A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday made it more difficult for Americans to sue businesses for discrimination and retaliation, leading a judge to call for Congress to overturn the court's actions.

Tagged with: 7th Circuit Anthony Kennedy Antonin Scalia Elena Kagan job discrimination Ruth Bader Ginsburg Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor Stephen Breyer Title VII U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court’s surgically narrow ruling prohibiting a farmer from using seeds harvested from patented herbicide-resistant soybeans has left lawyers with more questions than answers about the extent of patent owners’ rights in other emerging, self-replicating technologies.

Tagged with: Elena Kagan GPS patents U.S. Supreme Court

Can a common practice in criminal defense trigger constitutional protections when it’s suddenly changed?

Tagged with: Antonin Scalia Elena Kagan Habeas Corpus Sonia Sotomayor Stephen Breyer

Drawing a legal line to determine when human genetic material ceases to be a creation of nature and instead becomes a patentable product is not easy — even for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tagged with: ABA Elena Kagan patents Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor Stephen Breyer U.S. Supreme Court

A consumer class action should not have been certified because the plaintiffs’ expert testimony failed to establish that the case was susceptible to awarding damages on a class-wide basis, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4.

Tagged with: 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Antonin Scalia class action Elena Kagan Ruth Bader Ginsburg Sonia Sotomayor U.S. Supreme Court

Police engaged in a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when they used a drug-sniffing dog on a homeowner’s porch to investigate the contents of the home, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 5-4.

Tagged with: Anthony Kennedy Antonin Scalia drug sniffing dog Elena Kagan Florida v. Jardines Fourth Amendment Ruth Bader Ginsburg U.S. Supreme Court

During heated arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court over California’s voter-approved constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the justices verbally tussled with attorneys arguing over the law’s constitutionality — but also hinted that the case could have a surprise ending.

Tagged with: 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Anthony Kennedy Defense of Marriage Act Elena Kagan gay marriage Ruth Bader Ginsburg same-sex marriage U.S. Supreme Court

Can an employer, faced with a purported class action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, avoid litigation by immediately offering a settlement to the sole plaintiff before a class is certified?

Tagged with: class-action lawsuit Elena Kagan Fair Labor Standards Act John Roberts Jr. Ruth Bader Ginsburg U.S. Supreme Court

A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that a seminal Sixth Amendment rights case is not retroactive has provided clarity for attorneys while dashing the hopes of thousands of defendants.

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Exactly two weeks after Gov. Scott Walker proposed expanding DNA collection efforts in Wisconsin for those arrested on felony charges, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in a related case Justice Samuel Alito Jr. called “perhaps, the most important criminal procedure case that this court has heard in decades.”

Tagged with: Antonin Scalia DNA Elena Kagan Fourth Amendment Gov. Scott Walker John Roberts Jr. Ruth Bader Ginsburg U.S. Supreme Court

Attempts to sort out the meaning of a confusing and oddly worded statute to determine whether a Navy surgeon is immune from liability for allegedly performing eye surgery without obtaining consent left the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court bleary-eyed.

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In a case that raises the question of whether judges, rather than juries, can constitutionally decide factors that could trigger an increase in the minimum sentence, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court seemed reluctant to shake up a sentencing scheme that Congress and the courts have relied upon for more than a decade.

Tagged with: Antonin Scalia Elena Kagan robbery Samuel Alito Sixth Amendment Sonia Sotomayor U.S. Supreme Court

During oral arguments that included a rare comment from Justice Clarence Thomas, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether a state’s failure to give money to court-appointed counsel for a murder defendant should be weighed against the state in determining whether speedy trial rights were violated.

Tagged with: Antonin Scalia Elena Kagan Ruth Bader Ginsburg Sonia Sotomayor speedy trial U.S. Supreme Court

The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are trying to dissect the language of a poorly worded federal statute that protects drivers’ personal information from misuse in an effort to determine whether lawyers broke the law in looking for potential class action plaintiffs.

Tagged with: Anthony Kennedy Elena Kagan Freedom of Information Act John Roberts Sonia Sotomayor U.S. Supreme Court

Can an employer, faced with a purported class action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, avoid litigation by immediately offering a settlement to the sole plaintiff before a class is certified?

Tagged with: Class actions Elena Kagan Fair Labor Standards Act John Roberts Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer U.S. Supreme Court

The running fight over gay marriage is shifting from the ballot box to the Supreme Court.

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The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court tussled on Wednesday over the issue of whether a plain error sentencing appeal must be decided according to the law in effect at the time of sentencing or at the time of appeal.

Tagged with: Antonin Scalia Elena Kagan John Roberts plain error Ruth Bader Ginsburg Samuel Alito Stephen Breyer Supreme Court

The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court seemed disinclined to back a lower court ruling allowing police to detain someone incident to the execution of a search warrant after the person had driven a mile away from the location being searched.

Tagged with: Antonin Scalia Elena Kagan Sonia Sotomayor Stephen Breyer U.S. Supreme Court

Oral arguments in two Fourth Amendment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday focused on a common question: just what does a dog’s nose know?

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The Solicitor General is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to ignore the front of the line in the Defense of Marriage Act petitions for certiorari and instead agree to hear the last one filed.

Tagged with: Defense of Marriage Act DOMA Elena Kagan Supreme Court U.S. Supreme Court

In a highly contentious argument that ran well past its allotted one hour on Wednesday, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court clashed over the constitutionality of a university policy that considers race as a factor in admissions decisions.

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The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide if the federal government can be sued for damages for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

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Is it a house or a boat? Does a coffee mug float? The Supreme Court struggled with all types of questions Monday as it tried to figure out what kind of floating structures fall under maritime law, a question that could have a profound impact on popular businesses like floating casinos, hotels and restaurants.

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The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that unions must give nonmembers an immediate chance to object to unexpected fee increases or special assessments that all workers are required to pay in closed-shop situations.

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The Confrontation Clause does not bar an expert from testifying at a criminal trial that a DNA profile produced by an outside laboratory matched the defendant’s state lab DNA profile, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a fractured opinion.

Tagged with: Anthony Kennedy Antonin Scalia certiorari Clarence Thomas Confrontation Clause DNA Elena Kagan John Roberts Ruth Bader Ginsburg Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor Stephen Breyer Supreme Court Williams v. Illinois

The Supreme Court has ruled that sales representatives for pharmaceutical companies do not qualify for overtime pay under federal law, a big victory for the drug industry.

Tagged with: Anthony Kennedy Antonin Scalia Clarence Thomas drug companies Elena Kagan Fair Labor Standards Act John Roberts Overtime Ruth Bader Ginsburg Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a rape conviction over objections that the defendant did not have the chance to question the reliability of the DNA evidence that helped convict him.

Tagged with: Anthony Kennedy Antonin Scalia Clarence Thomas DNA Elena Kagan John Roberts Ruth Bader Ginsburg Samuel Alito Sandy Williams Sonia Sotomayor Stephen Breyer Supreme Court Williams v. Illinois

The Merit Systems Protection Board provides the exclusive avenue of judicial review for federal employees’ adverse employment action challenges, even when those employees argue that a federal statute is unconstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.

Tagged with: 1st Circuit certiorari Elena Kagan equal protection Ruth Bader Ginsburg Samuel Alito Supreme Court

An informal vote taken by jurors before deliberations conclude and later reported to a judge in court does not amount to an acquittal, and therefore a retrial does not violate a defendant’s Double Jeopardy rights, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.

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The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that three families cannot sue a mortgage company for allegedly charging them a loan discount fee without giving them a lower interest rate.

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