Next Meeting - 08/11/25, 7 PM, Ozark-Dale Library
Focus On The Supreme Court, The Pursuit of Equality and A Fair Justice System (Post 2024 Election Articles):
Axios: Prison debt is crushing Black women, advocates say
https://www.axios.com/2025/07/26/states-inmates-pay-incarceration-black-women
Comment: "Nearly all states allowing jails and prisons to charge incarcerated people for room and board or medical care highlights a deeper problem: their families, especially Black women, are forced to cover the costs, according to a new report."
Comment: "Fees are automatically pulled from prison accounts or wages. But most incarcerated people earn less than $1/day, according to data from the Prison Policy Initiative, so balances grow — and carry into life after release."
"Because many incarcerated people can't fully pay fees while in prison, the costs often pile up as debt they're still expected to repay after their release, Campaign Zero executive director DeRay Mckesson told Axios."
NPR: Supreme Court blocks rule that blocks Voting Rights Act for now
Comment: "The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved the status quo in most of the country, guaranteeing voters, at least for now, the ability to sue to enforce rights guaranteed under the 1965 Voting Rights Act."
Comment: "The Supreme Court, without specifying its reason, did intervene on Thursday, upholding, at least temporarily the rights of individual voters to bring vote dilution and other enforcement challenges. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch said they would have denied the request.
Comment: "Justice Thomas has long argued that the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional, and Justices Alito, Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett have all, at one time or another, pressed for a race neutral approach to redistricting. If the court were to conclude in the Louisiana case that section 2 of the Voting Rights act does not permit individuals or groups to bring enforcement challenges, that would at the same time moot the North Dakota case, meaning that nobody could win such a suit."
"With only rare exceptions, the Supreme Court's conservative majority has continued in recent years to limit the enforcement teeth of the Voting Rights Act."
Judges’ orders ‘need to be respected,’ Elena Kagan says amid Trump’s escalating conflict with the courts - POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/24/elena-kagan-judicial-independence-00475926
Comment: "As the Trump administration’s clash with the judiciary intensifies, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan issued a message on Thursday: Stop threatening judges, and always obey court orders."
"But Kagan spoke in vague terms and did not say who her warning was aimed at. She did not directly mention President Donald Trump, even as some lower-court judges have already found that the administration has defied their commands."
ABC News: 'I was really just scared': Man punched in viral Jacksonville traffic stop speaks publicly for 1st time
ABC News: What we know about the violent Jacksonville traffic stop that went viral - Includes Video
https://abcnews.go.com/US/violent-jacksonville-traffic-stop-viral/story?id=123968359
Comment: "In the video, sheriff's deputies are seen beating and punching McNeil during the traffic stop after he repeatedly questioned why he was being pulled over and refused to exit his vehicle."
Comment: "McNeil was pulled over by a sheriff's deputy at 4:15 p.m. local time for allegedly not having his headlights on due to 'inclement weather' and not wearing a seat belt, according to a police report obtained by ABC News."
A growing number of Americans believe Supreme Court is motivated by politics, not law
Comment: "Citing research from Georgetown Law professor Stephen Vladeck, an expert on the high court’s 'shadow docket,' the Times’ report noted that in the past 10 weeks alone, the Supreme Court has 'granted emergency relief to the Trump administration without explanation seven times.' "
"The order on the gutting of the Education Department, the analysis added, 'was an exercise of power, not reason.' "
"It was against this backdrop that the latest national poll from Quinnipiac University included an important question: 'In general, do you think that the Supreme Court is mainly motivated by politics or mainly motivated by the law?' "
"The results were not close: 63% said the high court is principally focused on politics, while 30% said the justices prioritize the law."
"This follows a series of related national surveys showing public trust in the Supreme Court as an institution reaching record lows."
AP News: Ex-Philadelphia officer sentenced and immediately paroled after conviction in traffic stop shooting
https://apnews.com/article/fatal-police-shooting-trial-philadelphia-1fc2c4f58aa1fc036683c0f5fc59898d
Comment: "A former Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a motorist during a traffic stop was sentenced and granted parole Thursday by a judge, eliciting condemnations from the city’s district attorney and the victim’s family."
Comment: "They say Dial thought Irizarry had a gun when he approached Irizarry’s car after officers spotted the car being driven erratically and followed it for several blocks before it turned the wrong way down a one-way street and stopped."
