Developing
DOJ Asks Supreme Court to Let It Segregate 20,000 California Ballots
The department filed its request Monday after a judge and a divided appeals panel refused, NPR and Fox News reported; Election Day is Tuesday.
Court
The newest stories in The Monochrome Chronicles that mention Court, newest first.
Ohio
Ohio Supreme Court Ends Case Over $900 Million in Pandemic Jobless Pay
The court refused to reconsider a lawsuit over $300 weekly federal checks that Gov. Mike DeWine ended early in 2021, the Statehouse News Bureau reported.
Connecticut
Sandy Hook Families Urge Supreme Court to Uphold Rifle Bans
Relatives of victims and Sandy Hook Promise filed friend-of-the-court briefs defending Connecticut’s 2013 ban on AR-15-style rifles.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Supreme Court Upholds Norman Homeless Shelter Bond
The court ruled 8-1, according to Bond Buyer, that a city-owned shelter is a public utility, so voters’ simple majority was enough.
Press Freedom
Egyptian Court Orders Independent Site Mada Masr Closed and Fines Its Editor
A Cairo court convicted editor Lina Attalah of running an unlicensed website, one of the last independent news outlets in Egypt.
Midterms
Court Dismisses Justice Department Appeal to Set Aside 20,000 California Ballots
A divided panel said the government’s emergency was partly of its own making and sent the fight back to a trial judge, a week before the midterms.
Supreme Court
Justice Kagan Says Supreme Court Rulings Have Left Democracy Working Less Well
In unusually pointed public remarks, the liberal justice faulted the conservative majority’s decisions on gerrymandering, voting rights, campaign money and presidential power, while rejecting the idea that the court simply does the president’s bidding.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Agrees to Decide Whether DOGE Must Open Its Records to the Public
The justices took up the Trump administration’s appeal in a watchdog group’s lawsuit seeking documents on how Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team fired workers and canceled contracts. A ruling is expected by the end of June.
Nobel Prizes
Navi Pillay, Former UN Rights Chief, Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
The Norwegian committee called the award a message to those undermining international law. Hours later, Washington announced new sanctions on the International Criminal Court, where Pillay once served.
Media and Speech
Disney and ABC Take the FCC to Court Over Early Review of Station Licenses
The network argues the regulator’s move against all eight of its local stations is retaliation for coverage the president dislikes; the agency says it is enforcing the public interest.
India
India’s Supreme Court Demands Answers as Protests Grow Over Voter Roll Deletions
Opposition parties and a youth movement want the election chief to resign over a revision that critics say has stripped tens of millions of names from the rolls.
Energy and the Courts
Supreme Court Opens Term With Oil Companies’ Bid to End Boulder Climate Lawsuit
Suncor and ExxonMobil argue that federal law bars state courts from hearing claims over climate damage, a ruling that could reach dozens of similar cases.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court to Decide Whether Immigrants Can Be Held Without Bond Hearings
The justices took up a Brazilian man’s challenge to the administration’s mandatory detention policy, which most appeals courts have rejected. A ruling is expected by the end of June.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Lets Third-Country Deportations Restart While It Weighs the Policy
The justices set aside a lower-court order requiring notice and a chance to raise fears of torture, and agreed to hear the full case in December. The three liberal justices would have kept the order in place.
Elections
Supreme Court Lets Administration Keep Using Revamped Voter-Citizenship Database
In a 6-3 emergency order, the justices paused a judge’s ruling against the SAVE system, though federal law limits purges close to the Nov. 3 election.
Courts
Supreme Court Blocks Trump Administration’s Postal Service Mail-Ballot Rule
A brief, unsigned order leaves the rule on hold for the midterms; Kavanaugh said the administration may have authority but the timing was too close to the election.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Lets White House Ballroom Construction Continue in 5-4 Ruling
The unsigned order rests on whether the preservation group has standing, not on whether the project is legal; Chief Justice Roberts dissented, according to NBC News and CBS News.
The Courts
Chief Justice Roberts Pauses Order That Would Halt White House Ballroom Work
A one-sentence administrative stay lets construction continue while the full Supreme Court weighs the administration’s request; a judge’s injunction was due to take effect Friday.
Courts
Appeals Court Says Trump Needs Congress to Build White House Ballroom
A divided D.C. Circuit panel upheld an order halting aboveground work on the roughly $400 million project; the president says he will take the case to the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump’s Order Limiting Birthright Citizenship
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to nearly all children born in the U.S.; Justice Brett Kavanaugh reached the same result on statutory grounds, and Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.
