Tag: scotus

Kavanaugh Would-Be Assassin Now Identifies As a Transgender Woman

The United States Department of Justice has formally recommended a prison sentence for the man who tried to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. But according to Court documents, Nicholas John Roske is now “Sophia Roske.”

Roske pleaded guilty to the crime in April of 2025, and a sentencing memo was filed on Friday in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, according to a press release from the DOJ. The U.S. government is seeking a sentence of 30 years. 

Roske claimed to suffer from severe mental illness at the time of his 2022 arrest. Now, that same instability appears to have driven him to identify as female, an episode that underscores both the growing trend of transgender-linked violence and the broader, unaddressed mental health crisis in America.

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Supreme Court rejects South Carolina’s bid to enforce transgender bathroom ban

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to take up an application from South Carolina seeking to enforce its ban on students using public school bathrooms that match their gender identity.

The brief, unsigned order represents a small setback for the state in its bid to tighten policies related to transgender people. However, a lawsuit on the matter will still proceed in the lower courts. Three Republican-appointed justices, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, would have granted South Carolina’s request.

The order from the high court comes after a federal appeals court had temporarily enjoined the state from enforcing its law while the case plays out. The state wanted the Supreme Court to lift that injunction temporarily.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit had granted the injunction at the request of a ninth-grader who wanted to use the boys’ bathroom, which didn’t correspond to the student’s sex.

Attorneys for the student, identified as John Doe in the lawsuit, argued to the high court that an emergency pause on the Fourth Circuit’s order was not warranted given the lawsuit centered on only one student. No other students have taken issue with John Doe using the boys’ restroom, the attorneys noted.

“Indeed, no student has ever complained about sharing boys’ restrooms with John, who has dressed and presented as a boy since he was a young child,” the attorneys wrote.

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Supreme Court Grants Trump Admin Request to Withhold Foreign Aid Funds

The Supreme Court on Sept. 9 granted a Trump administration request to temporarily withhold approximately $4 billion in foreign aid funding previously authorized by Congress.

The federal government’s emergency application in U.S. Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Global Health Council v. Trump was granted by Chief Justice John Roberts one day after it was filed with the nation’s highest court.

The court issued an administrative stay, which puts a lower court order requiring the release of the funding on hold to give the justices more time to fully consider the matter. The court did not provide reasons for its decision.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had asked the justices to pause a ruling by Washington-based U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, who ordered the federal government to spend about $4 billion in previously appropriated funds.

The money is earmarked for foreign aid and United Nations peacekeeping projects.

The Supreme Court’s new order states that Ali’s orders of Sept. 3 in the two cases are “hereby partially stayed for funds that are subject to the President’s August 28, 2025 [rescission] proposal currently pending before Congress pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court.”

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Supreme Court Throws Out 90-Year-Old Precedent, Allows Trump To Fire FTC Commissioner

Chief Justice John Roberts issued an administrative stay Monday that has effectively put a 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent on the brink of being overturned. The ruling, made without explanation on the court’s emergency docket, allows President Donald Trump to proceed with his firing of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, despite a lower court and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals having blocked the action just last week.

The decision has significant ramifications for the independence of federal agencies and could pave the way for President Trump to fire Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook.

A Battle Over Executive Power

The legal battle centers on the 1935 Supreme Court case, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which held that a president can’t fire officials at independent agencies for mere policy disagreements. The precedent established that “cause” for removal must be based on “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”

Last week, both U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan and a majority of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals had sided with Slaughter, finding that the circumstances of her firing by the Trump administration “almost identically mirror” the facts of the Humphrey’s Executor case. The D.C. Circuit majority, comprised of Judges Patricia Millett and Cornelia Pillard, stated that doing anything but reinstating Slaughter “would be to defy the Supreme Court’s decisions that bind our judgments.”

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The Supreme Court Fight That Could Decide Who Gets to Stay Online

A lineup of civil liberties organizations, technology companies, and internet freedom advocates has filed briefs supporting Cox Communications in a closely watched Supreme Court case that could dramatically alter how internet service providers respond to copyright complaints.

The case, Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment, asks whether ISPs must terminate internet service to users accused, but not convicted, of piracy.

The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision is one of the most consequential internet-related cases in years, not just for copyright law, but for the future of how people access the internet in the United States.

At stake is a fundamental question: can internet service providers be held liable and forced to cut off internet access to users simply because they’ve been accused of copyright infringement, without any judicial process or proof?

Those standing with Cox include the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Mozilla, Pinterest, and X.

Kiwi Farms founder and president of the U.S. Internet Preservation Society (USIPS), Joshua Moon, also filed a brief “in support of neither party,” but opposing internet cutoffs and arguing that contributory copyright infringement is a judge-made doctrine without a statutory basis, and it has become unworkable and unfair because courts have never clearly defined its “knowledge” standard.

