Page 5 - Us Supreme Court

SC sets April arguments over whether Trump can be prosecuted for 2020 polls

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he interfered with the 2020 election, calling into question whether his case could go to trial before the November election. While the court set a course for a quick resolution, it maintained a hold on preparations for a trial focused on Trump's efforts to overturn his election loss. The court will hear arguments in late April, with a decision likely no later than the end of June. That timetable is much faster than usual, but assuming the justices deny Trump's immunity bid, it's not clear whether a trial can be scheduled and concluded before the November election. Early voting in some states will begin in September. The court's decision to intervene in a second major Trump case this term, along with the dispute over whether he is barred from being president again because of his actions following the 2020 election, underscores the direct role the justices will have in th

Hunter Biden set to appear for closed-door interview with Republicans

Hunter Biden is set to appear on Wednesday on Capitol Hill for a closed-door deposition with lawmakers, a critical moment for Republicans as their impeachment inquiry into his father and their family's business affairs teeters on the brink of collapse. The deposition will mark a decisive point for the 14-month Republican investigation into the Biden family, which has centred on Hunter Biden and his overseas work for clients in Ukraine, China, Romania and other countries. Republicans have long questioned whether those business dealings involved corruption and influence peddling by President Joe Biden, particularly when he was vice president. Yet after conducting dozens of interviews and obtaining more than 100,000 pages of documents, Republicans have yet to produce direct evidence of misconduct by the president. Meanwhile, an FBI informant who alleged a bribery scheme involving the Bidens a claim Republicans had cited repeatedly to justify their probe is facing charges from federal

Supreme Court battles with GOP-led states' efforts to regulate social media

The Supreme Court wrestled Monday with state laws that could affect how Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube and other social media platforms regulate content posted by their users. The cases are among several this term in which the justices could set standards for free speech in the digital age. In nearly four hours of arguments, several justices questioned aspects of laws adopted by Republican-dominated legislatures and signed by Republican governors in Florida and Texas in 2021. But they seemed wary of a broad ruling, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett warning of land mines she and her colleagues need to avoid in resolving the two cases. While the details vary, both laws aimed to address conservative complaints that the social media companies were liberal-leaning and censored users based on their viewpoints, especially on the political right. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas appeared most ready to embrace arguments made by lawyers for the states. Alito complained about the term ...

Federal judge dismisses Disney's free speech lawsuit against DeSantis

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Disney's free speech lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, leaving the company's remaining hopes of regaining control of the district that governs Walt Disney World to a separate state court challenge. US District Judge Allen Winsor in Tallahassee said in his decision that Disney lacked standing in its First Amendment lawsuit against the Republican governor, the secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and DeSantis' appointees to the Disney World governing district. The separate lawsuit is still pending in state court in Orlando. Disney had argued that legislation signed by DeSantis and passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that transferred control of the Disney World governing district from Disney supporters to DeSantis appointees was in retaliation for the company publicly opposing the state's so-called don't say gay law. That 2022 law banned classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in .

Alabama can proceed with US' first execution by nitrogen gas: US top court

The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Alabama can proceed with using nitrogen gas to put a man to death, refusing to block what would be the nation's first execution by a new method since 1982. The state says the method will be humane, but critics call it cruel and experimental. The decision clears the way for the state to carry out the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith a 58-year-old convicted killer whose 2022 lethal injection was called off at the last minute because authorities couldn't connect an IV line this time by using nitrogen gas. Smith's attorneys had waged an unsuccessful legal battle to halt the execution, arguing that Alabama was trying to make him the test subject for an experimental execution method. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who along with two other liberal justices dissented, wrote: "Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its 'guinea pig' to test a method of execution never attempted before. The world is ...

SC allows agents to cut razor wire Texas installed on US-Mexico border

A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire that Texas installed on the US-Mexico border, while a lawsuit over the wire continues. The justices, by a 5-4 vote, granted an emergency appeal from the Biden administration, which has been in an escalating standoff at the border with Texas and had objected to an appellate ruling in favor of the state. The concertina wire along roughly 48 kilometers of the Rio Grande near the border city of Eagle Pass is part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's broader fight with the administration over immigration enforcement. Abbott also has authorised installing floating barriers in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass and allowed troopers to arrest and jail thousands of migrants on trespassing charges. The administration also is challenging those actions in federal court. A federal appeals court last month forced federal agents to stop cutting the concertina wire. Large numbers of migrants have crossed at Eagle Pass in recent ..

Maine judge delays decision on removing Trump from ballot until SC rules

A Maine judge on Wednesday paused an election official's decision on former President Donald Trump's ballot status to allow time for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a similar case in Colorado. Trump's lawyers appealed in state court when Secretary of State Shenna Bellows removed the Republican front-runner from the presidential primary ballot but then asked the judge to pause proceedings to allow the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the Colorado case, which could render the lawsuit moot. Superior Court Michaela Murphy denied Trump's request to stay the proceedings, but she sent the case back to the secretary of state with instructions to await the outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court case before issuing a new ruling withdrawing, modifying or upholding her original decision. In her decision, the judge said that the issues raised in the Maine case mirror the issues raised in the Colorado case before the U.S. Supreme Court. She wrote that her decision minimizes any potentially destabilizin

Apple to open US App Store to allow outside payment after SC decision

Both Apple and Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc. had asked the court to hear an appeal related to the case. The justices turned down the appeals without explanation

US SC allows court order to take effect potentially costing Apple billions

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed a court order to take effect that could loosen Apple's grip on its lucrative iPhone app store, and potentially affect billions of dollars in revenue a year. The justices rejected Apple's appeal of lower-court rulings that found some of Apple's app store rules for apps purchased on more than 1 billion iPhones constitute unfair competition under California law. The appeal stemmed from an antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games, maker of the popular Fortnite video game. Epic lost its broader claim that Cupertino, California-based Apple was violating federal antitrust law, and the justices also rejected Epic's appeal Tuesday. But in turning away Apple's plea, the court lifted a hold on an order to allow app developers throughout the US to insert links to other payment options besides its own within iPhone apps. That change would make it easier for developers to avoid paying Apple's commissions. Epic, based in Cary, North Carolina, had claimed that ...

