Topic: U.S. Supreme Court
Top galleries, list articles, quizzes
-
Focus
The Monitor's top 11 US stories of 2012
From storms to politics, the year was a wild ride. What are the most meaningful US stories of 2012? Here's the Monitor's list, in roughly chronological order.
-
Election 2012: 12 reasons Obama won and Romney lost
President Obama went into his reelection fight facing significant head winds – most important, high unemployment and slow economic growth. But for a multitude of reasons, including Obama’s positives and Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s negatives, Obama succeeded. Here’s our list.
-
Bestselling books the week of 9/27/12, according to IndieBound*
What's selling best at independent bookstores across America.
-
Focus
Obama or Romney? Why 5 undecided voters are still on the fence.
The presidential election will be decided by a tiny fraction of American voters – those in swing states who have not made up their minds. What are these 1 million people waiting for? The Monitor talked to five undecided voters to find out.
-
Briefing
Obama vs. Romney 101: 6 ways they differ on health-care reform
Former Gov. Mitt Romney has taken a libertarian turn since championing health-care reforms in Massachusetts, including an individual mandate to purchase insurance, which became the model for President Obama's signature law. Here’s a list of areas where the candidates differ.
All Content
-
GOP governors waver on Obamacare
Republican governors like Rick Scott in Florida, and Chris Christie in New Jersey, are struggling on how to handle President Barack Obama's remake of the health insurance market. While some have said they won't set up state-run exchanges, others say they're open to having a 'conversation.'
-
Gay marriage at Supreme Court: Will military couples get more benefits?
Same-sex military couples are not eligible for many benefits that heterosexual married couples in the military receive, including housing and medical care. But the Supreme Court could redefine the federal status of gay marriage next year.
-
Video games and shooting: Is the NRA right?
The NRA says the problem with mass shootings like the recent one at the Sandy Hook grade school in Connecticut is not too many unregulated guns but violent video games. But most academic and government research does not support the gun lobby's charge.
-
Is the NRA push for guns in schools crazy? It depends on where you live.
Reaction to the NRA’s controversial proposal to have armed guards in all schools illustrates the regional divide over guns – how and even whether to control the nation’s private arsenal.
-
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.
- Focus
The Monitor's top 11 US stories of 2012
From storms to politics, the year was a wild ride. What are the most meaningful US stories of 2012? Here's the Monitor's list, in roughly chronological order.
-
Opinion: Madison never meant Second Amendment to allow guns of Sandy Hook shooting
Adam Lanza's shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. renews debate over gun control. A close look shows that James Madison conceived the Second Amendment in a different time, under different circumstances, with different weapons.
-
Sandy Hook: Could shooting be gun-control tipping point?
In the aftermath of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, many are looking to President Obama and lawmakers for signs that tougher gun control laws may be coming.
-
Opinion: US colleges need affirmative action for conservative professors
As a devout Democrat, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Bill O’Reilly is right. Universities should institute affirmative action for conservative professors, so all the professors aren't overwhelmingly liberal, as the recent national elections confirmed.
-
Robert Reich
Why billionaires will still pour millions into politicsAs income and wealth become ever more concentrated in America, the nation’s corporations and billionaires will invest even more in politics, Reich writes.
-
Concealed weapons: Illinois's last-in-the-nation ban must go, US court rules
At least some Illinois legislators say the ruling will help calm the violence in Chicago, where the nation's strictest gun controls have failed to quell growing numbers of gang shootings this year.
-
Supreme Court invites lawyer to argue DOMA is outside their jurisdiction
Vicki C. Jackson will be arguing that it's improper for the Supreme Court to even consider making a ruling on a federal law that treats gay married couples differently from heterosexual married couples.
-
Chapter & Verse
An unusually candid picture of Sonia Sotomayor is reported to emerge from her memoirSonia Sotomayor's memoir "My Beloved World," scheduled for release in January, tells her rags-to-riches stories in more personal detail than might be expected from a Supreme Court justice.
-
Robert Reich
Fiscal cliff overshadows inequality in the heartlandAs Washington fiddles over the fiscal cliff, a larger battle over inequality is being waged all over America, Reich writes.
-
New York judge's ruling sparks nationalist surge in Argentina
Stakes are high for Argentina's President Kirchner in a legal tug-of-war over full repayment of bonds from the country's 2002 default. Kirchner says her country is the victim of 'judicial colonialism.'
-
Same-sex couples trade first 'I do's' in Washington
Due to a three-day waiting period, Sunday was the first day same-sex couples could be married after picking up marriage licenses Thursday in the state of Washington.
-
Same-sex marriage: Waiting now for the Supreme Court to act
As reflected in polls and recent ballot measures, public opinion is moving in favor of same-sex marriage. Now that the US Supreme Court has agreed to take up the issue, both sides in the debate look for clear legal resolution.
-
Obama's Medicaid expansion: How many states are likely to rebel?
The Supreme Court ruled that states do not have to abide by the expansion of Medicaid under President Obama's health-care law. There are strong economic arguments on both sides.
-
Supreme Court: Both sides in gay marriage debate voice optimism
The Supreme Court's decision to take up appeals over DOMA and California's Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage elicited positive reactions from advocates on both sides of the contentious issue.
-
Supreme Court takes up gay marriage: what the justices have to decide
The main question before the Supreme Court is not whether the Constitution protects gay marriage, but whether Prop. 8 and DOMA discriminate in violation of the 14th Amendment.
-
Gay marriage reaches Supreme Court: Justices to review Prop 8., DOMA
The two cases being taken up by the Supreme Court involve a challenge to California’s Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage and a suit from New York City testing the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
-
Seattle issues 364 gay marriage licenses by 10 am on first day of legality
Because the state has a three-day waiting period, the earliest that weddings can take place is Sunday.
-
Opinion: Plan B for raising debt ceiling: Obama should invoke the Constitution
President Obama wisely wants to resolve the looming crises with the debt ceiling and the 'fiscal cliff ' now. If he can't strike a debt-ceiling deal, he has another option: Bring out the Constitution, whose 14th Amendment states that the 'validity' of US debt 'shall not be questioned.'
-
Fort Hood shooting military judge removed for lack of impartiality (+video)
It was not immediately clear what impact the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruling Monday would have on the long-delayed military trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan.
-
Opinion: Enrique Peña Nieto's 'economy first' strategy for Mexico would also help US
Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office on Saturday, wants to put the economy first, which will require addressing the onslaught of the narco mafia in a very different way from his predecessor. This new approach has great potential for Mexico. The US should embrace it.
Become part of the Monitor community