The Federal Bureau of Prisons recently opened a unit for people suffering dementia. But is incarceration a ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment for those who don’t understand why they are behind bars?
Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, surprised many court watchers by authoring the decision to expand the Civil Rights Act.
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Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the Supreme Court as a conservative. But his ruling in a major civil rights case is part of a pattern of justices setting aside ideology to address historic injustices.
A vigil in protest against an execution in Virginia in 2009.
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Kelsy Burke, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Emily Kazyak, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Both sides of the debate over religious freedoms and LGBTQ rights use the language of equality and opposition to discrimination. It will be up to the courts to decide whose claim is stronger.
Many people with DACA status are in school.
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The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Civil Rights Act applies to LGBT people. A business law scholar explains why this is one of the most consequential discrimination cases in decades.
On Dec. 19, 2016, Colorado elector Micheal Baca, in T-shirt second from left, cast his electoral ballot for John Kasich, though Hillary Clinton had won his state’s popular vote.
AP Photo/Brennan Linsley
Many Americans are surprised to learn that Electoral College members do not necessarily have to pick the candidate their state’s voters favored. Or do they?
Transgender activist Aimee Stephens sat outside the Supreme Court as the court held oral arguments dealing with workplace discrimination.
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In a national survey, transgender individuals had worse employment outcomes, lower incomes and higher rates of poverty than cisgender people.
People gather near the Stonewall Inn in New York City to celebrate the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on LGBTQ workers’ rights.
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Julie Novkov, University at Albany, State University of New York
Federal law now protects lesbians, gay men and transgender people from being fired or otherwise discriminated against at work. But there are more questions and court cases to come about their rights.
Supporters of LGBT rights protest in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
The Supreme Court has overturned a series of corruption convictions of public officials by federal prosecutors. Can public corruption be successfully prosecuted? Yes, by the states.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser presenting via telephone during oral argument before the Supreme Court on May 13, 2020 in Denver, Colorado.
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The Supreme Court’s pandemic-related move to oral argument over the telephone has improved those arguments and allowed the public to engage with these discussions of the meaning of our Constitution.
Churches have to weigh the risk to congregants in opening too soon.
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Justices have lent weight to state officials who want churches to remain closed until the public health crisis is over. But not every place of worship is following the rules.
Across the U.S., millions have lost jobs, paychecks and health insurance.
Getty Images / Spencer Pratt
A federal court with jurisdiction over Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee found that the state governments have a legal obligation to ensure that children can learn how to read.
Milwaukee voters wait in a social-distancing line, some wearing masks, before voting in the state’s spring elections on April 7.
AP Photo/Morry Gash
The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has reversed its decadeslong practice of protecting voters’ rights and removing barriers to casting ballots.
Over 15,000 workers filed age discrimination claims in 2019.
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Plaintiffs in age discrimination cases often find it difficult to prove their cases. Now, a Supreme Court case could further undermine workplace protections available to victims.
U.S. courts use videoconferencing, but relatively rarely.
AP Photo/Matt Volz
Compared to many other advanced countries, both federal and state court systems in the United States are behind in using videoconferencing in court settings.