This vagueness, combined with the rise of the DMCA’s notice-and-takedown regime, has chilled free speech and fair use, expanded copyright monopolies, and produced abusive practices.

Cox argues that the Fourth Circuit’s ruling, which held it liable for contributory infringement and ordered a new damages trial, created an untenable standard that would force ISPs to police user activity under threat of billion-dollar judgments.

In a joint brief, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Library Association, and others sharply criticized the Fourth Circuit’s interpretation.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Library Association, and other groups filed a joint amicus brief urging the Court to reject the liability framework adopted by the Fourth Circuit.

They argue that the ruling could lead to widespread loss of internet access based on unproven accusations, with disproportionate consequences for ordinary people.

The brief stresses the importance of online access in modern life, stating: “Internet access is essential to participation in economic, cultural, and social activity.”

The groups caution that adopting a liability standard based on mere knowledge, rather than intent or inducement, would cause serious collateral harm. The brief warns that imposing such rules on ISPs would inevitably result in users being disconnected because someone else in their household or workplace was accused of infringement.

They further argue that the Fourth Circuit’s decision improperly expands secondary copyright liability without congressional authorization, threatening to undermine constitutional protections tied to access, communication, and expression.

Even the US Department of Justice weighed in, siding with Cox on key legal questions. The DOJ told the Court that the Fourth Circuit’s approach “cannot be reconciled with this Court’s precedent” and warned against punishing providers who may simply be indifferent but not complicit.

In its brief, the DOJ stressed: “The evidence demonstrated at most that Cox was indifferent to its subscribers’ infringement, not that Cox intended to participate in that infringement or wished to bring it about.”

On the issue of willful infringement, the DOJ added that “willfulness in the civil context generally requires knowledge or reckless disregard of the fact that one’s own conduct is unlawful,” not just knowledge of someone else’s actions.

A coalition of major tech companies, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Pinterest, also submitted a unified brief opposing the lower court’s interpretation of contributory liability. They argue that the DMCA already outlines specific safe harbor rules, and the Fourth Circuit’s ruling improperly weaponizes the absence of safe harbor protection.

“The Fourth Circuit’s ruling erroneously turns Congress’s DMCA safe harbors into a liability-creating mechanism,” the companies stated.

They argued that liability should only attach to those engaged in “conscious, culpable conduct substantially assisting the primary wrongdoer.”

The brief makes clear that a finding of willfulness demands more than simple awareness: “Willfulness turns on the defendant’s mental state regarding its own conduct.”

USIPS criticized the legal foundation of the lower court’s ruling as illegitimate and warned that fear of liability is driving ISPs toward censorship.

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Obama Judge Says to Hell with Supreme Court, Blocks Trump Admin From Canceling Protected Status For 1.1 Million Venezuelans and Haitians

A San Francisco-based federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump Administration from canceling Protected Status for 1.1 million Venezuelans and Haitians.

US District Judge Edward Chen, an Obama appointee, acknowledged the Supreme Court’s ruling but claimed the high court did not bar him from adjudicating the case on the merits.

Earlier this year Judge Chen temporarily paused Trump’s plans to end Biden’s TPS program.

The DOJ argued that the parole programs were discretionary and it is up to the government to decide when it can cut the program.

In May, the Supreme Court in an 8-1 decision lifted Judge Chen’s block on Trump’s order to revoke protected status for hundreds of thousands of migrants while the policy was challenged in court.

Judge Chen said the Supreme Court didn’t bar him from issuing an order.

The Associated Press reported:

A federal judge on Friday ruled against the Trump administration from ending temporary legal protections that have granted more than 1 million people from Haiti and Venezuela the right to live and work in the United States.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco for the plaintiffs means 600,000 Venezuelans whose temporary protections expired in April or whose protections were about to expire Sept. 10 have status to stay and work in the United States.

Chen said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s actions in terminating and vacating three extensions granted by the previous administration exceeded her statutory authority and were arbitrary and capricious.

CBP data found that over 1 million illegal aliens have been allowed into the US through what the Biden Regime defined as “legal” means.” The Biden-Kamala admin used the CBP One App and the CHNV program to allow illegals entry into the US.

These numbers are not included in the millions of illegals that have entered the US under Joe Biden’s watch.

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Amy Coney Barrett Fires Shot Across the Bow at Activist Judges: ‘Not Kings’

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett threw a shot across the bow at fellow activist judges, warning them that they are “not kings,” but simply referees who decide whether people have played by the rules that are already established.

In an article for The Free Press written by Barrett, the SCOTUS justice reflected on her jurisprudence, making it clear that her personal views have no place dictating what happens when she’s sitting in the highest court of the land, nor do any other justices.

The Free Press headline read, “Amy Coney Barrett Speaks: People think the Supreme Court is about promoting justice. It’s really about judging what the law requires.”

