Advocates of action on climate change hold a trump card. When the Supreme Court in 2007 determined that carbon dioxide is a pollutant, the EPA got a mandate to regulate it. But, what the court giveth, the court can rescind in a tightly contested vote.
While tech types have been crowing over how broken the software patent system has become, the medical community is dealing with a much more serious question: Should we be able to patent genes?
The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a confirmation hearing on Wednesday for an open spot on U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. — and it could open the door for the next Supreme Court nominee. Here's how.
This week, the news cycles has been consumed by the Supreme Court's oral arguments on two closely-watched legal battles in recent history, but unlike virtually every other news story on the planet these days, there were no images or videos because cameras are not allowed in Supreme Court proceedings.
At this point, everybody's seen the pink equals sign on the red background show up in her Facebook or Twitter feed. Not everyone's convinced that it's useful, though.
Courtroom sketch artist Arthur Lien is one of the few people who can offer a true window into the closed-door hearings of the nation's high tribunal, the man whose brush can paint emotion onto the most emotionless figures in the land. He talked to us about the gay marriage hearings, and his favorite justice to draw.
Two days of historic Supreme Court arguments on gay marriage have cheered legal advocates of gay marriage — who think the end of California's Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act is near — but legal experts say the rulings they expect would mean legal chaos for gay couples.
The New York Times reporter, who died this week, shifted balances of power by bringing new attention to details in cases throughout history.
Here are all the words from inside the Supreme Court's hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act, with justices' questions highlighted so you don't have to read through all the tea leaves.
During today's oral arguments before the Supreme Court, concerning the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg remarked that present rules concerning same-sex marriage create a tiered system, which she compared to the grades of milk one can purchase
North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan is the latest Senator to publicly support gay marriage posting on Facebook that "banning gay marriage is bad for families," even though she's up for reelection in 2014 in a state that just passed a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
The Supreme Court sounds like it maybe be ready to strike DOMA down, but new questions from Justices Anthony Kennedy and Sonia Sotomayor may leave a more sobering reality for advocates of gay rights: After this week's historic proceedings, the Court may not punt on California's Prop.8, and there may not be a sweeping overall ruling on the two same-sex marriage cases.
There are a few lessons for Washington in the new ABC/Washington Post poll released today. One is that (non-Republican) people still like Obama. The second is that one option for Congress to turn its horrible ratings around would be for it to actually do something.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
Today's oral arguments are a big deal, compounded all the more by the will-they-or-won't-they hedge from Day 1. But if you haven't been following this Defense of Marriage Act case for the past four years, or if the last 24 hours have been a little overwhelming with all the legalese, don't worry. We've got you covered.
You can measure how quickly public opinion on gay rights has changed by looking at poll numbers, or you can see it on the covers of the national newsweeklies.
If you took any random nine Americans matching the demographics of the Supreme Court, would they support making gay marriage legal?
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Tuesday one-upped Arkansas and signed his state's extremely restrictive abortion measures into law — one of them would outlaw abortion just six weeks into pregnancy, and, well, that's got abortion-rights advocates headed back to appeals court... again.
The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday, and here's the transcript, featuring key sections on support regarding the gay marriage ban — to get a sense of which way the justices might be leaning, or at least a better sense than you can from pundits.
Clinton signed the federal Defense of Marriage Act in the middle of the night in 1996 because he'd been burned by supporting allowing gays in the military, and he didn't want to get burned again. He's been doing penance for it ever since, and times have certainly changed.
As word streamed out from a confusing day, the tea leaves pretty much read that the Proposition 8 ban will likely not be struck down — and that the key justice, Anthony Kennedy, may push for the Court to dismiss Prop. 8 or hand it back to the lower courts in California, wary of "uncharted waters." Ladies and gentlemen — and ladies and ladies, and gentlemen and gentlemen — the Supremes aren't ready to rule yet.
Here's a guide to keeping track of the historic proceedings, beginning with today's oral arguments on Hollingsworth v. Perry (aka Proposition 8) with expectations high and low, conclusions fast and slow, on social media and by way of a drinking game — with coffee, but still.
In the coming days, the Supreme Court will be hearing arguments on both a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act and to California's Proposition 8. In a very real way, we could see the beginning of the end of the marriage equality struggle this week. Here's a look at what's next, because within that optimism there is also some confusion.
