The Supreme Court has ruled that the government usually will need a warrant to collect large amounts of locations data about the customers of cellphone companies.
The zero tolerance immigration policy that has led to separating refugee parents from children at the U.S.-Mexico border faces its first legal challenge from a Guatemalan asylee.
A group of large law firms and non-profits have created a nationwide coalition aimed at reuniting immigrant families separated under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy. The coalition's effort has been named Project Corazon, and it will establish a system for parents to confidentially seek legal support in learning the whereabouts of their children. It is estimated that over 2,300 children have been taken from their parents since the administration's policy was implemented this spring.
In one of the most highly anticipated decisions of the term, the US Supreme Court held today that states may require sellers who have no physical presence within the state to collect and remit sales taxes on goods sold to buyers in the state. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion for the majority, and Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch joined. The decision overrules two prior cases in which the Court established and upheld the so-called "physical-presence rule" for sales tax, citing drastic changes in the reality of shopping and commerce.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Apple Inc. v. Pepper, a case that has the potential to impact consumers and other companies, such as Amazon.
Last month, a three-judge Third Circuit panel announced just minutes after oral arguments that it would affirm a district court’s ruling in favor a school district policy that allowed transgender students to use bathroom and locker room facilities corresponding with their gender identity. This unusually quick decision was partly practical, as the judges explained that they wanted to rule before the students’ graduation date.
On Thursday the Supreme Court issued a decision striking down a Minnesota law that prohibited political apparel in polling places. In a 7-2 decision, authored by Chief Justice Roberts, the court held that Minnesota’s political apparel ban violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. Justice Sotomayor joined by Justice Breyer, filed a dissenting opinion.
On Thursday, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump and his three eldest children for allegedly misusing funds associated with his personal foundation. The complaint, filed in New York state court, asks the judge to dissolve the Donald J. Trump Foundation and distribute its remaining $1 million in assets to other charities. Moreover, the lawsuit asks that Trump be forced to pay at least $2.8 million in restitution and penalties and takes the unusual step of requesting that Trump be banned from leading any other New York nonprofit organization for 10 years and that each of his three children be banned from serving as a director of a New York nonprofit organization for one year.
When Laura Murray was 10 years old, she received a small glass vial containing light-gray dust from an old friend of her father’s: Neil Armstrong. The vial was paired with a note that said “To Laura Ann Murray — Best of Luck — Neil Armstrong Apollo 11.” Laura, who’s now Laura Cicco, found the vial years later in her parents' home after they had passed away. The note has since been authenticated by a handwriting expert to belong to Neil Armstrong. Cicco filed the lawsuit against NASA to get ahead of any potential legal issues since the space agency has a history of confiscating suspected lunar material from citizens.
On Tuesday, June 5, 2018, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that all member countries of the European Union must recognize same-sex marriage with regard to providing the same right to live and work across the European Union's 28 countries as heterosexual spouses, regardless of any individual country's views on same-sex marriage. The six European Union countries that have not legalized same-sex marriage or civil unions are former Eastern Bloc countries that joined the European Union in the 21st century. The court stated that those six countries remain free not to legalize same-sex marriage or civil unions. However, the court expounded, countries "may not obstruct the freedom of residence of an E.U. citizen by refusing to grant his same-sex spouse, a national of a country that is not an E.U. member state, a derived right of residence in their territory."