The Fed
Court Ends FTC Firing Limits but Blocks Trump’s Removal of Fed Governor Cook
Two rulings by Chief Justice John Roberts expanded presidential power over independent agencies while treating the Federal Reserve as a separate case, leaving Lisa Cook on the Fed board for now.
Elections
Supreme Court Rules States May Count Mail Ballots Arriving After Election Day
A 5-4 majority led by Justice Amy Coney Barrett upheld Mississippi’s five-day grace period, over a dissent by Justice Samuel Alito arguing that federal law requires ballots to be in by Election Day.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Strikes Down Hawaii Rule on Carrying Guns on Private Property
In a 6-3 ruling, the court said a state cannot presume that public-facing businesses ban licensed carry unless owners say otherwise. The dissent called the case a matter of property rights.
Redistricting
Florida Supreme Court Lets Republican-Drawn House Map Stand for Midterms
The 6-1 order denies a request to block the new districts, which could help Republicans win up to four more seats; the legal challenge continues in lower courts.
Update
Alabama Asks Supreme Court to Restore Congressional Map Before Midterms
State Republican leaders cite April’s Callais ruling and want a decision by Monday; civil rights lawyers say a lower court has again found the 2023 plan intentionally discriminatory.
Redistricting
Virginia Supreme Court Voids Redistricting Vote, Blocking Democratic Map
In a 4-3 ruling, the court says lawmakers broke a constitutional timing rule when they put the amendment on the ballot; the attorney general says he is weighing every legal option.
The Courts
Supreme Court Strikes Louisiana District, Narrowing Voting Rights Act
In a 6-3 ruling, the justices said the state’s second majority-Black congressional seat was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander; Congress’s law, the dissent said, is now nearly toothless.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Strikes Louisiana District and Narrows Voting Rights Act
In a 6-3 ruling, the court’s conservatives said the second majority-Black district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The dissenters warned of far-reaching consequences.
Immigration
Appeals Court Rules Trump’s Border Asylum Ban Unlawful
A divided D.C. Circuit panel said the president cannot override federal law on asylum and removal procedures. One judge would have let the administration deny all asylum claims.
Courts
Appeals Court Orders End to Contempt Probe of Deportation Flights
A divided D.C. Circuit panel said Judge James Boasberg abused his discretion. The ACLU, which represents the migrants, will seek review by the full court.
Vaccine Policy
HHS Rewrites Vaccine Advisory Panel’s Charter After a Court Blocked Its Changes
The new rules broaden who can serve on the CDC advisory committee and stress vaccine harms. Critics call it a workaround; HHS calls the renewal routine.
Elections
Liberal Chris Taylor Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Seat by Wide Margin
The Democratic-backed appeals judge beat conservative Maria Lazar and will expand the court’s liberal majority to 5-2. Spending and attention fell sharply from the last two races.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Clears Way for Dismissal of Bannon’s Contempt Conviction
The justices set aside an appeals court ruling and sent the case back to a trial judge after the Justice Department asked to drop it. Bannon has already served his four-month sentence.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court to Weigh Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order This Week
Trump v. Barbara asks whether the January 2025 order violates the 14th Amendment; a decision is expected by late June or early July.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Unanimously Sides With Cox in Music Piracy Case
The justices ruled that an internet provider is not liable for subscribers’ infringement unless it intended its service to be used for it, reversing a Fourth Circuit decision that had left a $1 billion award in doubt.
Trade
Trade Probes Widen to 60 Countries, Including Canada, Over Forced Labor
The Section 301 investigations are meant to give the administration a legal basis for tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down its earlier ones.
Tariffs
Two Dozen States Sue to Block Trump’s New 10% Global Tariff
The suit, filed in the Court of International Trade, argues the never-used Section 122 cannot be invoked to address trade deficits.
Trade
Trump Raises Replacement Global Tariff to 15 Percent, the Legal Maximum
A day after the Supreme Court’s ruling, the president said he is lifting the stopgap levy from 10 percent; it is unclear when the new rate takes effect.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Rules 6-3 That Trump Cannot Use Emergency Law for Tariffs
Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the president needs clear congressional authorization; Trump called the decision deeply disappointing and said he would turn to other laws.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court Appears Likely to Keep Fed Governor Lisa Cook in Place for Now
Justices of both ideological camps questioned the administration’s claim that the president alone decides what counts as cause to remove a Federal Reserve governor; Chair Jerome Powell watched from the courtroom.
