Marissa Zupancic is JURIST’s Washington DC Correspondent, a JURIST Senior Editor and a 3L at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She’s stationed in Washington during her Semester in DC. Today I attended oral arguments at the US Supreme Court for Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. The case concerns whether the [...]
Search Results for: First Circuit
New York court issues gag order against Trump in hush money case
New York’s supreme court on Tuesday issued an order restricting former US president Donald Trump from making extrajudicial statements that could sway jurors and witnesses ahead of his upcoming trial for alleged hush money payments made to an adult film star. Set to commence on April 15, 2024, the trial will center on 34 counts [...]
Explainer: Supreme Court Prepares for Oral Arguments in Latest Reproductive Rights Case
The US Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday in a case concerning the authorization and regulation of the abortion pill mifepristone at a time when reproductive rights are at the heart of political division and changing policies across the nation. At the center of the case is the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine’s lawsuit against the Food [...]
US federal appeals court rejects First Amendment challenge to tobacco advertising law
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected a challenge Thursday from tobacco companies that alleged a bill requiring graphic imagery on cigarette packaging and advertisements was a violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA) was enacted by [...]
Explainer: Unpacking SB 4, Texas's Controversial Border Security Legislation
In recent days, an unusual state border-security law has ricocheted back and forth between US federal courts, introducing novel questions of state and federal supremacy. Long disgruntled over the federal government’s perceived inadequate efforts to curb illegal immigration along its southern border, Texas enacted a state law that would enable it to take action in [...]
US Supreme Court hears oral arguments on Texas councilwoman First Amendment retaliatory arrest case
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on the case Gonzalez v. Trevino, which concerns the arrest of a Castle Hills, Texas councilwoman who argues that she was arrested in retaliation for her critical speech about the city’s government. The case is an appeal from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, [...]
Georgia to go forward with first execution in more than 4 years after parole board denies clemency
The Georgia Parole Board denied clemency for inmate Willie James Pye on Tuesday, making him soon to be the first inmate executed in the state since 2020. Pye was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 after the murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbough, with whom he was involved in a relationship. During the clemency meeting [...]
US Supreme Court allows Texas law criminalizing illegal entry from abroad to go into effect
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a stay that prohibited the enforcement of a Texas law that criminalizes illegal entry into the state from other countries, allowing the law to go into effect. While Justice Samuel Alito indefinitely extended the stay Monday afternoon, he found himself among the six justices voting to lift the stay [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in a free speech challenge to the Biden administration’s encouragement of platforms to remove posts that officials deemed misinformation, including posts relating to elections and COVID-19. The lawsuit, filed by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana along with five individuals, raises critical questions about the intersection [...]
US Supreme Court rules public officials can be sued for blocking users on social media in some cases
The US Supreme Court ruled Friday that public officials can be sued for blocking users on social media if the official posts about state matters and is authorized to speak for the state. The court decided that blocking users only qualifies as “state action” under 42 U.S.C § 1983, which authorizes lawsuits against public officials [...]