"Police body camera video of the shooting shows Dial getting out of a police SUV, striding over to Irizarry’s car and firing his weapon six times at close range through the rolled-up driver’s side window."
"The video shows Irizarry holding a seven-inch knife before he was shot."
NBC News: Alabama governor backs withholding video of officer fatally shooting Black student
Comment: "Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is supporting a state agency’s refusal to release body camera footage in the fatal police shooting of an 18-year-old Black college freshman, saying the case must first be thoroughly investigated."
Comment: Do you think this refusal undermines the credibility of law enforcement, the justice system, and state government in general?
AL.com: Alabama police know they don’t have to show bodycam videos to families: ‘Why hide it?’
Comment: "Across the state — in Decatur, Bay Minette, Huntsville, Madison, and Montgomery — the pattern repeats: Someone dies in police custody, grieving families ask for body camera footage, and authorities often say no with the same refrain: 'Due to an ongoing investigation.' "
Comment: "While there’s no law or court ruling that says they can’t show the footage, in Alabama, that only tends to happen when the videos are convenient for police, or if a judge orders it released years after the fact."
ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos: Supreme Court allows Trump to continue effort to gut Education Department
Comment: " 'The Department is responsible for providing critical funding and services to millions of students and scores of schools across the country. Lifting the District Court's injunction will unleash untold harm, delaying or denying educational opportunities and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual assault, and other civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended,' Sotomayor wrote."
" 'The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution's separation of powers is grave,' Sotomayor added."
Comment: Includes important Video.that explains the significance of ruling.
NBC News: Supreme Court allows Trump to implement Education Department layoffs
Comment: "The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to move ahead with plans to carry out mass layoffs at the Department of Education that were blocked by a federal judge."
Comment: "A federal judge had ruled that the Trump administration is seeking to 'effectively dismantle' the department without necessary approval from Congress."
Comment: "The conservative-majority court, without any explanation, granted an emergency application from the administration that blocks the federal judge's ruling."
Comment: "The court's three liberal members objected, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing a blistering dissenting opinion."
" 'When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it,' she wrote."
Axios: Why Trump can't revoke native-born U.S. citizenship
https://www.axios.com/2025/07/13/trump-rosie-odonnell-us-citizenship-removed
AL.com: Judges to decide if Alabama’s congressional maps need preclearance after state diluted Black voting power
Comment: "Federal judges will weigh a request to bring Alabama back under the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act after ruling the state intentionally diluted the voting strength of Black residents when drawing congressional lines."
"Black voters and civil rights organizations, who successfully challenged Alabama’s congressional map, are asking a three-judge panel to require any new congressional maps drawn by state lawmakers to go through federal review before being implemented. The Alabama attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice oppose the request."
Internal DOJ messages bolster claim that Trump judicial nominee spoke of defying court orders - POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/10/emil-bove-whistleblower-documents-00446225
Comment: "A fired Justice Department attorney has provided Congress with a trove of emails and text messages to corroborate his claims that a controversial Trump judicial nominee — top DOJ official Emil Bove — crudely discussed defying court orders."
Prosecutors Torch Trump’s ‘Worst Conceivable’ Court Nominee
https://www.yahoo.com/news/prosecutors-torch-trump-worst-conceivable-173751974.html
Comment: "A group of former federal prosecutors have declared President Donald Trump’s one-time criminal defense attorney the 'worst conceivable nominee' for a lifetime federal judgeship."
"The attack on Trump’s nomination of Emil Bove, currently a top Justice Department official installed by the president, came in a letter the prosecutors sent to the Senate Monday, according to The Washington Post."
Trump to begin enforcing birthright citizenship order as early as this month, DOJ says
Comment: This executive order from Trump is clearly unconstitutional but the Supreme Court chose not to rule on the merits of the birthright citizenship issue at this time, instead focusing on the issue of nationwide injunctions. Is there no recourse or accountability for those knowingly violating the U.S. Constitution for the period until the Supreme Court takes up the birthright citizenship directly?
Judges are finding workarounds to Trump’s big Supreme Court win - POLITICO '
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/03/supreme-court-nationwide-injunctions-rulings-00439335
Comment: "If the Supreme Court’s near-ban on nationwide injunctions was the earth-shattering victory President Donald Trump claimed, no one seems to have told his courtroom opponents."
