Supreme Court News

In-depth reporting and commentary on the Court’s rulings and their influence on law, politics, and society.
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  • 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…
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  • 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…
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  • 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…
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  • 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…
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  • 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…
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  • 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…
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  • 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,…
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  • 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…
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  • 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…
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  • 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…
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  • 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…
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  • opinion

    Supreme Court’s 5-4 Ruling Shows How Religious Liberty Hangs by a Thread

    In totalitarian societies, governments suppress the church and religious worship. That’s because dictators think citizens should worship them as the highest authority—and not a Higher Authority, which they view as a threat to their power and position. In the United States, religious liberty has been under siege for some time. Last week’s Thanksgiving gift to…
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  • opinion

    Religious Liberty on Trial in Supreme Court’s Foster Care Case

    Foster parents offer hope and critical support to children facing tremendous challenges. But the city of Philadelphia has threatened that hope by telling longtime foster parents that they can’t work with Catholic Social Services because of the religious organization’s belief in marriage as the union of one man and one woman.  The case Fulton v….
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  • opinion

    Memo to the Supreme Court: Keep the Faithful Free to Foster

    Foster families provide lifesaving care to hundreds of thousands of children each and every year in the United States. Sadly, more children are in need than there are families ready to provide care. To best serve these children, public policy needs to maximize the number and diversity of foster agencies (including faith-based agencies). This increases…
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  • news

    6 Top Takeaways From Final Day of Barrett’s Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings

    Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee debated when they would vote on the nomination of federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and listened to testimony from witnesses on the fourth and final day of hearings to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  President Donald Trump nominated…
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  • opinion

    What Will Happen If Liberals Pack the Supreme Court

    Exponential growth. It’s why plagues are so dangerous and compound interest is so wonderful. It’s also why the Democrats’ flirting with court-packing could destroy the Supreme Court and, with it, America as we know it. The following is a reasonable scenario: Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court, which gives conservatives a 6-3…
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  • news

    Support Grows for Confirming Barrett for Supreme Court, Poll Finds

    A plurality of Americans support Senate confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court, with a boost of 9 percentage points since President Donald Trump announced her nomination, according to a Morning Consult poll.  Barrett’s support is increasing among Republicans, Democrats, and independents, the poll found.  Almost half, or 46%, in a poll…
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  • opinion

    Sen. Marsha Blackburn Previews Barrett’s Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings

    Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joins the “Daily Signal News” podcast to talk about the committee’s confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, set to begin next week. Senate Democrats, who generally have supported virtual hearings during the pandemic, now demand in-person hearings to consider Barrett. How…
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  • news

    Barrett’s Former Colleagues: ‘No One … Better Suited to Be on the Supreme Court’

    Alexa Baltes has a unique perspective on Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett, as both a former student of hers at Notre Dame Law School and as a law clerk for her on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  “I mentioned her enthusiasm for principles over preference as a law professor. I got…
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  • opinion

    Releasing a List of Supreme Court Nominees Brings Transparency to the Process

    By now, we’re all familiar with President Donald Trump’s 2016 pledge to nominate someone from his list of potential Supreme Court nominees. In fact, the president updated his list last month, not long before the unexpected death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. True to his pledge, his nominee to ultimately fill the vacant seat, Amy Coney Barrett, was on this list.   As with the president’s previous two nominations, many individuals—voters and senators alike—were already…
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