Supreme Court
Online age verification laws await legal spotlight
A Texas law requiring adult websites to use age verification technology to limit minors’ access goes before the Supreme Court next week, as similar laws are springing up in other states.
Major broadband subsidy faces uncertain 2025
The Supreme Court will debate how the Universal Service Fund is financed amid questions over its constitutionality. Without it, states would lose a major resource in reducing the digital divide.
Supreme Court deals Arizona Republicans a partial victory in voting case
The ruling allows Arizona to require proof of citizenship from people who register to vote using a state-generated form.
New anti-immigration laws' real focus is the U.S. Supreme Court, report says
A liberal group warns that laws in Iowa, Oklahoma and Texas that criminalize illegal entry into the country could give the conservative high court a chance to overturn a 2012 decision limiting state and local power over immigration.
Is age verification technology an ‘undue burden’? The Supreme Court will decide.
The high court has agreed to take up a case that focuses on legislation passed to prevent minors in Texas from accessing pornography. A decision could have implications for state efforts to limit children’s access to social media as well.
The sweeping impact of the Supreme Court’s Chevron reversal
Repealing the 40-year-old doctrine throws laws on climate, conservation, health, technology and more into doubt.
Did Supreme Court ruling come too late to reverse ‘chilling effect’ on 2024 disinformation?
While the justices found in Murthy v. Missouri that two states lacked standing to sue over alleged government censorship, observers warned that the case may have already damaged efforts to crack down ahead of November.
Supreme Court sends Florida, Texas ‘censorship’ laws back to lower courts
The justices left in place preliminary injunctions blocking the two laws but said the appeals courts must further study their First Amendment implications.
Supreme Court issues rulings on opioid settlement, overturns Chevron doctrine
As the term nears its end, the high court has issued a flurry of decisions that will affect state and local governments.
Supreme Court rules that government can ask social media platforms to remove misinformation
Justices said in a 6-3 decision that Louisiana and Missouri did not have standing to sue. The ruling comes as a relief to state and local officials as they look to crack down on election-related misinformation ahead of November.
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Supreme Court upholds barring guns from domestic violence suspects
The decision keeps intact a nearly 30-year-old federal law as well as state laws in 46 states and Washington, D.C.
Justices debate whether cities can make sleeping outside a crime
Cities worry they could have to “surrender” public places if an Oregon city’s anti-camping law is struck down by the Supreme Court, while advocates say the city rules criminalize being homeless.
Justices appear willing to limit bribery law used in corruption cases
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared to be sympathetic to a former Indiana mayor’s argument that the federal bribery statute is vague. A ruling would resolve a disparity in which “gratuities” from outsiders are considered OK in some courts, but not in others.
As elections loom, congressional maps challenged as discriminatory will remain in place
With control of the House of Representatives hanging in the balance, the time-consuming appeals process means elections in multiple districts will take place using maps that have been challenged as discriminatory to voters of color.
Supreme Court appears wary of restricting government action to control misinformation
The justices' skepticism in the case has state and local election officials breathing a little easier as they worry about misinformation efforts ahead of November elections.
Supreme Court clarifies when public officials can block citizens on social media
The Supreme Court unanimously found in a pair of cases that whether a government official can block a constituent on their personal social media account hinges on if a post is a state action or is private conduct.
Justices appear skeptical of states' social media censorship laws
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases challenging Florida and Texas laws designed to prevent the alleged censorship of conservative viewpoints on social media. Observers say the decision could shape the future of free speech on the internet.
In an era of divisiness, some politicians are trying to change the tone
At an event last week hosted by the National Governors Association, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Sonia Sotomayor spoke about how they have learned to disagree agreeably.
When a vendor pays a mayor $13,000, is it a bribe? The U.S. Supreme Court will decide
A former Indiana mayor asked the high court to intervene in his corruption case and resolve a disparity in which “gratuities” from outsiders are considered OK in some courts, but not in others.
The U.S. Supreme Court weighs several gun right cases
But a decision in one would strike down a nearly 30-year-old federal law as well as state laws in 46 states and Washington, D.C.
