The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held Wednesday that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) does not have to comply with a list of COVID-19 protection measures from a lower court’s ruling last week because it is already complying with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and the lower [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund that a permit is required from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) whenever there is a direct discharge from a point source into navigable waters or when there is the “functional equivalent of a direct discharge.” The central issue in the case [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that federal patent law does not allow for an appeal of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision to institute a procedure for challenging the validity of a patent after a finding that a one-year time bar does not apply. Inter partes review is a process established by [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that defendants on trial in state courts for serious offenses must be convicted by a unanimous jury, under the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial, which is incorporated to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled in Apodaca v. Oregon that the [...]
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed a number of bills into law Sunday to expand voter access and repeal the state’s voter ID law. House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 111 expand access to early voting 45 days prior to an election without any reason; House Bill 19 and Senate Bill 65 remove the requirement that [...]
On Monday night, the Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked Governor Tony Evers’s emergency executive order to postpone the state’s Tuesday, April 7, primary election— mere hours after Evers signed it. Shortly after, the US Supreme Court denied an extension of absentee ballot submission deadlines. The election will go forward as planned. In the initial order, Evers [...]
The US Supreme Court declined Monday to take up the question of whether Washington DC’s metro (WMATA) violated the First Amendment by banning religious advertising, letting a lower court ruling stand. The DC-area metro rejected a Christmas bus advertisement from the Catholic Diocese because of a blanket restriction of religious advertising. For Christmas-season advertisements specifically, [...]
The US Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) announced via Twitter Monday evening that hearings in non-detained immigration cases will be postponed until May 1. The EOIR said that immigration courts are open for detainee hearings, including bond hearings, where applicable. Operational status of courts nationwide are updated on the office’s website. [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania filed an emergency petition to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday seeking the release of some in the Commonwealth’s county jails—what the petition argues is a necessary measure to allow jails space to follow CDC-recommended safe social distancing practices to prepare for COVID-19. The petition asks the [...]
The Trump administration announced Monday that Migrant Protection Protocol asylum hearings scheduled through April 22 will be postponed due to COVID-19. The joint statement between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) calls on those with hearings to present at their port of entry on their [...]
