Supreme Court Archives - Cockle Legal Briefs

25 Aug, 2023

Trump Asserts Presidential Immunity: Will SCOTUS Challenge the Claim?

Mathew Planalp2023-08-25T11:41:35-05:00August 25th, 2023|Tags: donald trump, president trump, Supreme Court|

“Everything that President Trump did was while he was in office as president…he is now immune from prosecution for acts that he takes in connection with those policy decisions.” https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/08/22/trump-immunity-supreme-court-00112124 Former President Donald J. Trump's recent assertion of presidential immunity has ignited a legal debate with far-reaching implications. While previous attempts to assert this immunity [...]

16 Aug, 2023

U.S. Supreme Court Faces Content Moderation Debate

Mathew Planalp2023-08-16T14:54:50-05:00August 16th, 2023|Tags: cases, certiorari, Supreme Court, Supreme Court News|

In a significant development, President Biden's administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to delve into a social media debate involving laws passed by Texas and Florida. The laws at issue, which have sparked conversation over freedom of speech and content moderation, aim to challenge the authority of social media companies to control objectionable content [...]

21 Jun, 2023

The Last Week in June

Mathew Planalp2023-06-21T10:51:20-05:00June 21st, 2023|Tags: Landmark cases, merits cases, opinions, Supreme Court|

The Supreme Court saved some of the year's most politically explosive decisions for the end of its term. As the next few weeks unfold, the justices will render their rulings on a range of contentious issues, including President Joe Biden's plan to reduce student debt, a case involving a religious website designer refusing to create [...]

17 May, 2023

Memo: SCOTUS Enters Scramble Mode

Mathew Planalp2023-05-17T09:33:06-05:00May 17th, 2023|Tags: June opinion, Landmark cases, Supreme Court, Supreme Court News|

The Supreme Court is entering the final stretch of its annual session, with just about six weeks remaining to resolve a significant number of cases. Among the pressing matters still awaiting their decisions are issues that carry far-reaching implications for society. These include the future of race-based admissions practices at colleges, the scope of federal [...]

9 May, 2023

Supreme Court Intervenes in Richard Glossip’s Execution

Mathew Planalp2023-05-09T11:14:03-05:00May 9th, 2023|Tags: execution, prisoner, Richard Glossip, Supreme Court|

Less than two weeks before Richard Glossip was scheduled to be executed on May 18th for the murder for hire of his former boss, the US Supreme Court intervened and granted a stay of execution. This is not the first time Glossip's execution has been stayed--in fact, this would be the state's 10th attempt to [...]

13 Apr, 2023

Who Are the U.S. Supreme Court Justices?

Mathew Planalp2023-04-13T13:40:16-05:00April 13th, 2023|Tags: SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Justices|

Nine Justices make up the current Supreme Court: one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The Honorable John Roberts, Jr. is the 17th Chief Justice of the United States, and there have been 104 Associate Justices in the Court’s history. Supreme Court justices serve lifetime appointments after being nominated by the president and approved by [...]

11 Apr, 2023

Conflicting Court of Appeals Mifepristone Rulings

Mathew Planalp2023-04-11T14:40:20-05:00April 11th, 2023|Tags: abortion, circuit court, court of appeals, mifepristone, Supreme Court|

On April 7, 2023, two conflicting rulings on the provision of mifepristone—the drug used for medication abortion—were issued by two separate federal court judges, one in Texas and one in Washington State. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Kacsmaryk issued a preliminary injunction in his case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. [...]

6 Apr, 2023

Are Supreme Court Justices Bound by Ethics Rules?

Mathew Planalp2023-04-06T10:46:54-05:00April 6th, 2023|Tags: ethics, Justices, Supreme Court|

Answer: No! The nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices are the only federal judges not bound by the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges, which goes beyond the basic ethics laws enacted after the Watergate scandal and creates uniformity around thorny issues like recusals and participation in political activities. History: The Code of Conduct for U.S. [...]

16 Mar, 2023

What Makes for a Controversial Supreme Court Decision?

Mathew Planalp2023-03-16T14:54:03-05:00March 16th, 2023|Tags: controversial decision, controversy, SCOTUS, Supreme Court|

The Supreme Court is the United States’ most powerful court of law. The Court’s rulings routinely shape the course of American public policy. It ended its last term with the conservative justices bending the law sharply rightward in a series of momentous decisions on abortion, gun rights, environmental regulations and religious rights that will reverberate [...]

14 Mar, 2023

Supreme Court Poised for Controversial Finish

Mathew Planalp2023-03-14T13:14:33-05:00March 14th, 2023|Tags: 2022-2023 term, Supreme Court, supreme court cases, supreme court decisions|

During the last week of June 2022, the Court issued landmark decisions overturning abortion rights (Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization) and expanding gun rights (New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen), demonstrating a shift of power to the Court’s new 6-3 conservative supermajority. Legal commentators have long speculated that the Justices prefer [...]