"While the absence of that tool is clearly a sea change for the judiciary, early results indicate that judges see other paths to impose sweeping restrictions on government actions they deem unlawful. And those options remain viable in many major pending lawsuits against the administration."
Politico: The Supreme Court decision that unshackled Trump
Comment: "One year ago today, the Supreme Court gave Donald Trump the legal victory of a lifetime."
"In a 6-3 decision whose consequences continue to reverberate today, the six Republican appointees on the court ruled that Trump was entitled to criminal immunity in connection with the Justice Department’s prosecution of the then-former president over his effort to overturn the 2020 election. The decision dealt a practical death blow to the Justice Department’s hopes of putting Trump on trial before the 2024 election."
"That is all decidedly in the past now, but the decision continues to reverberate."
Video: Supreme Court takes up major new challenge to campaign finance restrictions - June 30, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI94sxAcO_M
Politico: Justices’ nerves fray in Supreme Court’s final stretch
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/27/supreme-court-acrimony-00430590
Comment: "On the whole, they paint a picture of nine people who are deeply divided over the law and the role of the courts — and who also may just not like each other very much."
Mother Jones: “Disaster Looms”: Justice Jackson’s Warning for the Country
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/06/injunctions-supreme-court-ketanji-brown-jackson/
Comment: " 'No right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates,' Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, which was joined by her fellow Democratic appointees, Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. 'Today, the threat is to birthright citizenship. Tomorrow, a different administration may try to seize firearms from law abiding citizens or prevent people of certain faiths from gathering to worship… That holding renders constitutional guarantees meaningful in name only for any individuals who are not parties to a lawsuit.' When the Constitution and the president face off, the Constitution falls."
" 'The Court’s decision is nothing less than an open invitation for the Government to bypass the Constitution,' Sotomayor warned. 'The Executive Branch can now enforce policies that flout settled law and violate countless individuals’ constitutional rights, and the federal courts will be hamstrung to stop its actions fully.' This is the new America."
Comment: "Justice Jackson, in her own dissent, digs into the profound threat this decision poses to the rule of law by, in effect, exempting the president from following it. Whether or not this decision has the practical effect of denying birthright citizenship to children born on US soil, Jackson warns, this decision has altered our system of government and, sooner or later, may destroy it. 'Disaster looms,' she warns. If a court cannot command the executive to follow the law, then there exists 'a zone of lawlessness within which the Executive has the prerogative to take or leave the law as it wishes, and where individuals who would otherwise be entitled to the law’s protection become subject to the Executive’s whims instead.' This is, of course, not how democracy works. But it is, now, the law of the land in the United States."
The Bulwark: Ignoring Substance, SCOTUS Permits Lawlessness
Video: 'A huge decision': Supreme Court limits ability of judges to stop Trump
https://youtu.be/QzZL7BCUnmw?feature=shared
NPR: Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions in birthright citizenship order
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/27/nx-s1-5435786/scotus-birthright-citizenship-universal-injunctions
Comment: "The majority opinion, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, didn't rule on whether Trump's executive order violates the 14th Amendment or the Nationality Act. Instead, it focused on whether federal courts have the power to issue nationwide blocks."
NPR: Supreme Court upholds South Carolina’s ban on Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/26/nx-s1-5435021/scotus-planned-parenthood
AL.com: Confronted with DNA, Alabama offers theory that ‘defies logic’ to keep man on death row
Comment: "The state of Alabama has a complicated relationship with science, and its criminal courts are no exception. Often, state prosecutors defend debunked junk science, like bite marks, to keep people in prison. Other times, they ignore updated scientific findings, such as recent DNA tests, to defend old theories that led to a conviction. In this series, AL.com will highlight several cases where science is at odds with the sentence."
Louisiana's Ten Commandments law in public schools blocked by federal appeals court
Comment: "The appellate court's decision upholds a lower court's ruling in November declaring Louisiana's law 'facially unconstitutional.' "
Comment: "Now, the case moves closer to potentially going before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority."
Trump’s lawyers anxiously await Supreme Court decision on judicial power | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/16/politics/trump-judicial-power-supreme-court
Comment: "Trump has issued more than 200 executive actions since returning to the White House — more than any other president — but judges have blocked dozens of them, including his policies on mass layoffs, deportations and funding priorities."
