Can AI predict Supreme Court rulings?
This June may be the most harried for the Supreme Court's justices in some time. On top of 30-odd rulings due by Independence Day, the court faces a steady stream of emergency pleas. Over 16 years, George W. Bush and Barack Obama filed a total of eight emergency applications in the Supreme Court (SCOTUS). In the past 20 weeks, as many of his executive orders have been blocked by lower courts, Donald Trump has filed 18.
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Reuters
26 minutes ago
- Reuters
US Supreme Court keeps DOGE records blocked in watchdog group's challenge
June 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court extended on Friday its block on judicial orders requiring the Department of Government Efficiency to turn over records to a government watchdog group that sought details on the entity established by President Donald Trump and previously spearheaded by his billionaire former adviser Elon Musk. The court put on hold Washington-based U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper's orders for DOGE to respond to requests by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for information about its operations. The judge concluded that DOGE likely is a government agency covered by the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The brief, unsigned order said that portions of one of the judge's decisions "are not appropriately tailored" and that "separation of powers concerns counsel judicial deference and restraint in the context of discovery regarding internal Executive Branch communications." The court sent the case back to a lower appeals court to narrow the judge's directives. The court's three liberal justices - Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson - dissented from Friday's decision. In a separate case, the Supreme Court on Friday permitted DOGE broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out. DOGE has played a central role in Trump's efforts to downsize and reshape the U.S. government including by slashing the federal workforce and dismantling certain agencies. The watchdog group, called CREW, said its intention was to shed light on what it called DOGE's secretive structure and operations. Musk formally ended his government work on May 30 and his once-close relationship with Trump has since unraveled publicly, a split that followed Musk's recent attacks on the president's sweeping tax and spending bill and played out dramatically on social media on Thursday. CREW sued to obtain an array of records from DOGE through the FOIA statute, a law that allows the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies. It sought information on DOGE's activities over its role in the mass firings and cuts to federal programs pursued since the Republican president returned to office in January. The Trump administration contends that DOGE is an advisory entity and not subject to FOIA. In response, CREW sought information to determine whether DOGE is subject to FOIA because it wields the kind of authority of an agency independent of the president. Cooper ruled in April that DOGE must turn over some records sought by CREW and that the group was entitled to question DOGE official Amy Gleason at a deposition. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined on May 14 to put Cooper's order on hold. The administration urged the Supreme Court to act, saying that the judge's orders intruded on the powers of the executive branch and compromised the ability of a wide array of advisers to provide candid and confidential advice to the president. CREW told the justices that siding with the administration in the dispute would give the president "free reign" to create new entities that would "functionally wield substantial independent authority but are exempt from critical transparency laws." In one of his decisions, Cooper said DOGE's operations have been marked by "unusual secrecy." In another, the judge said that the language of Trump's executive orders concerning DOGE suggests that it is "exercising substantial independent authority."
Reuters
36 minutes ago
- Reuters
US must face claims over pandemic ban on residential evictions
June 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court ruled Friday that the United States must face potentially billions of dollars in legal claims over a temporary ban on residential evictions during the COVID pandemic that affected millions of landlords. The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a 7-3 decision, opens new tab rejected the government's bid to overturn a decision by a panel of judges last year that refused to dismiss claims from landlords seeking compensation over the eviction moratorium. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September 2020 issued a nationwide order halting residential evictions after the expiration of an earlier 120-day directive by Congress. The agency's order, which lasted about a year, focused on combating the spread of the coronavirus. The court ruling on Friday could spur the United States to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. Damages have been estimated at tens of billions of dollars, as rental property owners were blocked from evicting people who were not paying rent. The Justice Department and a lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Residential rental property owners sued over the CDC moratorium in Federal Claims court, seeking compensation under the U.S. Constitution's 5th Amendment 'takings' clause. They argued the government had taken their property for public use. The moratorium was in place until August 2021, when the U.S. Supreme Court ended the Biden administration policy. A Federal Circuit divided panel last August reinstated, opens new tab the claims against the United States, and the Justice Department then asked the full appeals court to take up the dispute. In a filing in January, the government said the panel decision 'upends over a century of precedent' and said the decision will have 'significant consequences in this case and others.' Lawyers for the property owners urged the full appeals court not to disturb the panel's earlier decision. The government 'merely wants another bite at the apple with the hope of a different outcome,' the lawyers said. The case is Darby Development Company Inc et al v. United States, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2022-1929. For plaintiffs: Creighton Magid of Dorsey & Whitney For defendant: Nathanael Yale of the Justice Department Read more: U.S. Supreme Court ends CDC's pandemic residential eviction moratorium
The Independent
43 minutes ago
- The Independent
DOGE will be allowed to access Social Security data for now, Supreme Court rules
The Department of Government Efficiency will be permitted to access sensitive Social Security data while litigation over the matter continues, the U.S. Supreme Court said in an order on Friday. Lifting an injunction that a lower court judge placed to protect the privacy of Americans, the conservative wing of the court agreed the DOGE staffers assigned to the Social Security Administration 'need' to access the information to perform their jobs.