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Oregon Supreme Court keeps Donald Trump on state's primary ballot

Oregon's Supreme Court on Friday kept former President Donald Trump on the state's primary ballot, declining to wade into the legal chaos over whether he's disqualified to be president until the US Supreme Court rules on a similar case out of Colorado. Oregon was one of several states where liberal groups sued to remove Trump from the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, a Civil War-era provision that prohibits those who engaged in insurrection from holding office. Only one of those lawsuits has been successful so far in Colorado, which last month ruled that Trump's role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol disqualified him from the presidency. That ruling is on hold until the US Supreme Court hears an appeal by Trump. The nation's highest court has never ruled on Section 3, which fell into disuse after the 1870s, when most former Confederates were allowed back into government by congressional action. The US Supreme Court's ruling may decide the issue once and

Trump asks Maine judge for pause to let Supreme Court rule on ballot access

Former President Donald Trump on Monday asked a state judge to halt proceedings on ballot access in Maine to allow the U.S. Supreme Court time to rule on a case out of Colorado in which Trump was kicked off the ballot over his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Maine Democrat Shenna Bellows last month became the first secretary of state in history to bar someone from running for the presidency under the rarely used Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. That provision prohibits those who engaged in insurrection from holding office. In Colorado, the state supreme court reached the same conclusion in a 4-3 decision, and that case already has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by Trump's attorneys. The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled arguments in the Colorado case, and Trump's lawyers asked a Maine Superior Court judge to pause the state proceeding because issues before the Supreme Court are identical to the federal issues raised in this case, the resolution of ..

US Supreme Court rejects X Corp's surveillance disclosure challenge

The revised policy, announced in 2014, allowed companies to disclose in broad ranges rather than in exact figures how often they received of national security-related demands for information

SC agrees to review Colorado decision to decide Trump's 2024 ballot access

The decision made by the state court last month almost guaranteed that the justices would have to hear the contentious issue and decide whether or not Trump could be struck from the ballot

Supreme Court to decide if Trump can be kept off 2024 presidential ballots

The Supreme Court said Friday it will decide whether former President Donald Trump can be kept off the ballot because of his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, inserting the court squarely in the 2024 presidential campaign. The justices acknowledged the need to reach a decision quickly, as voters will soon begin casting presidential primary ballots across the country. The court agreed to take up a case from Colorado stemming from Trump's role in the events that culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Arguments will be held in early February. The court will be considering for the first time the meaning and reach of a provision of the 14th Amendment barring some people who engaged in insurrection from holding public office. The amendment was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War. It has been so rarely used that the nation's highest court had no previous occasion to interpret it. Colorado's Supreme Court, by a 4-3 vote, ruled last month that Trump ..

US supreme court agrees to hear Donald Trump's Colorado ballot appeal

The justices will hear the case on an expedited basis, with arguments on February 8

Former Prez Trump asks US Supreme Court to overturn Colorado ballot ban

The former president urged the high court in an appeal filed Wednesday to declare that he did not take part in an insurrection by trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden

Prosecutors urge court to reject Trump's immunity claims in election case

Special counsel Jack Smith urged a federal appeals court Saturday to reject former President Donald Trump's claims that he is immune from prosecution, saying the suggestion that he cannot be held to account for crimes in office threatens the democratic and constitutional foundation" of the country. The filing from Smith's team was submitted ahead of arguments next month on the legally untested question of whether a former president can be prosecuted for acts taken while in the White House. Though the matter is now being considered by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, it is likely to come again before the Supreme Court, which earlier this month rejected prosecutors' request for a speedy ruling in their favour holding that Trump can be forced to stand trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The outcome of the dispute is critical for both sides especially since the case has been effectively paused while Trump advances h

Maine bars Trump from ballot as SC weighs state authority to block ex-prez

Maine's Democratic secretary of state on Thursday removed former president Donald Trump from the state's presidential primary ballot under the Constitution's insurrection clause, becoming the first election official to take action unilaterally in a decision that has potential Electoral College consequences. While Maine has just four electoral votes, it's one of two states to split them. Trump won one of Maine's electors in 2020, so having him off the ballot there should he emerge as the Republican general election candidate could have outsized implications in a race that is expected to be narrowly decided. The decision by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows follows a December ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court that booted Trump from the ballot there under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Colorado is a Democratic-leaning state that is not expected to be competitive for Republicans in November. Bellows found that Trump could no longer run for his prior job because his role in the ...

Trump ballot ban appealed to US Supreme Court by Colorado Republican Party

The Colorado Republican Party on Wednesday appealed that state's supreme court decision that found former President Donald Trump is ineligible for the presidency, the potential first step to a showdown at the nation's highest court over the meaning of a 155-year-old constitutional provision that bans from office those who engaged in insurrection. The first impact of the appeal is to extend the stay of the 4-3 ruling from Colorado's highest court, which put its decision on pause until January 4, the day before the state's primary ballots are due at the printer, or until an appeal to the US Supreme Court is finished. Trump himself has said he still plans to appeal the ruling to the nation's highest court as well. The US Supreme Court has never ruled on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was added after the Civil War to prevent former Confederates from returning to government. It says that anyone who swore an oath to support the constitution and then engaged in insurrection against