Topic: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

All Content

Supreme Court: forced blood tests in drunk-driving cases not always OK

The Supreme Court decision Wednesday means that sometimes police will need to obtain a warrant in drunk-driving cases before administering a forced blood test – and that sometimes they won’t.
When did 'sex' become 'gender'?

How Ruth Bader Ginsburg's secretary helped to effect a shift in public discourse.
Citizenship papers a must to register to vote? Supreme Court to decide.

US Supreme Court on Monday heard a case about an Arizona law requiring prospective voters to show papers proving they are US citizens. Federal law requires only an oath under penalty of perjury. Can a state tack on that extra provision?
Surveillance law: US group can't challenge it, Supreme Court rules

A 2008 surveillance law allows the US government to detect and track the messages of would-be foreign terrorists. Critics say it is overly broad, but on Tuesday the Supreme Court blocked a challenge to it.
The Oath

New Yorker writer and CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin offers an astute and thorough analysis of the relationship between the Obama White House and the John Roberts-led Supreme Court.
Supreme Court rejects Idaho case on prohibiting the insanity defense

Idaho is one of four states that do not permit criminal defendants to claim they are innocent by reason of insanity. On Monday, the US Supreme Court declined to take a case testing whether an insanity defense is a constitutional right.
Supreme Court: In affirmative action arguments, conservative bloc seems united

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on an affirmative-action plan at the University of Texas, and Justice Anthony Kennedy, the likely swing vote, appeared skeptical.
Texas man: 'Ready to go home'

Cleve Foster, convicted of murder and rape, was put to death in Texas on Tuesday after previously receiving three stays of execution from the country's highest court.
Modern Parenthood Kindergarten mindset list: 5-year-olds’ cultural DNA

Legos, ice cream, Mommy and Daddy: An elementary school principal tries to understand the cultural context of the kindergarten mindset.
Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction saga ends: Supreme Court refuses appeal

The FCC had fined CBS $550,000 for the Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction in 2004, but an appeals court had sided with CBS. On Friday, the Supreme Court declined to take the case.
Economist Mom 'Tax': The dirtiest word of them all

Our favorite mother and tax expert thinks it's a tad ironic that the authors of the health care legislation worked so hard to avoid the term “tax,” yet taxing is one of the most appropriate things the government can do, and ultimately saved the act.
Obama health-care law: Supreme Court upholds it in entirety

A 5-to-4 Supreme Court majority – including Chief Justice John Roberts – determined that the Obama health-care law was authorized under Congress’s power to raise and collect taxes.
Supreme Court upholds individual mandate of health care reform law

Chief justice John Roberts cast the deciding vote on allowing the individual mandate to go forward as a tax. However, the court found problems with the law's expansion of Medicaid.
Supreme Court strikes down Montana law, reaffirming Citizens United

Voting 5 to 4, the justices found, in a two-paragraph opinion, that the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling applied to a 100-year-old Montana anticorruption law barring corporate money in elections.
Most of Arizona immigration law cannot stand, Supreme Court rules

But the Supreme Court upheld a provision requiring police to check the immigration status of people they have reason to suspect are illegal immigrants – the most controversial part of the Arizona immigration law.
US Supreme Court throws out FCC indecency fines

The ruling was very narrow, however, and left similar future fines in an uncertain place.
Supreme Court says broadcast decency standards too vague

The Supreme Court ruled that the FCC didn’t give broadcasters enough notice before enforcing new standards on language and nudity. But because the court didn't address the underlying constitutional issue of free speech, a variety of interest groups all claimed a measure of victory.
Supreme Court sides with Secret Service agents in free-speech case

A Colorado man said Secret Service agents arrested him in retaliation for his political comments about former Vice President Dick Cheney. The Supreme Court said the agents had probable cause.
Judge strikes down 'suspicionless' drug testing of Florida state workers

A federal judge's ruling strikes down Florida's first-in-the-nation drug testing law – and could give pause to other states considering suspicionless drug testing of state workers or others receiving state funds.
Orrin Hatch close call in Utah: Tea party rising?

Sen. Orrin Hatch is favored to win reelection, but first he faces a primary election against tea party favorite Dan Liljenquist. Can Hatch avoid the fate of former Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, ousted in 2010 by the tea party?
Supreme Court approves strip searches for minor offenses

Jail officials are justified in performing strip searches as a reasonable precaution to maintain safety and order at their facilities, the Supreme Court said Monday.
Supreme Court justices appear poised to sweep aside entire health-care law

Conservative Supreme Court justices argued Wednesday morning that without the individual mandate, the entire 2,700-page health-care law must be invalidated in full.
Obama health reform law: clues to how the justices might behave

The four justices who make up the US Supreme Court's liberal wing are expected to uphold the constitutionality of the Obama health reform law. How the other five will see it is less certain.
Does Secret Service protection trump speech rights? Supreme Court hears case.

A Colorado man arrested in 2006 after telling Vice President Cheney what he thought of the Iraq war alleges that Secret Service agents retaliated against him for his opinions.
Do 14-year-old killers deserve life without parole? Supreme Court hears cases.

Supreme Court Justice Kennedy is seen as the potential swing vote in two cases questioning whether life without parole for 14-year-old killers is cruel and unusual punishment.