Legal News
Reports on lawmaking, constitutional issues, and court cases. The Daily Signal combines news reporting with conservative commentary and legal analysis.
-
news
Flashback to 1992: When Democrats Halted a Republican President’s Judicial Nominees
If Senate Democrats get their way, Republicans won’t follow their example. That is, Senate Republicans in 2016 won’t act as Democrats did when they blocked court confirmations in 1992. Twenty-four years ago looked a lot like the inverse of today. On the eve of a presidential election, there was a Republican in the White House and… -
news
Next President Could Stack the Deck as Supreme Court Justices Near Retirement
With three of the surviving Supreme Court justices in or near their 80s, successors named by the next president could shift the ideological makeup of the nation’s highest court. Within hours of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death Saturday at age 79, President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans began to clash over whether he should nominate, and the Senate confirm, a… -
opinion
Fight to Replace Scalia Proves Supreme Court Has Become Too Powerful
The stakes are high—very high. Finding a replacement for deceased Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia will be a battle royale. But why should one government official’s position be so existentially important? Yes, control of the Supreme Court hangs in the balance, but that raises the question as to why the Court itself is so… -
news
After Facing Questions on Abortion, 2 Obama Judicial Nominees Fail to Advance
The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding up two of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees for federal judgeships in Pennsylvania. Robert Colville and John Younge, both nominated for lifetime judicial positions, did not receive a vote at Thursday’s committee meeting. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the move was meant to give senators more time to review “their records… -
opinion
Why 25 States Have Asked Supreme Court to Halt This Costly EPA Regulation
Twenty-five states (and four state agencies) are petitioning the Supreme Court to halt the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Clean Power Plan, after the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to stay the rule last week. The states described the Clean Power Plan “as the most far reaching and burdensome rule EPA… -
news
GOP Senators Push Attorney General to Investigate EPA Over WOTUS
Two Republican senators opened up a broadside assault against the Environmental Protection Agency last week in the ongoing battle over President Barack Obama’s controversial “Waters of the U.S.” rule (WOTUS), a regulation that extends federal authority over smaller waterways. In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Sens. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Ben Sasse… -
news
Obama Judicial Nominee Who Accused Reagan of ‘Bigotry’ Faces Confirmation Vote
President Obama’s nominee for a federal judgeship in Minnesota accused the Reagan administration of “bigotry” in her writing for the prestigious UCLA Law Review in 1989. Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Wilhelmina Wright, who is expected to win Senate confirmation to federal District Court in her state next Tuesday, wrote the accusation shortly before graduating Harvard Law… -
opinion
From Inside the Supreme Court, the Key Exchanges on a Case Pitting Unions vs. First Amendment
This morning, the Supreme Court heard a challenge to the requirement in California that government employees, such as public school teachers, pay fees to the local union even if they choose not to join the union. First Amendment Rights In Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, Rebecca Friedrichs and other teachers argue that forcing them to… -
news
Here Are the 9 ‘Most Unfair’ Courts for Civil Lawsuits
In nine courts around the country, trial lawyers and judges work together in extracting large sums of money from people who may not deserve it, according to a new report. By taking advantage of tort laws, the ease with which civil justice cases are tried in these “judicial hellholes” can lead to higher costs of… -
news
Ohio Attorney General Talks Allegations That Planned Parenthood Disposed of Aborted Babies in Landfills
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine discussed on Fox News Tuesday his office’s allegation that Planned Parenthood has disposed of aborted babies in landfills, which has prompted a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood. Asked to respond to Planned Parenthood’s statement that the allegations were “flat-out false,” DeWine said, “It’s rather strange, because Planned Parenthood’s own lawyers told… -
opinion
What the Constitution Tells Us About How Senators Should Consider Obama’s Judicial Nominees
What exactly is the Senate’s role of “Advice and Consent” when it comes to the nominations made by a president? It’s a topic of perpetual debate in Washington. One wrong-headed argument holds the role to be quite modest: Senators should defer to a president’s choices except in extreme circumstances. That position is advanced far too often by… -
opinion
Will the Illinois Supreme Court Set Chicago’s Pension Apocalypse in Stone?
Nov. 17—that’s the date set for the Illinois State Supreme Court to hear oral arguments regarding a 2014 deal to overhaul the city of Chicago’s pension plans. It’s a golden opportunity for the court to clarify or—better yet—overturn its misguided decision earlier this year, which invalidated the 2013 statewide pension reforms. Let’s hope the court… -
news
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Alabama From Defunding Planned Parenthood
A federal judge has temporarily blocked Alabama from terminating Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Gov. Robert Bentley, R-Ala., ordered that the state end its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood after the Center for Medical Progress released a series of undercover videos that raised allegations that the organization is trafficking the body… -
news
Amid Ongoing Legal Battle, Savannah to Vote on Requirement That Tour Guides Pass Test
Under pressure from a federal lawsuit, Savannah, Ga., may bow out of an ongoing legal battle Thursday that would dismantle the city’s tour guide regulations and allow anyone to speak to willing customers about the city’s rich history. The Savannah City Council is voting this afternoon to repeal its decades-old ordinance that bars tour guides… -
news
Senator Reveals Full Scope of Democrats’ ‘Manufactured’ Judicial Confirmation Crisis
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa is pushing back on Democratic charges that the GOP-led Senate has dropped the ball on judicial confirmations under President Barack Obama. Grassley took to the Senate floor Monday after his colleagues confirmed the 314th judicial nominee since the president took office, noting that by this time in 2007, under… -
opinion
Why Michigan’s Attorney General Has Backed Forfeiture Reform
Civil forfeiture reformers in Michigan just gained an unlikely but welcome ally: Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. To date, the forfeiture debate in virtually every state has been characterized by a stiff divide between reformers demanding change and a law enforcement establishment implacably opposed to it. Schuette’s endorsement of reform legislation seems to be breaking… -
news
Disapproval Rating of Supreme Court Reaches New High
Disapproval rates of the high court are rising, according to a new Gallup poll. The poll, released Friday, shows a 50-percent disapproval rating of the Supreme Court. Underlying the disapproval rating is a wide partisan gap. Most of those who disapprove of the Supreme Court’s performance are Republican,… -
news
Two Top Litigators Preview Upcoming Supreme Court Cases
The new term for the Supreme Court is gearing up to begin on Oct. 5. Top Supreme Court litigators Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general, and Lisa Blatt, an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, spoke on Tuesday at The Heritage Foundation. Clement and Blatt, who have collectively argued more than 100 cases before the… -
opinion
Pa. Democrat Attorney General Has License Suspended
In a historic move, all five justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have voted to temporarily suspend the law license of the state’s attorney general, Kathleen Kane, based on the recommendation of the court’s 13-member disciplinary board. This leaves the office of the state attorney general in limbo, since Pennsylvania’s constitution requires that the attorney… -
opinion
5 Cases to Watch in the Supreme Court’s Next Term
The Supreme Court’s last term was one for the history books, with high-profile cases involving Obamacare and gay marriage. The next term may not attract the same level of attention from the media and general public, but the justices will consider a number of important issues. Voting rights, public employee unions, and racial preferences in…