Author: Mark Sherman
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Supreme Court says gay, transgender workers protected by law
WASHINGTON • The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBTQ rights from a conservative court. The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII…
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Supreme Court blocks House from Mueller grand jury material
WASHINGTON • The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily prevented the House of Representatives from obtaining secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The court’s unsigned order keeps previously undisclosed details from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election out of the hands of Democratic lawmakers at least until early…
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Supreme Court appears likely to reject Trump immunity claim
WASHINGTON • The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared likely to reject President Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from criminal investigation while in office. But the court seemed less clear about exactly how to handle subpoenas from Congress and the Manhattan district attorney for Trump’s tax, bank and financial records. The court’s major clash…
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New York state’s virus deaths jump to more than 1,900
NEW YORK • New York authorities rushed to bring in an army of medical volunteers Wednesday as the statewide death toll from the coronavirus doubled in 72 hours to more than 1,900 and the wail of ambulances in the otherwise eerily quiet streets of the city became the heartbreaking soundtrack of the crisis. As hot…
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Justices allow ‘Remain in Mexico’ asylum policy to continue
WASHINGTON • The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would allow the Trump administration to continue enforcing a policy that makes asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for U.S. court hearings, despite lower court rulings that the policy probably is illegal. The justices’ order, over a dissenting vote by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, overturns a lower court order…
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Court: Part of ‘Obamacare’ invalid, more review needed
NEW ORLEANS • The “individual mandate” of former President Barack Obama’s health care law is invalid, but other parts of the law need further review, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The court’s decision will not immediately affect the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature health care policy, which remains in place while the…
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Split Supreme Court appears ready to allow Trump to end DACA
WASHINGTON • Sharply at odds with liberal justices, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority seemed ready Tuesday to allow the Trump administration to abolish protections that permit 660,000 immigrants to work in the U.S., free from the threat of deportation. That outcome would “destroy lives,” declared Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one the court’s liberals who repeatedly suggested…
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Supreme Court allows broad enforcement of asylum limits
WASHINGTON • The Supreme Court is allowing nationwide enforcement of a new Trump administration rule that prevents most Central American immigrants from seeking asylum in the United States. The justices’ order late Wednesday temporarily undoes a lower-court ruling that had blocked the new asylum policy in some states along the southern border. The policy is…
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Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens dies at 99
WASHINGTON • John Paul Stevens, the bow-tied, independent-thinking, Republican-nominated justice who unexpectedly emerged as the Supreme Court’s leading liberal, died Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after suffering a stroke Monday. He was 99. During nearly 35 years on the court, Stevens stood for the freedom and dignity of individuals, be they students or immigrants or…
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Trump says officials working on holiday on census dispute
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump said administration officials were working on Independence Day in hopes of finding a way to have the 2020 census include a citizenship question even though the government has begun printing the questionnaire without it. “So important for our Country that the very simple and basic ‘Are you a Citizen of…