Comment: "While recent presidents of both parties have dealt with nationwide injunctions, Trump is facing a record number, which is why this issue has become a priority for him and his Republican allies in Congress."
Comment: "But supporters of the injunctions say preventing judges from blocking policies while litigation plays out means that actions of questionable legality or constitutionality could be in effect for years before the Supreme Court ever considers them."
Americans don’t see US supreme court as politically neutral, poll finds | US supreme court | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/16/supreme-court-politically-neutral-poll
Comment: "Just 20% of respondents to the poll agreed that the supreme court is politically neutral while 58% disagreed – and the rest either said they did not know or did not respond. Among people who described themselves as Democrats, only 10% agreed it was politically neutral and 74% disagreed, while among Republicans 29% agreed and 54% disagreed."
AP News: Justice Department's early moves on voting and elections signal a shift from its traditional role
Comment: "They represent a shift away from the division’s traditional role of protecting access to the ballot box. Instead, the actions address concerns that have been raised by a host of conservative activists following years of false claims surrounding elections in the U.S. Some voting rights and election experts also note that by targeting certain states — presidential battlegrounds or those controlled by Democrats — the moves could be foreshadowing an expanded role for the department in future elections."
CNN: Supreme Court justices get snippy as key decisions loom
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/13/politics/supreme-court-justices-snippy-analysis
NPR: Supreme Court says family can sue over wrong-house raid
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/12/nx-s1-5430354/supreme-court-sue-wrong-house-raid
Trump's team reportedly pushes Texas Republicans to rig voting maps ahead of 2026 election
https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/trump-texas-maps-redistricting-election-rcna212386
vox.com: Trump asks the Supreme Court to neutralize the Convention Against Torture, in DHS v. D.V.D.
https://www.vox.com/scotus/416163/trump-supreme-court-deport-immigration-convention-torture
Comment: "Trump’s lawyers claim they’ve found a loophole that will allow Trump to ship immigrants overseas to be tortured."
The Supreme Court will issue a flurry of decisions in the coming weeks. Here's what to expect. - CBS News
Supreme Court grants Trump’s urgent bid for DOGE to have access to Social Security data
Comment: "The federal government had asked the justices to halt a judge’s order blocking DOGE from sensitive Social Security information."
Trump asks Supreme Court to let him gut Education Department
CNN: Trump returns to Supreme Court with emergency appeal over mass firings
NBC News: Trump overshadows Supreme Court as ruling season begins
Comment: "President Donald Trump’s second term has disrupted the court calendar, with the nine justices now spending as much time, if not more, juggling consequential emergency cases that need to be handled quickly as they do on the regular docket of cases that have gotten months of attention and deliberation."
NPR: Supreme Court limits environmental reviews of infrastructure projects
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/29/nx-s1-5415742/supreme-court-nepa
US federal judges consider creating own armed security force as threats mount
https://share.newsbreak.com/d9uz2k27
Chicago Tribune: Editorial: Why Chief Justice Roberts is right and Vice President Vance is wrong
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/25/editorial-john-roberts-jd-vance-judicial-independence/
The Hill: Five years after George Floyd’s murder, our racial reckoning is not over yet
https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/5316355-2george-floyd-murder-five-years/
Five years after George Floyd's murder, racial justice push continues | Reuters
NBC News: Some fear excessive use of force will rise as the DOJ drops oversight of police departments
Trump administration dismisses police investigations in several cities : NPR
Judge finds police acted reasonably in shooting New Mexico while man at wrong address
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna208157
70% of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division lawyers are leaving because of Trump's reshaping : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/19/g-s1-66906/trump-civil-rights-justice-exodus
NBC News: Supreme Court allows Trump to revoke protected status for thousands of Venezuelans
Trump's tussles with the courts could lead the nation into uncharted waters | AP News
Comment: "Tucked deep in the thousand-plus pages of the multitrillion-dollar budget bill making its way through the Republican-controlled U.S. House is a paragraph curtailing a court’s greatest tool for forcing the government to obey its rulings: the power to enforce contempt findings."