In 1967, a liberal Supreme Court bucked public opinion in throwing out laws banning interracial marriage. When the current Supreme Court hears arguments on two gay marriage cases beginning on Tuesday, the opposite may occur.
In what may be the most personal preview of the Chief Justice's emotional opinion on cases that may come down to many more legal specifics than that, his cousin is speaking out on her attendance at the Supreme Court's hearings on Prop 8 and DOMA.
Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the two gay marriage cases in front of it. Either decision could legalize the practice in one quick blow. So a bumper crop of organizations and activists are weighing in now, while there's still a reason to.
On Tuesday, the Supremes ruled that textbooks sold inexpensively overseas could be legally resold in America. So how rich are you about to get shipping Chinese copies of DVDs stateside? We do the math.
A new poll from San Francisco's Field Research Corporation shows support for gay marriage in the state surpassing 60 percent for the first time.
Another 214 people have filed briefs on the gay marriage cases that the Supreme Court will soon consider and, well, two of them work in football stadiums and the other 212 work on Capitol Hill. And a surprising number of Congressman didn't join them.
Today's announcement that the administration will file an amicus brief with the Supreme Court asking that it overturn California's ban on gay marriage suggests that the president's support — once considered lacking — has now checked nearly every box.
Alex Pareene on Woodward's weird sequester statements, Ezra Klein on better budgeting, Adam Serwer on the Supreme Court's racism blindness, Charles Blow on the Voting Rights Act, and Boris Muñoz on Chavez's would-be successors.
A day after a group of prominent Republicans joined a Supreme Court battle over gay marriage, dozens of major American corporations, including Facebook, Apple, and Intel, announced they would also side with the pro-equality forces in court.
As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in a case challenging the Voting Rights Act of 1968, civil rights advocates are rising to support the anti-discriminatory law. But why?
At least 75 prominent Republicans, including two sitting members of Congress, will file a brief with the Supreme Court this week defending the idea that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.
A United States prosecutor who tried to win a drug case by invoking racial prejudices received a lesson on Constitutional law from Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor today. Her lucid statement highlights the importance of equal protection under the law.
It's not often that 70 percent of Americans agree on something, especially something so controversial as abortion.
The court reporter's filing on yesterday's historic Supreme Court session is in, committing to public record the moment Thomas ended his seven years of silence... with a joke about Yale. Here's what he reportedly said—all four words of it.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas went nearly seven years without making a peep during oral arguments, but today he just had to get in a jab at Yalies.
Under current federal funding guidelines, international HIV/AIDS programs have to adopt anti-prostitution policies if they want U.S. money. But in taking up a new case Friday, the Supreme Court decided to put that mandate to the First Amendment test.
Bork, considered one of the leading conservative constitutional scholars of his time, died in Virginia of heart complications, his contentious confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court leaving twin legacies.
Not too many people were convinced when Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia tried to use murder to explain gay marriage. Jon Stewart was one of them.
Michael Bloomberg on the fiscal cliff, Ezra Klein on conservative fiscal policies, Amy Davidson on Antonin Scalia, Michael Mazza on North Korea, and Xu Zhiyong on Tibet.
Five weeks after its losses in the election, the Republican Party is still trying to figure out how to talk to people who aren't older white males. So far, the strategy has crystallized to look something like this.
"If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?" Yes, that's what Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said late Monday. And, yes, that's the word "murder" in there.
Linda Hirshman on DOMA and Prop 8, Gordon G. Chang on China's deindustrialization, Carl F. Nathan on drug-resistant bugs, Michael Jacobs on the Doha climate deal, and Albert R. Hunt on campaign finance.
A summary of the best reads found behind the paywall of The New York Times.
The Supreme Court decided Friday afternoon to hear both California's Proposition 8 and a DOMA case. Here's what that means.
The Supreme Court today decided to hold off on a key announcement about which gay marriage cases, if any, they'll be hearing. Friday is now the earliest — but not quite the latest — we could hear about a decision during this Court term.
Today in books and publishing: Raising James M. Cain's long lost novel; Neil Young wages Heavy Peace; nation's highest court to determine legality of reselling books; Penguin's performance.
The Supreme Court just issued a ruling on early voting in the state of Ohio that should help Democrats in their fight for the key battleground state of this election.
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