The Fifth Circuit's homework assignment to the Department of Justice is a disgrace -- an embarrassment to the federal judiciary. Still, it's a useful window on the contemporary merger of law and politics.
The Supreme Court has ruled that an invasive strip search, even for minor offenses, is reasonable. Kate Bolduan reports.
On Monday, a 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court approved strip searches of everyone entering jail after arrest for even the most minor offense. The ruling exposed a disturbing insensitivity.
Like everyone else who listened to the arguments at the Supreme Court last week, I have no crystal ball for predicting whether the justices will uphold or strike down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Jeffrey Toobin and Howard Kurtz discuss covering the Supreme Court's hearing on the healthcare mandate.
After three days of very public debate, the U.S. Supreme Court now retreats from the spotlight to make decisions that could topple some or all of the the sweeping health care reform bill championed by President Barack Obama.
The Supreme Court concluded a marathon public debate on health care Wednesday with justices signaling an ideological divide that could topple some or all of the the sweeping reform bill championed by President Barack Obama.
All eyes have been on the Supreme Court this week as the justices listened to three days of arguments regarding the constitutionality of President Obama's health care reform plan.
In one of the most anticipated Supreme Court hearings in years, the justices on Tuesday offered sharply divided views on the controversial individual mandate provision at the heart of the 2010 federal health care reform law.
The justices on the Supreme Court know very well their rulings can send immediate political shock waves, and those just intensify in a presidential election year. So there is an unusual internal dynamic at work of what cases the court hears and when.
The Supreme Court will hear landmark arguments over the future of health care reform. CNN's Kate Bolduan has a preview.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA) was signed into law March 23, 2010, passed by a Democratic congressional majority and championed by President Obama. It has about 2,700 pages and contains 450 some provisions.
The U.S. Supreme Court is prepared to take on an emotionally charged case: the massive health care reform legislation championed by President Barack Obama.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to tackle another election-year blockbuster and will decide whether the University of Texas' race-conscious admission policies violate the rights of white applicants.
The Illinois Supreme Court's recent decision to permit the televising of trials in the state's circuit courts brings to mind another question of television in a court: the U.S. Supreme Court.
A state law mandating "humane treatment" of downed livestock headed for the slaughterhouse was unanimously overturned Monday by the Supreme Court.
Twelve persons were arrested Friday during an "Occupy" demonstration at the U.S. Supreme Court in which protesters were dressed like justices and sang songs of the Motown group The Supremes, officials said.
The Supreme Court takes another look at "indecency" on broadcast TV. CNN's Kate Bolduan looks at the implications.
The Obama administration Friday filed papers with the U.S. Supreme Court outlining its arguments in favor of the minimum coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act ? the latest move in a high-stakes legal battle playing out in the heat of the presidential campaigns.
Chief Justice John Roberts expressed "complete confidence" Saturday in his Supreme Court colleagues to fairly decide whether to remove themselves from hot-button cases such as health care reform -- a timely election-year issue that has created a judicial and political headache for the nine-member court.
As expected, the Supreme Court has agreed to decide the constitutionality of the sweeping health care reform law championed by President Barack Obama.
The Supreme Court agrees to decide the constitutionality of the health care reform law championed by President Obama.
A state law mandating "humane treatment" of downed livestock headed for the slaughterhouse was viewed with a good measure of concern by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
One of the little-known prerogatives of the U.S. Supreme Court is the justices' discretion to refuse any case on the merits presented to them for review. Only one in 10 petitions actually gets accepted. But though the justices usually say no, when epic disputes arrive at the courthouse steps -- by tradition and political reality -- the nine members know they are powerless to turn away.
CNN's Athena Jones on what to expect during the new U.S. Supreme Court term, which starts Monday.
Outlined below are some key cases the Supreme Court is scheduled to tackle in its 2011-12 term, which starts Monday.
The Supreme Court opens its 2011-12 term on Wednesday. Just how much do you know about the court? Here's a quiz to help you find out.
Arizona's governor formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to intervene and allow the state to enforce its controversial immigration law known as Senate Bill 1070.
After seven years of wrangling in a case that altered workplace discrimination law, 20 firefighters will receive a $2 million payout from the city of New Haven, Connecticut.
The Supreme Court struck down a California law that would have banned selling "violent" video games to children.
Maybe it helps for the nation's highest court to say it, too?
The Supreme Court rules California cannot ban the sale of violent video games to kids. CNN's Jeffrey Toobin reports.
The Supreme Court has struck down a California law that would have banned selling violent video games to children -- and game publishers couldn't be happier.