Comment: "But the fact that GOP lawmakers are including it shows how much those in power in the nation’s capital are thinking about the consequences of defying judges as the battle between the Trump administration and the courts escalates."
Conservative justices object to how lower courts are blocking Trump, but birthright citizenship case presents deeper issues | CNN Politics
CNN: Supreme Court blocks Trump from restarting Alien Enemies Act deportations
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/16/politics/supreme-court-alien-enemies-act
Supreme Court extends block on Trump’s deportation bid under Alien Enemies Act - POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/16/supreme-court-extends-block-trump-deportations-00355210
PBS: WATCH: Kagan says 'there’s no way' she’d bring birthright citizenship case to Supreme Court
NPR: Supreme Court justices appear divided in birthright citizenship arguments
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/15/nx-s1-5398025/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship
The Guardian: Stephen Miller is wrong: the president can’t just suspend habeas corpus | Austin Sarat
Supreme Court sides with family of man killed by police after he was pulled over for toll violations
https://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-sides-family-man-215041821.html
Comment: Although this case was not from Alabama, you may want to consider it in light of Alabama's recent passage of its 'back the blue' police legislation which grants additional immunity to Alabama police officers.
AL.com: Alabama’s ‘back the blue’ police bill passes in final hour of legislative session
Comment: "A bill to expand Alabama law on legal immunity for police officers passed in the final half-hour of the annual legislative session on Wednesday night."
Comment: "Democrats have opposed the bill saying it will make it harder to hold police accountable."
Federal appeals court deals major blow to Voting Rights Act | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/14/politics/voting-rights-act-gets-major-blow-from-appeals-court
NPR: A federal appeals panel has made enforcing the Voting Rights Act harder in 7 states
The Guardian: US justice department asks civil rights division attorneys to stay after mass exits
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/14/justice-department-civil-rights-attorneys-trump
CNN: Divided Supreme Court on full display heading into birthright citizenship hearing
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/12/politics/supreme-court-divisions-birthright-citizenship-hearing
Politico: Rule of law is ‘endangered,’ chief justice says
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/12/chief-justice-roberts-speech-georgetown-00343406
What is habeas corpus, the legal procedure Trump is considering suspending? | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/10/politics/habeas-corpus-explained
CNN: Alabama ‘purposely’ diluted Black votes with congressional plan, court finds
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/08/politics/alabama-congressional-plan-court-ruling
Comment: "With the finding, the court said it would consider whether to put Alabama under a Voting Rights Act provision that would require it to get federal approval of its congressional plans going forward."
Federal court criticizes Alabama for pushing a discriminatory U.S. House voter map | Alabama Public Radio
Comment: "The judges also said it would consider a request from the plaintiffs to place Alabama back into preclearance for future congressional redistricting efforts. That means the state would have to seek the court’s permission to make future changes to its voting maps. Alabama has reportedly not been under that kind of restraint since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Shelby County v. Holder."
CBS News: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is pressed to spare civil rights-era "peacemakers" program from closure
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/community-relations-service-pam-bondi-house-democrats/
The Hill: C-SPAN asks Roberts to allow televised birthright citizenship arguments
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5287851-c-span-requests-cameras-supreme-court/
CNN: Chief Justice John Roberts stresses judicial independence amid tensions with Trump
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/07/politics/john-roberts-event-judicial-independence
Politico: A Clue From the Supreme Court on How It Will Handle Trump
Federal judge says results of North Carolina court race with Democrat ahead must be certified
Slate: The Real Lesson of a Republican Judge’s Just-Failed Attempt to Steal an Election
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/05/north-carolina-republican-judge-election-theft.html
ProPublica: The DEA Once Touted Body Cameras for Their “Enhanced Transparency.” Now the Agency Is Abandoning Them.
