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January 22, 2008 8:46 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Roe v. Wade at 35: Up For Grabs in the Next Election
January 22, 2008 is the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision recognizing that a woman’s constitutional right to privacy includes the right to choose to end a pregnancy. Without question, Roe is one of the leading…
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January 10, 2008 8:45 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Supreme Court Hears Argument on Indiana Voter ID Law
Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the consolidated cases of Crawford v. Marion Cty. Election Board and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita, a case that could affect the fundamental right of Americans to vote and possibly even the outcome…
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December 27, 2007 8:38 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Washington Post Editorial Gets It Wrong On Nominees
An editorial in today's Washington Post calls on the Senate to act quickly on President Bush's nominees to the Fourth Circuit. But as PFAW Legal Director Judith E. Schaeffer pointed out in a Letter to the Editor, the Post has…
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December 13, 2007 8:44 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
DOJ Supports Restrictive Voter ID Law
This week, the Bush Department of Justice filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court in the Indiana voter ID case (Crawford v. Marion Cty. Election Board), supporting the state's imposition of the most restrictive voter ID barriers in…
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December 5, 2007 8:42 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Supreme Court Hears Detainee Case
The Supreme Court today heard oral argument in Boumediene v. Bush, an important separation of powers case in which detainees at Guantanamo are challenging the constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act, which prohibits them from challenging the legality of their…
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December 4, 2007 8:41 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Supreme Court Hears Employment Discrimination Case
On Monday, December 3, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Sprint v. Mendelsohn, an employment discrimination case brought by Ellen Mendelsohn, a former Sprint employee who believes that she was unlawfully selected for a company-wide reduction in force because…
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November 25, 2007 8:35 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Supreme Court to Hear Controversial Gun Control Law Case
District of Columbia v. Heller, No. 07-290 On November 20, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a highly controversial case that, whichever way it is decided, is likely to produce a landmark ruling on the issue of gun control and…
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November 20, 2007 8:34 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Indiana Voter ID in January
Today, the Supreme Court set oral argument in the Indiana voter ID case for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 9, only 12 days after briefing is completed in this case. PFAWF has joined with many other civil rights groups, academics,…
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November 14, 2007 8:33 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
PFAWF Files Amicus Brief in Indiana Voter ID Case
As PFAWF has previously noted on Court Watch, the Supreme Court this term will be hearing an important case challenging the constitutionality of Indiana's restrictive voter ID law, which unnecessarily burdens the rights of eligible voters, particularly minorities, the elderly,…
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November 6, 2007 8:37 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Today at the Supreme Court: Federal Express v. Holowecki
The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in Federal Express v. Holowecki, an employment discrimination case in which the employee's access to justice through the courts is at stake, as we have previously described. Under the Age Discrimination in Employment…
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November 5, 2007 6:22 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Another Courthouse Door Closed to Religious Liberty Plaintiffs
One of the Supreme Court's disturbing 5-4 decisions last term — Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation — is already coming home to roost in the lower courts. On October 30, 2007, relying on Justice Alito's purality decision in Hein,…
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October 24, 2007 6:15 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Senate Confirms Nominee Unfit for Federal Bench
In response to today’s Senate vote to confirm Leslie Southwick to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, People For the American Way Legal Director Judith E. Schaeffer released the following statement: “Following the 2006 election, President…
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October 22, 2007 6:21 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
PFAWF Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief In Employment Discrimination Case
On October 19, 2007, PFAWF joined 11 other civil rights groups in filing an amicus curiae brief in Sprint v. Mendelsohn, an employment discrimination case pending in the Supreme Court and one of the cases that we highlighted in our…
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October 17, 2007 6:18 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Countering Time Magazine on the Court’s Relevance to Americans
TIME magazine’s cover story this week told Americans they don't need to care about the Supreme Court because its decisions don’t make a difference in most people’s lives. That premise is just wrong, as the letter we submitted to TIME…
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October 15, 2007 6:17 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Proving Once Again That Courts Matter
American Federation of Labor, et al. v. Michael Chertoff, No. C 07-04472 CRB (N.D. Cal.) A federal district court judge in California last week gave America another good example of why courts matter. Judge Charles R. Breyer put a stop,…
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October 3, 2007 6:17 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Today at the Supreme Court: Is New York’s Method of Electing Judges Constitutional?
This morning, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a significant case involving the selection of trial court judges in New York, NY Board of Elections v. Torres. At issue is the constitutionality of New York state's highly controversial system…
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September 28, 2007 6:07 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Court to Consider Constitutionality of Indiana’s Voter ID Law
This week, the Supreme Court added 17 more cases to the 26 it has already agreed to hear during its upcoming term, which starts on Monday, October 1. Among the newly-added cases is one that is likely to have far-reaching…
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September 25, 2007 6:06 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
PFAW Foundation Files Amicus Brief in Federal Express v. Holowecki
On September 24, 2007, People For the American Way Foundation, along with AARP, the National Employment Lawyers Association, the National Women's Law Center, the National Partnershipship for Women and Families, and the Asian American Justice Center, filed an amicus curiae…
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September 19, 2007 6:04 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Toobin’s Take
Court watcher Jeffrey Toobin is launching his new book, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, with a round of media interviews. Asked by Time about "the impact of the two new Bush Justices, John Roberts and…
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September 17, 2007 6:02 pm | By Judith Schaeffer
Coming Up at the Court: Preview of Key Supreme Court Cases in the New Term
The first day of October will be the first day of the Supreme Court’s new term, and the justices have already chosen to hear several cases that may well be decided by narrow majorities, as Scalia and Thomas have been…