WASHINGTON — A one-page, non-merits order from the U.S. Supreme Court has infused new energy into court challenges brought by nonprofit employers who claim that the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage requirement violates their constitutional and statutory religious rights. The ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Employment Health Care Act U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — Defendants who offer a diminished capacity defense cannot seek to exclude rebuttal evidence from court-ordered mental evaluations on Fifth Amendment grounds, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Kansas v. Cheever, No. 12-609. The justices reversed a contrary ruling ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — In a case that pits First Amendment defamation principles against statutory immunity rules, the U.S. Supreme Court will address whether an airline can face liability for reporting that a plane passenger — one of the airline’s own pilots ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Defamation U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court faced the task of drawing a line between permissible religious addresses by private citizens at public meetings and unconstitutional government-sanctioned prayer during Wednesday’s oral arguments in Town of Greece v. Galloway, ...

Tagged with: Constitutional U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court showed little willingness on Wednesday to rule that the introduction of evidence from a murder defendant’s court-ordered mental evaluation violated his Fifth Amendment protection against compelled testimony. During oral arguments in Kansas v. Cheever, ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal Federal Courts U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — For the second time in as many terms, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court wrangled over the constitutional limits of laws involving affirmative action during oral arguments Tuesday afternoon in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, ...

Tagged with: Constitutional U.S. Supreme Court

(AP) — The student newspapers at two of Virginia’s biggest universities can run advertisements for alcohol despite a ban the state says is intended to curb illegal underage drinking, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A panel of the 4th ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Federal Courts

WASHINGTON – In a ruling that will have an immediate effect on more than 1,000 federal laws and programs, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, holding that the law prohibiting recognition of state-sanctioned same-sex ...

Tagged with: Civil Rights Constitutional Federal Courts U.S. Supreme Court

(AP) Virginia’s law prohibiting out-of-state residents from circulating petitions for third-party presidential candidates is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled May 29. The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld U.S. District ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Elections Federal Courts Judge John A. Gibney Jr. Judge Robert B. King

A U.S. Supreme Court decision addressing the constitutionality of blood draws from drunken driving suspects may have a limited effect in Virginia – for the time being. In the April 17 decision, which split the justices 5-4, the high court ...

Tagged with: Constitutional Criminal DUI U.S. Supreme Court