https://www.propublica.org/article/drug-enforcement-administration-ends-body-camera-program-trump
Trump brings DOGE fight over access to Social Security data to Supreme Court
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-brings-doge-fight-over-203942253.html
Trump turns civil rights upside down in ‘biggest rollback’ since Reconstruction | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/02/politics/trump-civil-rights-rollback-what-matters
The Guardian: Justice department civil rights division loses 70% of lawyers under Trump
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/01/civil-rights-division-doj-trump
ABC News: Exodus at DOJ civil rights division as official says 'over 100' attorneys departed
https://abcnews.go.com/US/exodus-doj-civil-rights-division-official-100-attorneys/story?id=121257205
NBC News: Alabama man dies days after he was Tasered during arrest
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alabama-man-dies-days-was-tasered-arrest-rcna202953
Jeffries asks Justice Roberts to reject ‘cowardly and unpatriotic’ Trump Smithsonian order
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeffries-asks-justice-roberts-reject-164516157.html
The Guardian: Civil rights advocates say Trump order guts protections against discrimination
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/24/civil-rights-trump-order
Deportation to CECOT: Punishment Without Charge or Trial
https://www.justsecurity.org/110679/deportation-cecot-punishment/
AL.com: Alabama police immunity bill a ‘green light for Black folks to get killed,’ lawmaker says
Book publishers see surging interest in the U.S. Constitution and print new editions
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna202553
Former Justice Breyer Thinks Marco Rubio And Pam Bondi Can Be Held In Criminal Contempt For Defying Court Orders - Above the Law
The Supreme Court could be poised to hobble the Trump resistance - POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/21/nationwide-injunctions-supreme-court-00300732
Supreme Court might uphold Obamacare's preventive care coverage mandate | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-obamacare-preventive-care-302c4a0de7c72461a6617b8271b3fba6
Slate: Alito Got the Single Most Important Fact Wrong in His Emergency Deportation Case Dissent
Supreme Court blocks, for now, new deportations under 18th century wartime law : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/19/g-s1-61385/supreme-court-block-deportations
Did the Supreme Court invite Trump to dodge on getting Abrego Garcia out of El Salvador?
Supreme Court to hear challenge to Trump's birthright citizenship order in May : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/17/g-s1-58221/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship
A major Trump power grab just reached the Supreme Court
https://www.yahoo.com/news/major-trump-power-grab-just-204500370.html
DOJ ends environmental justice agreement in Alabama county citing Trump - ABC News
Citizenship voting requirement in SAVE Act has no basis in the Constitution – and ignores precedent that only states decide who gets to vote
NPR: Supreme Court says Trump officials should help return wrongly deported Maryland man
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/10/nx-s1-5358421/supreme-court-abrego-garcia-deportation-decision
NBC News: Supreme Court allows Trump to fire independent agency members
Axios: Supreme Court comes to Trump's rescue in multiple rulings
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/08/trump-supreme-court-rulings
NBC News: Supreme Court halts a judge’s order to reinstate federal probationary workers
Supreme Court allows Trump to terminate 16,000 probationary federal workers
https://share.newsbreak.com/cio6753t
CNN: Supreme Court allows Trump to enforce Alien Enemies Act for rapid deportations for now
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/07/politics/supreme-court-deportation-flights-trump/index.html
CBS News: Civil rights-era government agency in Justice Department to be purged
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/civil-rights-era-government-agency-to-be-purged/
ProPublica: Will Extreme Spending and Partisanship Undermine Trust in State Supreme Courts?
CBS News: Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to withhold education grants for now
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-trump-administration-to-cancel-education-grants-for-now/
Supreme Court allows Trump to terminate teacher training grants
Alabama police officer denied immunity for shooting armed Black man in his front yard
https://www.yahoo.com/news/alabama-police-officer-denied-immunity-005710534.html
AP News: Justice Department instructed to dismiss legal challenge to Georgia election law
https://apnews.com/article/georgia-election-law-legal-challenge-232c5d05db604aed31beb9e717f745f9
Under Trump, the Justice Department is stepping away from some voting rights cases - OPB
https://www.opb.org/article/2025/03/30/some-voting-rights-act-cases-dropped-by-trump-administration/
Trump keeps asking Supreme Court to overrule judges blocking his agenda | AP News
NBC News: A battle over religion and schools in Oklahoma could decide the future of the First Amendment
POLITICO: If Trump Defies the Courts, It Will Backfire Badly
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/28/trump-defy-courts-risk-00254813
USA TODAY: Republicans have turned on judges. Imagine who they would pick for SCOTUS. | Opinion
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/03/28/trump-supreme-court-maga/82665953007/
Axios: Judge who ruled against Trump deportation flights will oversee Signal lawsuit
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/26/signal-lawsuit-judge-trump-deportation-flights
Comment: Despite the fact that Trump has called for the judge's impeachment after he ruled against Trump recently, the judge has shown to be fair, having ruled in favor of Trump in some earlier rulings.
