Breaking News
EMERGENCY DOCKET

Supreme Court denies Trump request to block $2 billion foreign-aid payment

 at 9:45 a.m.

The court on Wednesday turned down a request by the Trump administration to lift a lower court order that had directed the government to pay nearly $2 billion in foreign-aid reimbursements for work that had already been done. The decision was 5-4, with Justice Samuel Alito writing in dissent. Alito described himself as “stunned” by the ruling, calling it “a most unfortunate misstep that rewards an act of judicial hubris and imposes a $2 billion penalty on American taxpayers.”

The Supreme Court under a cloudy sky

The courts order, on its emergency docket, came early on Wednesday morning. (Trekandshoot via Shutterstock)

RELIST WATCH

Restitution, medical malpractice, and a capital appeal

 at 11:26 p.m.

A regular round-up of “relisted” petitions. This week: whether restitution ordered as part of a criminal sentence constitutes punishment; whether a state law pleading rule requiring an expert affidavit to support a claim of medical malpractice applies in federal court; and whether a dissent from the denial of a prisoner’s habeas corpus claim confirms that the claim is sufficiently “debatable” to be appealable.

ARGUMENT ANALYSIS

Justices poised to reject “mishmash” standard for reopening a case

 at 4:54 p.m.

The justices on Monday seemed ready to move quickly with a short opinion in BLOM Bank SAL v. Honickman.  Justices Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch were particularly forthright in their doubts about the lower court’s more liberal standard for reopening a judgment to amend a complaint. Traditionally, the standard has required a plaintiff to show some extraordinary circumstances.

EMERGENCY DOCKET

Supreme Court dismisses effort to reinstate watchdog head as defunct

 at 5:18 p.m.

The court on Thursday dismissed as no longer an active controversy an emergency appeal in the Trump administration’s effort to fire Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel, the watchdog agency tasked with protecting federal workers from retaliation. Dellinger said in a statement he was ending his challenge to his firing.

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