Supreme Court

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Woods birth control cases, the most significant religious-freedom cases in at least a generation. The central issue is whether or not companies whose owners have deep-seated religious objections to some forms of contraception should be required to provide birth control benefits to employees. A ruling isn’t expected until the end of June, so there’s plenty of time to do some background reading.

It's an ongoing war, but the next battle over the Supreme Court begins with NJ Gov. Christie's decision whether to grant Chief Justice Stuart Rabner (a Democrat) tenure. There are three scenarios facing Christie in his pursuit of a super-majority on the state's high court, all of which are dissected beyond the fold.

The Court's decision to allow Internet service providers is bad news for users — with the potential to turn the information super highway into a New Jersey bridge that irked Chris Christie. Even worse, it could turn an open Internet into another bastion for reality television. Really.

The Supreme Court brought marriages to a halt in Utah until the matter gets settled by the land's highest court. But they also stopped newly married gay couples from gaining benefits, like adoption. Matthew Barraza and Tony Milner found themselves in limbo when their son's adoption was halted mid-process.

A federal judge ruled that Oklahoma's constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution. It sets the stage for a battle in yet another very red state over marriage equality.

In what has been described as the “sleeper case of the year,” a ruling by the Supreme Court in Harris v. Quinn could make “Right-to-Work” the national standard. The court and its conservative majority have been inching closer and closer to this outcome and 2012′s Knox v. SEIU case showed that the current court may soon overturn the precedent set in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education in 1977.

Corporations can prevent employees from filing class action suits in their arbitration agreements, a court of appeals ruled Tuesday, in a major blow to workers' ability to redress grievances and counter to a previous National Labor Relations Board decision.

Gun advocates asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to overturn a lower court's ruling against state laws designed to buck federal gun rules. Earlier this year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district judge's decision against the 2009 Montana Firearms Freedom Act. The law attempts to declare that federal firearms regulations don't apply to guns kept in the state where they were manufactured.

The continued filibusters from Republican lawmakers — especially those of President Obama's judicial nominees for the D.C. circuit — aren't just political meandering. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., contends that the ardent opposition to these nominees are a "caught in a fight over the future of our courts." So will the courts be a neutral forum to decide disputes fairly or will they be stacked for the wealthy and powerful?

Justice Clarence Thomas will headline a black tie fundraising dinner tomorrow evening for The Federalist Society, which describes itself as “a conservative and libertarian intellectual network that extends to all levels of the legal community.” Its purpose includes “reordering priorities within the legal system to place a premium on individual liberty, traditional values, and the rule of law.”