The Associated Press: Supreme Court upholds Biden rule requiring serial numbers and background checks for ghost guns
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-ghost-guns-bf404db1d4ece56203c8748b2544dc02
Axios: Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to landmark press freedom case
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/24/supreme-court-nyt-sullivan-press-freedom-steve-wynn
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have said they want to impeach judges. Here's why it's likely an empty threat.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-elon-musk-said-153610634.html
Roll Call : Supreme Court to weigh use of race in redistricting
https://rollcall.com/2025/03/21/supreme-court-to-weigh-use-of-race-in-redistricting/
Trump’s Justice Department seeks to shield president in Jan. 6 civil cases
Chief justice pushes back against calls to impeach judges who rule against Trump
Trump asks Supreme Court to curb judges’ power to block policies nationwide
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/13/trump-supreme-court-nationwide-injunctions-00229431
Vox.com: The Supreme Court just handed down some ominous news for LBGTQ youth
https://www.vox.com/scotus/403248/supreme-court-conversion-therapy-lgbtq-chiles-salazar
Trump’s Firings Target 90-Year-Old Precedent Protecting Independent Agencies - Democracy Docket
https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/trump-firings-supreme-court-humphreys-executor/
Supreme Court rejects Republican-led effort to halt climate change lawsuits in Democratic-led states | AP News
NPR: Supreme Court upholds lower court order to force USAID to pay contractors
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/05/nx-s1-5309498/scotus-usaid-news
ABC News: Supreme Court rules Trump administration must unfreeze foreign aid payments
The Associated Press: GOP pushes ahead with citizenship voting bill. Some state election officials say it's problematic
CBS News: Experts warn the proposed SAVE Act could make it harder for some married women to vote. Here's who could be affected
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/save-act-voter-registration-citizenship-married-women-name-change/
POLITICO: DOJ has abruptly broadened its view of Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons. A judge wants answers.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/26/trump-january-6-pardon-judge-00206301
US DOJ seeks to drop lawsuit accusing SpaceX of immigrant discrimination - JURIST - News
Trump administration shuts down national database documenting police misconduct
Opinion - Who will stop Trump and Elon Musk from dismantling the US government?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/opinion-stop-trump-elon-musk-190000843.html
The Associated Press: Federal judge won't immediately block Elon Musk or DOGE from federal data or worker layoffs
https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-doge-layoffs-government-data-13653c59c1f6fa0c5ae551f821faafb7
Trump administration wants Supreme Court to permit firing of whistleblower agency head - CBS News
DOGE’s next target: federal officials monitoring civil rights and discrimination, report says
https://www.yahoo.com/news/doge-next-target-federal-officials-002757568.html
Will the Supreme Court Preserve the Rule of Law? Chief Justice Roberts May Have the Answer
https://time.com/7221710/supreme-court-stand-up-to-trump/
What Marbury v. Madison means for the Supreme Court — and America | AP News
"It isn’t an accident that we're here now": How the Supreme Court encouraged Trump to defy the law
https://www.yahoo.com/news/isn-t-accident-were-now-153006770.html
POLITICO: There’s No Need to Guess. JD Vance Is Ready to Ignore the Courts.
NPR: Are we in a constitutional crisis?