“On the restraint judges must exercise, Justice Amy Coney Barrett writes, ‘We judges don’t dispense justice solely as we see it; instead, we’re constrained by law adopted through the democratic process,'” one post on X read about the article.

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Justice Jackson Writes Opinions For Her Media Fanbase, Not Everyday Americans

In roughly three years, Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has established herself as one of the most recognized members of the Supreme Court — and not in a good way.

Despite being the most junior justice on the high court, Jackson has regularly gone out of her way to thumb her nose at her colleagues for upholding America’s constitutional framework. Whether it be through public comments or poorly written opinions, the Biden appointee has shown little respect for the longstanding traditions and collegiality that have defined SCOTUS for generations.

The latest example of this came on Thursday, when the Supreme Court temporarily stayed (in part) a lower court block on the National Institutes of Health’s bid to terminate DEI-related contracts. The court’s ruling was 5-4, with Jackson joining Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan in siding against the Trump administration.

In addition to signing onto Roberts’ opinion, Jackson penned a 21-page screed — which is longer than all the other justices’ opinions combined — denouncing the majority’s decision to partially grant the Trump administration’s request to pause the lower court’s order. Employing the writing style of a left-wing activist, the Biden appointee claimed that her colleagues’ decision is the “newest iteration” of the high court’s “lawmaking on the emergency docket.”

“Stated simply: With potentially life-saving scientific advancements on the line, the Court turns a nearly century-old statute aimed at remedying unreasoned agency decisionmaking into a gauntlet rather than a refuge,” Jackson wrote.

While it’s not uncommon for justices to explain their disagreements and problems with the opposing side’s legal rationale in their opinions, Jackson’s dissent (and this isn’t the first time) takes on another level of snide that’s unbecoming of a junior justice. She went on to effectively accuse her colleagues in the majority of abandoning all semblance of proper jurisprudence and respect for the law in order to bend over backwards for the Trump administration.

“This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist,” Jackson wrote. “Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins.”

It’s pretty telling that none of the other justices in the dissent signed onto Jackson’s tirade. While they may share ideological similarities, even Sotomayor and Kagan recognize the importance of respecting and getting along with their conservative-leaning colleagues — especially given that these are lifetime appointments.

But for Jackson, that seemingly matters very little.

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Supreme Court Allows Trump Admin To Revoke DEI-Related NIH Grants

The Supreme Court voted 5–4 on Aug. 21 to allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants linked to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

The new ruling clears the way for the funding reductions while litigation over the grants continues in the lower courts.

The justices filed five separate opinions explaining their votes.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett voted to allow the grants to be cut.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Chief Justice John Roberts voted to deny the government’s request to rescind the funding.

The high court said it acted because the federal government faces the possibility that the grant monies, once paid out, may not be recovered.

Moreover, “the plaintiffs do not state that they will repay grant money if the Government ultimately prevails.”

The case is known as National Institutes of Health v. American Public Health Association.

The Department of Justice filed an emergency application with the nation’s highest court late last month, asking the justices to block a ruling by Boston-based U.S. District Judge William Young, who found the cancellation was unlawful and ordered the government to restore the funding.

NIH began taking steps in February to end the grants that conflict with President Donald Trump’s policy priorities.

The NIH is the world’s largest government funder of biomedical research.

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Supreme Court Allows Mississippi Age Verification Law to Take Effect, Advancing Online Digital ID Push

The Supreme Court’s choice to let Mississippi enforce its new age verification law is part of a growing shift toward digital ID requirements across the internet, raising urgent concerns about privacy and censorship.

By declining to block the law while legal challenges continue, the Court has effectively allowed states to begin tying online activity to users’ real-world identities, a move that could reshape how people access information and speak freely online.

We obtained a copy of the ruling for you here.

Mississippi’s HB 1126 requires social media platforms to verify a user’s age before allowing them to create an account. Those under 18 must obtain parental permission. Platforms are also required to restrict access to what the state broadly labels as “harmful” content. For companies to comply, identity checks will be necessary, meaning users may soon need to provide government IDs or other personal documents just to post or view content on public platforms.

The Supreme Court has already allowed a similar Texas law to be enforced.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing separately from the Court’s unsigned order, stated that the law is “likely unconstitutional” and said NetChoice had “likely” shown that enforcement would violate the First Amendment. Still, the Court allowed the law to take effect, saying the trade group had not shown a strong enough risk of harm to justify emergency relief.

NetChoice, which includes companies such as Meta, Google, Amazon, Reddit, and Discord, argues that mandatory age checks for general-purpose platforms violate free speech protections. The group had previously won a ruling to block the law, but that decision was overturned in April by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Paul Taske, co-director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, said the ruling was a delay, not a defeat. “Although we’re disappointed with the Court’s decision, Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence makes clear that NetChoice will ultimately succeed in defending the First Amendment — not just in this case but across all NetChoice’s ID-for-Speech lawsuits,” he said.

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