The Supreme Court decided against allowing a class-action suit against Wal-Mart. CNN's Jeffrey Toobin explains why.
The Supreme Court put the brakes on a massive job discrimination lawsuit against mega-retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc., saying the plaintiffs had not shown justification for sweeping class-action status that could have potentially involved hundreds of thousands of current and former female workers.
California wants to shift low-level state offenders to county jails as a way to reduce overcrowding, as ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court, under an unfunded plan that would require legislative and voter approval, the state's top corrections official said Tuesday.
From KTVK, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer makes her case on taking the state's immigration law to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to jump into the controversial national debate over health care reform at this stage, rejecting a plea from Virginia for a judicial end-around -- an expedited review over whether the sweeping federal law is constitutional.
The Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court to take another look at government efforts to regulate profanity and sexual content on broadcast television.
The battle over a hot-button issue has been raging in state legislatures across the country this year with an unprecedented number of bills aimed at restricting abortions.
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a condemned Georgia inmate's request that his execution be delayed as he attempts to prove his "actual innocence."
The U.S. Supreme Court rejects a Georgia inmate's request to delay his execution so he can try and prove his innocence.
The Supreme Court ruled for drug manufacturers Tuesday, deciding that a case brought by a Pennsylvania family who says their child was injured by a vaccine cannot be heard outside of a court created to hear such claims.
The Supreme Court has again rejected broad privacy rights for some government workers.
"Equal Justice Under Law" -- the words symbolize the American heritage of democracy and the rule of law.
Kate Bolduan takes a rare peek at what lies behind the walls of the Supreme Court.
One Supreme Court justice threatened to punch out another during a legal debate. Another called a colleague "Der Fuehrer." And a third had joined a terrorist group.
The Supreme Court can seem a distant, dusty place, far removed from what young people, especially, see as relevant in their lives. It's an institution closed to cameras, with justices issuing dense written opinions while working mostly from their private chambers. So how do you get high schoolers interested in the important judicial stakes that affect everyone?
The Supreme Court turned aside Friday a gay rights group's request to temporarily suspend enforcement of the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military.
A free speech dispute over a California law banning the sale of violent video games to children is set to be heard in the U.S. Supreme Court this week.
G4's Adam Sessler and CNN sr. legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin discuss Tuesday's Supreme Court case on violent video games.
The Supreme Court cleared the way late Tuesday for the execution of convicted killer Jeffrey Landrigan in Arizona, with a majority of justices deciding to vacate a federal judge's order that had temporarily stopped the execution scheduled for earlier in the day.
CNN's Anderson Cooper reports on outside groups whose money funds political ads, but whose IDs can't be confirmed.
CNN's Kate Bolduan previews the hot-button cases the Supreme Court will hear this session.
The Supreme Court has rejected efforts by some families of 9/11 victims to ensure material from the fallen World Trade Towers is treated respectfully because it could contain ashes of those who perished in the terrorist attacks.
Outlined below are some key cases the Supreme Court is scheduled to tackle in its 2010-11 term, which starts Monday.
The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts is marking its fifth year under his leadership, with a high-powered bench that has been invigorated with four new members in that time to make for a shaky, divided conservative majority.
An appeals court ruling temporarily blocking same-sex marriages from resuming in California drew strong reactions from opponents and supporters of the state's controversial 2008 referendum on the issue.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is upset but not surprised at the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the handgun ban.
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld an incontestable verdict on the conduct of the major cigarette companies over four decades: They are racketeers who carried out a conspiracy to deceive the public and target children with their deadly and addictive products.
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday that justices on the nation's highest court should be even-handed and impartial in order to promise "nothing less than a fair shake for every American."
Stocks ended a choppy session modestly lower Monday as investors welcomed a slight increase in personal spending but remained on guard ahead of key economic reports due later this week.
Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, talk about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.
Leading senators on the Judiciary Committee signaled a contentious hearing starting Monday on Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination, with some Republicans saying a GOP filibuster was possible.
The case of a war memorial shaped like a cross in the California desert got stranger Thursday when someone erected a replica after the original disappeared 11 days ago.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday the federal government has the power to keep some sex offenders behind bars indefinitely after they have served their sentences if officials determine those inmates may prove "sexually dangerous" in the future.
A cross in the Mojave Desert becomes the subject of a Supreme Court fight, as Kate Bolduan explains. (From 2009)
CNN's Kate Bolduan reports on the real-world stakes for the upcoming Supreme Court vacancy.
