Supreme Court and Congress

By Kristen Friend, staff U.S. Supreme Court and Congress writer – July 28, 2010

After weeks of uncertainty and a highly publicized fight in the Senate, President Obama signed an emergency six-month extension of unemployment benefits into law last Thursday. The law extends unemployment insurance benefits for about 2.5 million unemployed individuals since the last [...]

By Kristen Friend, staff U.S. Supreme Court writer – June 23, 2010
President Obama hopes to reinvigorate the push for comprehensive climate change legislation in a meeting with Senate lawmakers today.
Climate change legislation has succumbed to the familiar fate of many recent Democratic measures: a perceived failure to be able to hit the 60-vote threshold needed [...]

By Kristen Friend, staff U.S. Supreme Court writer – May 25, 2010
The Supreme Court will consider whether death row inmates can use a civil rights law to require the State to provide access to post-conviction DNA evidence. The case will determine whether convicted inmates have a federal right to demand access to DNA testing that [...]

By Kristen Friend, staff U.S. Supreme Court writer – April 29, 2010
The Court’s decision in the case Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms could have an impact on the threshold for challenges under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday in a case involving genetically modified crops that set the [...]

By Kristen Friend, staff U.S. Supreme Court writer – April 15, 2010

Democrats are vowing to bring financial reform to the forefront of the current legislative agenda, with President Obama pushing for a completed bill to be on his desk by the Memorial Day break. The President announced on Monday that he would actively push [...]

By Kristen Friend, staff U.S. Supreme Court writer – April 8, 2010

The Supreme Court did not issue any opinions this week, choosing instead to issue orders and refuse to hear a series of appeals. Without any precedent setting landmark decisions, the big news this week revolved instead around a speculative frenzy over the potential [...]

By Kristen Friend, staff U.S. Supreme Court writer – March 30, 2010
Social issues have a unique ability to draw voters out to the ballot box regardless of whether the controversy at hand has any real effect on the lives of those casting their votes. Same sex marriage is no exception to this trend.
The question of [...]

By Kristen Friend, staff U.S. Supreme Court writer – March 2, 2010
A challenge to a US anti-terror law raises the issue of whether political speech may be prosecuted as support for a terrorist organization.
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The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, last Tuesday

and is currently deliberating the [...]

By Kristen Friend, staff U.S. Supreme Court writer – February 3, 2010
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission opens the door for corporate cash in political campaigns.
On January 21, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a case concerning corporate expenditures in elections. The 5-4 ruling, split solidly along [...]