Schumer’s Hypocrisy on Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee
This weekend, President Donald Trump criticized U.S. District Judge James Robart for his halt of the president’s immigration order—a ruling issued without any accompanying legal analysis. Now, key Senate Democrats are threatening to use the remark against Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wants to use…