For most of American history, a Supreme Court with no Protestant Christian judges would have been unthinkable. Nearly three-quarters of all justices who've ever served on the nation's high court have been Protestant. And roughly half of all Americans today identify themselves as Protestant.
CNN has reported President Obama has personally met with four leading candidates for the upcoming Supreme Court vacancy.
The White House search for a new Supreme Court justice is progressing smoothly, said government sources close to the selection process, who expect President Obama to make a decision by early May.
Two leading senators on the Judiciary Committee, which will consider President Obama's upcoming Supreme Court nominee, signaled Sunday that a bruising fight is likely.
A Supreme Court justice is appointed for life, meaning the High Court's turnover is not great. Take a look at Supreme Court justices nominated by presidents since 1975.
Defense attorneys have a fundamental obligation to tell their immigrant clients they face possible deportation when pleading guilty to certain crimes, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The Supreme Court declined to intervene Monday in a dispute over a public school's refusal to allow an instrument-only version of "Ave Maria" at a graduation ceremony. Officials feared the piece would be an endorsement of religion in that limited public forum.
Tuesday was the first day same-sex weddings could be performed in the District of Columbia.
Sinjoyla Townsend and Angelisa Young become the first same-sex couple to marry in Washington, DC.
Parents who say that a range of preventive vaccines given their young children can cause serious health problems will have their appeal heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court's stunning campaign-finance ruling last month -- finding that the "government may not suppress political speech on the basis of the speaker's corporate identity" -- triggered passionate reactions from critics, extending even to an unprecedented, point-counterpoint exchange during the State of the Union address between President Barack Obama and one of the five justices who signed it. In this article we'll aim to depressurize the debate and explain what all the fuss is about.
CNN's Jeffrey Toobin explains what impact the Supreme Court ruling could have on midterm elections.
For everyone licking their wounds after Thursday's landmark 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, worried that the evil corporations are now poised to ruin American democracy once and for all, in the bogus name of free speech, here's a word of potential hope: I used to be one of you, too, and today I'm happy as a clam. Maybe you can be too, eventually. Here's why:
So much for the demise of corporate America, at least in the popular imagination. Just a little while ago, we were petrified about the auto companies in Detroit and the larger manufacturing infrastructure. Wall Street behemoths like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns were crushed. AIG was saved only by Uncle Sam. Even the iconic Goldman Sachs, today riding high with record profits of $13.4 billion for 2009, needed a temporary bailout. The president acted, Congress enacted emergency legislation, crises were stemmed. Now, though, comes the U.S. Supreme Court to rescue corporations not from financial ruin but from laws barring them from swaying elections. Who knew this was such a problem?
The Supreme Court has given big business, unions and nonprofits more power to spend freely in federal elections, a major turnaround that threatens a century of government efforts to regulate the power of corporations to bankroll American politics.
Sixty miles and the twin tragedies of young lives lost to violence link this industrial hub to the tough streets of North Philadelphia.
Even as the Obama administration is unveiling plans to impose unprecedented pay caps on top officials at the seven U.S. companies receiving the largest federal bailouts, the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to hear a case that turns on whether to apply analogous pay caps on certain financial advisers.
Driving along a pockmarked road amid rocks and Joshua trees in a lonely southern California desert, religious controversy might be the last thing you'd expect to encounter.
Setting the stage for a dramatic battle over gun rights, the Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted an appeal challenging the ability of state and local governments to enforce strict limits on handguns and other weapons.
The Supreme Court decides a workplace discrimination case that could have huge implications. CNN's Mary Snow reports.
Monday, in the much anticipated New Haven, Connecticut, firefighters' case, the Supreme Court reversed an opinion joined by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's Supreme Court nominee.
As Judge Sonia Sotomayor prepares to become the next U.S. Supreme Court justice, her lifetime of diligence and speed reading will now be crucial to help her navigate the next phase of her nomination.
The case of a 13-year-old Arizona girl strip-searched by school officials looking for ibuprofen pain-reliever will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this week.
The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA over $79.5 million in punitive damages awarded to the widow of a longtime Oregon smoker.
Kelli Arena looks at the latest cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including a debate over monuments.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected more than 2,000 pending appeals Monday, including a request to grant a new trial for former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer 27 years ago.
iReporter Nick Parsons supports today's Supreme Court handgun ruling.
A potential proposition may make same-sex unions short-lived in California. But the power of the ruling will give the issue longevity for years to come
CNN's Kelli Arena reports several states are moving to resume executions after a seven-month moratorium.
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