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/1230674436/are-we-in-a-constitutional-crisis
Courts and Trump set for showdown over executive power
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70kd686k2do
brennancenter.org: SAVE Act Would Undermine Voter Registration for All Americans
New York Post : Sotomayor criticizes presidential immunity case as putting the high court’s legitimacy on the line
Vox.com: All the ways Elon Musk is breaking the law, explained by a law professor
https://www.vox.com/politics/398618/elon-musk-doge-illegal-lawbreaking-analysis
Trump dissolves agency reviewing Elon Musk’s Tesla for potential discrimination
https://sfstandard.com/2025/02/06/trump-order-stops-tesla-discrimination-investigation/
The Associated Press: Sotomayor is asked about lower trust in Supreme Court. She points to pace of overturned precedents
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-justice-sonia-sotomayor-5c9a6a140486a292c136a1d3a74bfff1
SCOTUSblog: A history of birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court
https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/02/a-history-of-birthright-citizenship-at-the-supreme-court/
Mother Jones: What Justice Jackson Warned About in the Trump Immunity Case Is Coming True
The Associated Press: Nonprofit’s lawsuit over the federal funding freeze is part of an ‘avalanche’ of litigation
ABC News: Federal workers who accept buyout must waive their right to legal action, contract says
Trump's Justice Department launches sweeping cuts targeting Jan. 6 prosecutors, FBI agents
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-launches-wide-ranging-round-202334950.html
AL.com: Alabama professors, UAB students ask court to block law against DEI, ‘divisive concepts’
Trump picks Jan 6 rioters' lawyer to lead office that prosecuted them
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-picks-january-six-rioters-lawyer-lead-dc-legal-office-2022109
Navajo Nation leaders raise alarm over reports of Indigenous people being questioned and detained during immigration sweeps
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/us/navajo-detained-ice-indigenous-immigration-trump/index.html
US federal employee union sues over Trump administration plan to fire, reclassify government employees - JURIST - News
The Associated Press: Federal judge blocks enforcement of Louisiana’s police ‘buffer-zone’ law
https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-police-buffer-law-judge-4eee1dfe5bfbcca0ecc1cc7f0155aa49
The Hill: DOJ moves to toss charges against former Republican lawmaker
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5113639-justice-department-jeff-fortenberry-charges/
Just Security: Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-legal-challenges-trump-administration-actions/
AL.com: Roy S. Johnson: Trump handcuffs Department of Justice, unleashing injustice ’until further notice’
POLITICO: Democratic AGs push back against DOJ’s immigration enforcement directive
ABC News: DOJ orders federally funded legal service providers to stop providing support at immigration courts
Air Force says it will teach video on first Black pilots after DEI review
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/air-force-tuskegee-airmen-dei-compliance-trump-rcna189365
Trump's DEI order strips Air Force curriculum of 1st Black pilots, female WWII pilots
Mother Jones: The Big-Money Right-Wing Push to Upend the Constitution—and Kill Birthright Citizenship
Reuters: US judge temporarily blocks Trump's order restricting birthright citizenship
24 Democratic states and cities sue over Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship
CNN: How the modern Supreme Court might view the 14th Amendment and birthright citizenship
CNN: What the 14th Amendment says about birthright citizenship
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/us/14th-amendment-birthright-citizenship-explainer-cec/index.html
NPR: Criminal records of Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump include rape, domestic violence
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/30/nx-s1-5276336/donald-trump-jan-6-rape-assault-pardons-rioters
POLITICO: Trump May Come to Regret His Jan. 6 Pardons. Here’s Why.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/01/22/trump-jan-6-pardons-regrets-00199743
Trump Justice Department launches ‘special project’ to investigate January 6 prosecutors
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-justice-department-launches-special-202851729.html
Trump pardoned the January 6 convicts. Now his DOJ is wiping evidence of rioters’ crimes from the internet
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-wiped-january-6-convicts-035129351.html
POLITICO: Federal judges in Jan. 6 cases slam Trump’s pardons
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/22/trump-pardons-jan-6-federal-judge-00199948
The Associated Press: Trump issues pardons for participants in the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol
Axios: Trump guts DEI, sending legal shockwaves across government, companies, schools
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/23/dei-trump-diversity-affirmative-action
White House orders government DEI employees to be placed on leave
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/politics/white-house-government-dei-employees-on-leave/index.html
NPR: Trump calls DEI programs 'illegal' and 'immoral'. Here's how he's ending them
FedScoop: Federal worker advocates file legal challenges to DOGE, Schedule F
https://fedscoop.com/federal-worker-legal-challenges-doge-schedule-f/
CNN: Trump pardons DC officers convicted in death and cover up
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/22/politics/dc-officers-pardoned-trump/index.html
The Associated Press: Few US adults confident Justice Department and FBI will act fairly under Trump, AP-NORC poll finds
POLITICO: Jack Smith’s final say: Takeaways from the special counsel’s report
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/14/jack-smith-special-counsel-report-takeaways-00198252
For News Article links from before the 2024 election that were previously listed here, please go to:
https://sites.google.com/view/demoldnews/home/old-equality-fair-justice?authuser=0
There you will find a continuation of the news links & comments from the period prior to the November 2024 election